While 2002's Resident Evil movie was much different from the games that spawned it, there are still fun references to the source material included. The Resident Evil franchise ended up producing six movies, and it's unquestionably one of the biggest success stories in the history of video game adaptations. Yet, the Resident Evil movies often get the harshest criticism from fans of the video game series. This began with the first film, which centered on characters not from the games, and didn't at all follow the original game's plot.
Things only got worse for those fans looking to actually see anything like the Resident Evil games on the big screen, as the sequels really did nothing to get things closer to what the games offered. Sure, some characters and locations from the games popped up, but they usually felt like little more than pointless fan service, all while the real story continued to revolve around Milla Jovovich's movie-invented Alice character.
Still, there are enough references to the video games in the Resident Evil movies to make it seem like Paul W.S. Anderson and crew weren't purposefully trying to disappoint hardcore fans. The first movie has plenty of these connections, some of which are subtle enough to not be noticed on the first viewing.
The Licker
One of the most crowd-pleasing parts of 2002's Resident Evil movie was its inclusion of the Licker, which had been one of the coolest parts of Resident Evil 2. Several of the creatures appear in the film, and several characters die as a result of Licker attacks. Making things even cooler, the Licker looks near spot on to its video game design.
Zombie Animals
The zombie dogs are one of the most common - and most bothersome - normal enemies found in the Resident Evil games, and infamously first appear by jumping through a window and scaring the hell out of the player. In the movie, Alice encounters several zombie dogs, using what would later be revealed as superhuman combat abilities to defeat them. Additionally, when Alice is outside the mansion, crows are visible in the background, zombie crows being another nuisance enemy in the games.
The Nemesis
While the actual Nemesis monster doesn't appear onscreen until Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the first Resident Evil movie sets the stage by having Matt be taken by Umbrella scientists near the end of the film for use in something referred to as "The Nemesis Program." Sure enough, that meant exactly what fans thought it did, and the Nemesis would show up to wreak havoc in the sequel, albeit with a backstory many would argue was altered for the worse.
Resident Evil's Title Screen
When we first meet Alice in the Resident Evil movie, the scene starts on a closeup shot of her eye, likely a reference to the original game's title screen that had the words Resident Evil over top an eye. It's a small thing, but still something game fans are bound to be delighted by.
Vanishing Corpses
One of the more amusing callbacks to the video games in Resident Evil the movie comes after multiple characters are killed in the laser hallway, a trap that actually made it into one of the games eventually. When the survivors return to the hallway later in the film, the dead bodies have mysteriously disappeared. This is a reference to how in the early Resident Evil games, the bodies of previously killed enemies would inexplicably vanish the next time the player enters a location. Similarly, the movie doesn't attempt to explain it either, making for a fun bit of levity in what's mostly a serious story.
The Spencer Mansion
While the mansion Alice begins the Resident Evil movie in - the bulk of the film takes place in The Hive facility underneath it - isn't specifically called the Spencer Mansion as it is in the games, the filmmakers threw in a clever Easter egg reference to that name. Alice's fake husband, and the man who technically owns the mansion Umbrella uses as a front for their activities, is named Spencer. It's one of the more subtle nods to the video games in the film, and again suggests that its creative team did in fact have a measure of love for the source material, even if they didn't choose to emulate much of it.
The Underground Train
Near the end of the Resident Evil movie, Alice and the remaining survivors attempt to escape The Hive via an underground train. This is a direct reference to a similar train from the Resident Evil 2 video game, called the Galaxie-5000. As a double callback, the film calls it the Alexi-5000, an homage to Resident Evil: Code Veronica villain Alexia Ashford.
STARS
At the very end of the Resident Evil movie, Alice wakes up in a hospital and heads out to see that the T-Virus outbreak has infested Raccoon City with zombies, clearly a reference to Resident Evil 2's main plot. More subtle though is that when Alice grabs a shotgun out of a cop car, the STARS logo can be seen on the hood. While no actual STARS members appear in the film, some would eventually show up in the sequels, including original game protagonists Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield.
William Birkin's Cameo
Actor Jason Isaacs, who had been part of Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson's prior film Event Horizon, makes a quick, uncredited cameo as an Umbrella doctor near the end of the movie. This character is meant to be William Birkin, a virologist and researcher who once worked for Umbrella, and was a key figure in the creation of the T-Virus, and its less common cousin the G-Virus. Isaacs was intended to reprise the Burkin role in 2004 sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse, but the actor departed the project for reasons unknown, and the William Burkin character never appeared in any of the other Resident Evil movies. However, a character slotted into William's planned role in the story was dubbed Dr. Sam Isaacs, suggesting that those involved had no ill will toward Isaacs for exiting the franchise.