Resident Evil took a lot of cues from various horror, sci-fi, and thriller films, so it's not unusual that the classic PlayStation survival horror title has its share of exciting (and cheesy) cinematic scenes. From killer canines to shockingly bland architecture sweeps, Resident Evil is full of memorable and sometimes baffling decisions.
The original PlayStation introduced gamers to Resident Evil a quarter of a century ago. While some of the visuals haven't aged gracefully, the nostalgic trip it offers deserves attention these days, especially since the series is enjoying more pop-culture attention than ever before.
10 Monstrous Puppies & Even Worse Acting
Gamers couldn't ask for a more iconic opening scene in a PlayStation title than this FMV short film. If the theatrical film adaptations that followed the original games kept up this energy, fans would have no reason to complain about any Resident Evil films. The S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team is forced to make a landing as they investigate the murders in the forest surrounding sleepy Raccoon City.
Attacked by killer dogs, the cast famously overacts its way to the Spencer Mansion in this gloriously goofy-yet-effective opener. Check out the unreleased original cut of the scene on YouTube if you're into gory special effects that try to emulate Tom Savini's work. Perfect for B-movie lovers.
9 What A Mansion...
This is the scene most fans of Resident Evil want to skip as soon as it begins. Unfortunately, the original PlayStation release does not allow gamers to skip past this boring, awkwardly voiced scene. There are different variations of the scene depending on whether Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield are being played, but there's not enough here to warrant any sort of enjoyment unless it's strictly to laugh at the sterile, off-kilter performances.
While it's become ingrained in the minds of fans, this scene needs serious improvement if it's going to be reenacted in the upcoming film reboot.
8 A Strange Way To Say Howdy
The S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team did not receive a warm reception when they entered the Spencer Mansion, and neither did the Alphas when they arrived as backup. After leaving the main entryway and making their way through the dining room, either Chris or Jill encounters one of the hungry undead feasting on their old comrade, Kenneth.
The gory scene was absolutely breathtaking when the first launched and every Resident Evil made since then has tried hard to capture this unforgettable moment.
7 Rebecca Sprays Chris With Insecticide
Shortly after Chris Redfield gains entry to the mansion he is separated from his Alpha team partners. In his search for any survivors to be found in the Spencer Mansion, Chris finds a slew of slaughtered special ops officers, zombies, and the ferocious Cerberus, dogs infected with T-virus. However, the greatest threat Chris encounters early in the game is the risk of cancer, as he is blasted in the face by a cloud of insecticide.
As Rebecca Chambers, the sole survivor of Bravo team, lost her firearm, she depended on aerosol insecticide as a last resort when she mistook Chris for a zombie (or Chris secretly just bugs her, pun intended). Rebecca went on to be the main protagonist of Resident Evil Zero and is a longtime fan favorite rumored to star in an upcoming Resident Evil Nintendo Switch title.
6 Sandwich Of The Day: Jill
This is one of the most popular scenes in the entire series. For the uninitiated, Jill is caught in a trapped room after triggering a mechanism that used a shotgun as bait. The doors are locked and the ceiling is slowly descending on her. Luckily (but suspiciously), Barry is nearby and hears Jill's cry for help.
Barry kicks the door open and suggests that if he'd shown up any later she would have been flattened like...a sandwich. Not a pancake. Not a bug. No, his mind went straight to sandwiches. Panini, perhaps. Has he thought of his partners as food before? Perhaps the zombies aren't the only cannibals here.
5 Rebecca Ruins "Moonlight Sonata"
Music is very important to a healthy mind, but there's a time and place for everything, and a piano recital in a mansion crawling with bloodthirsty mutants is not recommended. Lucky for Chris, Rebecca sort of knows how to play the piano, which is apparently an essential skill to navigate the mansion's many traps and puzzles.
However, it takes Rebecca a few minutes to get the sheet music straightened out because her first attempt is like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard. None of the monsters in the series have ever sounded so awful.
4 Dam It All
Both Chris and Jill need to use a crank to open a dam to drain a pool so they can access a walkway that leads them to the second environment in the game after the mansion. For some reason, the developers thought they should really flex the game's creepy atmosphere by creating an annoying rendered video showing the water drain away.
Most fans were not impressed by the blandness of this unnecessary cutscene and it's often skipped immediately during a playthrough.
3 Shark's POV
Jill wades through waist-deep water in a strange underground laboratory beneath the employee living quarters next to the decrepit mansion. As she slowly approaches a set of doors, fighting against the resistance of the floodwater, the perspective suddenly shifts to something zipping through the murky water, headed straight for Jill.
This is tense, even for gamers who've played through Resident Evil dozens of times. Hopefully, Jill managed to find the control room key before she came down here, otherwise, she'll have to deal with the sharks before she can activate the emergency drainage system.
2 Barry Torches Plant 42
Jill faces the sentient, horrifyingly large Plant 42 once she's solved the bookshelf puzzle. After dealing some damage with her bazooka and a few well-placed flame rounds recently found in a bathroom, the plant looks like it's sustained mortal wounds and it withers into itself.
Bolstered with a false sense of optimistic confidence, Jill is caught off guard when the plant viciously springs back and ensnares her in its tentacle-like vines. Luckily, Barry saves the day once again with a flamethrower and roasts the monstrous plant into a pool of acidic goo. Also lucky, he doesn't use the flamethrower on Jill to make that sandwich he wants so badly.
1 Tyrant Awakens
Tyrant, the game's final boss, is a hulking humanoid monstrosity hell-bent on killing everyone in its path. But, before it gets the chance, Chris stares up in disbelief as the Tyrant stands motionless in stasis. The liquid in its chamber drains away and the demon awakes, breaks free, and attacks Albert Wesker, who sought to use the beast for his own sinister means.
If the game featured more of its gallery of creatures in videos of this caliber, the series could very well have caught on in a much larger way before the release of its groundbreaking, seminal sequel.