Resident Evil: Damnation (2012) 1h 40m

The fact that I love Resident Evil is the worst kept secret on this website.  I reviewed Resident Evil: The Final Chapter when it was out in theatres and talked about Resident Evil 7: Biohazard as soon as I finished the game upon release.  So when it comes to the CG films that they've put out, you better believe I own them, or at least most of them.  I didn't realize that there was a Japanese one that counts as the first one and I haven't picked up the one that came out last year.  The latter isn't in my collection because Sony and Capcom are bad at subtitling these films so you don't know which one you own.  This one has been sitting on my shelf since last Christmas.

Did somebody say "Las Plagas?"

Resident Evil: Damnation takes place after Resident Evil 4 (still the best game in the series).  Leon is sent into an area of the former Soviet Union on reports that rebels gained access to B.O.W.s (Bio Organic Weapons).  At the very start he is told to pull out but instead continues on in search of Las Plagas and the people using them.  He ends up working with freedom fighters that have learned to control Lickers with the help of Las Plagas, at the risk of their own lives and sanity.  Ada Wong is here being badass as usual and working with the government in order to gain access to a sample for a secret client.

Okay, I'm getting my biggest complaint out of the way first and it isn't even with this film, it's with the disc itself.  I had to skip through a commercial for Sony and five previews of I don't even care what before the blu-ray would even let me access the menu.  That's bullshit!  I gave you money and all you're doing is wasting your time and mine!  Cocknose.

Is that a B.O.W. in your pants?

I have no complaints with Resident Evil: Damnation.  They have Leon's Resident Evil 6 voice actor (who pretty much sounds like the original voice actor from the prior CG film and RE4).  They do small nods to things like having Leon yell "Come On" exactly as he does in the games.  It also does good fan service without going overboard.

I think that since this was a Las Plagas focused film they were smart to have this change up with the Lickers and a greater focus on Ada's doings.  The early games were never really about trying to kill everything and they kept that focus in check.

Speaking of Ada, she has the hypest fight scene in the film!  Sure, it's essentially an animated film but the entire time I was enraptured by it.  It's John Wick levels of rad hand-to-hand combat.  Also, bringing in multiple Mr. X for Leon's final fight was a definite pop for me.

Overall, I really liked RE: Damnation.  Aside from a bit of slowdown it was a solid film.

I give Resident Evil: Damnation 4 Umbrella logos out of 5:

Extraordinary Tales (2013) 1h 13m

I don't think Edgar Allan Poe will ever go out of style with horror fans, or goth people.  Especially teenage goths.  I wasn't even goth and I read a bunch of Poe in middle school.  I think that was much more of one of those "I don't feel like I really fit in" times and thus I went for what I learned from TV.  This was also when the AOL was just starting, so it's not like I had access to Poppy Z. Brite info or knew who the fuck Bauhaus were, but that's enough about me!  Let's talk about...

Extraordinary Tales is an animated collection of five different works by Poe.  The first is The Fall of the House of Usher that's done in a style that I can only describe as a cut scene in an indie game.  Follow that with The Tell Tale Heart resembling the black and white Frank Miller comic Sin City.  Up third is The Facts in the Case of Dr. M. Valdemar which looks like it's taken straight from the pages of EC horror comics.  Next on deck is The Pit and the Pendulum which reminds me of the 2000's Prince of Persia games.  Finally, on clean-up is The Masque of the Red Death which is a combination of pastel or oil art mixed with computer animation.

I'm 100% recommending this film.  Not only is each one linked with extra animated scenes, but you have the voice talents of Christopher Lee, Guillermo del Toro, and a recording of Bela Lugosi running narration.  The highlight of this collection would have to be The Masque of the Red Death where it's told almost entirely with visuals.  I am giving an additional shout out to The Facts in the Case... because they drew Mr. Carmichael as Vincent Price, which is a holler back to 1962's Tales of Terror where Vincent Price played Valdemar.  It's a hell of a reference pull that only a few might get and I have to give extra props for that.

I give Extraordinary Tales 5 weird caricatures of Poe from some iTunes playlist out of 5: