Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy

Personal Study Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy

Recently, I have read the well received horror novel of the best selling video game, “Resident Evil”, by, Stephani Danelle Perry, “Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy”. The novel is cleverly crafted by Perry and nearly every aspect of the storyline leaves the reader either somewhat astonished or shocked. The writer’s various uses of setting, turning point, language, and characterisation is important in establishing the main theme of fear in the novel.

The novel is a terrifying tale of horror, set in an apparently secluded mansion, centred around eccentric events that have been occurring in the remote mountain community of Racoon City. Members of a special police division named STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad), are asked to pursue leads they have received connecting the mansion to these strange goings-on in hope of finding out “who” is behind this. They then embark upon a journey much unexpected or prepared for as the plot unravels revealing its many twists and turns, until evil is ultimately conquered and normality is returned.

The prologue is the first area of the novel in which Perry immediately conveys her main theme of fear, effectively shown through word choice in a series of newspaper clippings describing the horrible events that have been occurring throughout Racoon City.
“˜Bizarre murders committed in Racoon City’, ˜Horror in Racoon! More victims dead.’”
The articles talk of several missing persons. Striking me most forcefully was the most horrendous of which, being two little girls ages nine and seven. They had been playing in the vicinity of the local forest and then disappeared without a trace left behind them. Later their bodies were recovered eviscerated and torn to pieces. Perry uses the words “bizarre”, “horror”, and “victims”, to emphasise the dehumanizing nature of these killers, and to display the anger being stressed by the newspaper’s journalist. Instantly, fear is imposed upon the reader and illustrates the dreadfulness that the story has to offer as it shall progress. Perry then uses setting to engage the sympathy of the reader towards the characters and civilians of the city, describing the broken, run-down condition of the desolate town;
“Since the trouble had started, more and more people were keeping their children and animals indoors, even during the day.”
The repetition of the word “more” indicates a sense of anxiety between the city’s inhabitants, frightening the majority of them from leaving their homes. There are many examples of this, each laying emphasis on the deserted, ghost-town state of Racoon’s streets, indicating that it is no longer safe for anyone to be roaming around, and as stressed by Perry, “even during the day”. This deepens my understanding of the seriousness of the characters purpose, which conveyed through a board-room meeting between the central characters later on in the first chapters, wont be an easy task.

Perry tells the story through the individual eyes of each of the characters’ in rotation, and are first introduced to all of the characters at once when they meet at the board-room meeting - being held to inform them of their assignment. The author crafts several characters within the first two to three chapters of the novel, no doubt to withhold any sense of isolation that the reader may develop as the story furthers and characters are separated. After being equipped and ready to be inserted into the field, the characters’ are transported by helicopter into the neighboring forest of the mansion, where Perry first depicts the characters’ realization of odd happenings.
“The forest was unnaturally still, the only sounds human. For the first time since they’d set down, Jill was afraid.”
The author again focuses attention on setting, underlining the intimidating atmosphere made present by the surrounding trees. Although being told from the perspective of Jill at this moment, Perry makes clear that the other members of her squad are also uncertain of what to make of their situation, once more bringing prominence to the theme of fear in the novel. Next the characters are confronted by the slaughter of one of their team-mates - killed by, what is not made clear by the author at first, but what can only be described as “zombies”. The language used by the author then changes from a slow, vague tone into an almost melodramatic, frenzied pitch as the team panic and race through the woods, not knowing what they are up against. Subsequently they draw their weapons and engage in a blind fire-fight whilst being pursued. Once the advantage is gained by the team they are able to deal with the “monsters”.
“Chris took his finger off the trigger but continued to point the handgun at the fallen creatures, ready to blow apart the first one that so much as twitched.”
Perry furthers the ambience of fear amongst the characters, showing that Chris is so shaken that he is unable to cope with what has just happened, and cannot take the creature away from his gun sight. Without doubt the most attention-grabbing aspect of the novel - is Perry’s stimulating action sequences, which create fear but also astonishment within the reader, arousing on numerous occasions throughout the novel.

The author then goes on to depict the characters’ chance finding of the mansion’s whereabouts, and the outlandish change in scenery as they enter to seek refuge from the turmoil in the forest. Surprise strikes both the characters’ and the reader, as the surroundings of the supposedly discarded mansion turn out to be rather incredible.
“It was a palace, pure and simple, what her father would have called a perfect score.”
Again being told from the perspective of Jill, Perry illustrates the magnificent spectacle of the mansions interior, describing it as “the epitome of lavish”. In contrast to the daunting feel of the forest outside, the mansion seems out of place and yet a sense of composure is displayed amongst the characters. The remarkable image of the mansion is sustained throughout the rest of the novel by Perry, through means of the evocative language used, wittingly creating fear and uncertainty in the reader as well as the idea of serenity. The fact that the palace was found in the middle of a forest infested with strange creatures seems bizarre and intimidating towards the characters, yet such majestic surroundings counter balance these feelings, not making clear what to think of the situation.
“Fluted wall sconces cast funnels of light across walls of cream, trimmed in oak and offset by the deep burnt ochre of the carpeting.”
Perry’s way with words again awaken many emotions within the reader, words such as “fluted”, “sconces” and “cream” give sensations of calmness, whereas words such as “offset” and “burnt”, still portray the theme of fear by hinting towards the idea of deformity. This forethought is then confirmed as the team first come face to face with their malformed enemy, and the separation and betraying of characters which follows.

Once the team had secured themselves in the building, the certainty that their surroundings weren’t entirely out of harm's way left separation inevitable, and in due course Chris Redfield was the first of the team to single-handedly encounter more of the creatures. Perry uses starling language and word choice to end the reader’s constant awe as she makes known the true horror and repulsion of what lies deeper within the mansion.
“Flaps of dried skin hung from its sunken cheeks, and the dark wells of the creature’s eye sockets glittered with hunger as it reached out with skeletal hands…”
The author changes the mood instantly to again coerce fear upon the reader, using such language which illustrates what can barely be imagined. Chilling images of a lifeless corpse and the idea of something starved and rotten hit the reader forcefully, and are left feeling to some extent betrayed by Perry’s previous words of the mansions greatness. The continuous use of imagery persists in creating nerve-racking moments in which the reader feels compelled to stop, yet carry on reading;
“…eyes wide as the twitching creature clawed at the wooden floor, pulling itself towards him in an eager, single-minded silence.”
Such vivid pictures of evil pulse fear through the reader hereafter, undeniably ending any fore-thoughts of excellence that the mansion represented. Perry continues to make matters worse by introducing betrayal amongst the characters, leading to the death of another one of their team-mates. This crops up a lot of angry frustration, ultimately leading to all remaining team members pursuing their former friend through hidden labs underneath the house, labs which had been the hidden creator of the mass murders on the surface. The team prevail in destroying the mansion and it’s labs and escape by helicopter after a long hard battle with their fate.

In conclusion, Perry manages to set the scene perfectly for an attention-grabbing thriller and is successful in producing much more. She closes the story very abruptly and we are left at the end of the novel feeling breathless, yet satisfied.

David McDaid