Horror film director claims Resident Evil Village used his monster designs
"It's creative abuse"
The director of the 2013 found footage horror film Frankenstein's Army has accused Capcom of using one of his monster designs in Resident Evil Village. I won't say too much more before the cut, because there are big spoilers for the game (and the film, I guess) in this post. But I will say: I did a little giggle when I saw the monster. I'm sorry, maybe it's very scary with more context around it. You tell me Resi players and Frankie's Army watchers: do these beasts give you The Fear?
This poor man clearly got his head caught in a propeller and he just needs some help.
Dutch film director Richard Raaphorst and fans like Twitterer "CloneKorp" (above) have pointed out multiple similarities between creatures in Frankenstein's Army and Resident Evil Village. Though, the closest designs seem to be the ones of those of two rusty fidget spinner-looking lads.
In the film, this propeller-headed monster attacks a group of soldiers who manage to cut the beast's fuel wire which then causes it to explode. In Village, the player fights a boss called Sturm, who also has a propeller for a head, and also also dies in a fiery explosion.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Raaphorst said he found out about the resemblance after fans informed him on Village's launch day. You can compare the two scenes for yourself by watching the vids above. Raaphorst goes so far as to tell EG it's just a "one-to-one" copy.
"At first I felt pissed. Then I felt proud. Now, I see all the reactions and I feel pissed again, and insulted. It's so difficult to come up with a great design," he said. "It's not just that ideas are floating around that you can grab. It's actually hard labour. Then they just grab it and put it somewhere in the game.
"It's creative abuse."
Raaphorst goes on to say that, while he doesn't expect royalties because he doesn't own rights to the film, he'd at least like a credit in Resident Evil Village.
"If they had asked me, 'Hey, Richard, we'd love to have your design in our next Resident Evil, and we will give you a credit or some kind of royalty payment,' I would have been honoured and flattered and proud. It would have been a super positive experience."
I've contacted Capcom for comment about these monster-copying allegations, and will update this post if I get a reply.
Elsewhere in weird Resident Evil Village news, Capcom drew a giant chalk werewolf in the English countryside to promote the game, which completely baffled the local newspapers.