In 2013, filmmaker Richard Raaphorst released the found footage horror movieFrankenstein’s Army, which featured a number of unique monster designs that combined humanoids with machines and other mechanical parts. Fast forward to 2021, and Raaphorst has now accusedResident Evilfranchisedeveloper Capcom of stealing his monster designs for the recently releasedResident Evil Villagegame, providing some compelling comparison photos to argue his case.
In a recent post on LinkedIn, Raaphorst showed photos comparingResident Evil Village’s Sturm monster to a creature from hisFrankenstein’s Armymovie. Sturm, for those who have yet to play throughResident Evil Village, looks like a humanoid with a huge propeller engine for the top half of its body. While it hasn’t been proven that Capcom directly stole the idea for Sturm fromFrankenstein’s Army, the two designs are eerily similar.
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However, the similarities betweenResident Evil Village’s monster designs andFrankenstein’s Armygo much deeper than that, as pointed out by Twitter user CloneKorp. CloneKorp provided some additional comparison photos, showing that three other monsters fromResident Evil Villagelook a lot like the monsters fromFrankeinstein’s Army. All of these monsters come from one of the later sections inResident Evil Village, specifically the Factory area where players have to contend with Heisenberg,one of Mother Miranda’s four Lords.
Capcomhas yet to respond to these accusations at the time of this writing, though Raaphorst was interviewed by Eurogamer. Raaphorst said that the encounter with the Sturm monster inResident Evil Villageis the same as when the similar creature is encountered in theFrankenstein’s Armymovie. He went as far as to say that the boss fight “looks like an animatic” for theFrankenstein’s Armymovie.
In the Eurogamer interview, Raaphort said that he would like to receive a credit inResident Evil Villageand is exploring his options. However, it’s been pointed out that the rights to theFrankenstein’s Armymovie is not owned by Raaphort. On the contrary, the movie is actually owned by MPI Media Group, and so it seems that particular entity would need to be the one to get something done about the situation.
Whether or not Capcom intentionally lifted theResident Evil Villagemonster designs fromFrankenstein’s Armyis up for debate. While having four monsters fromFrankenstein’s Armylook similar toResident Evil Villagemonstersseems like it has to be more than just a coincidence, it’s still possible that this was not intentional. Fans will have to wait until Capcom releases a statement on the matter to learn more.
Resident Evil Villageis out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
