The Parasite Eve Movie, A Great Prequel to the Games

The 1997 Parasite Eve movie is an adaptation of a 1995 novel of the same name. Both act as a prequel to the video games. As far as I can tell, there are no sequels to the book or movie, and most of the series was given over to the video games to advance the ideas from the book.

I remember playing the game in 1998 when it first came out. It was a lot of fun to play back then, and I had no idea there was anything that came before it. I was a dumb 14-year-old, and it wasn’t like I could look up any information on the game. The internet was available to me, but I didn’t know how to look anything up.

I think back to that time and laugh at myself. If 41-year-old me were to tell the 14-year-old me that I would do internet research for the CIA, I’m sure I would be confused for a bunch of reasons. Namely, why did I use my newfound time-traveling powers to tell myself that little tidbit of information and not something important?

Anyway, the series seems to have stalled out. We got the first and second game in quick succession, and then 3^rd Birthday came out on the PSP. I don’t remember hearing anything about it, but that isn’t all that surprising. I’ve never really followed gaming news.

This is the second time I’ve watched this movie. What I know is that it starts a little slow and then gets crazy as the game goes on. It is a low-budget movie, and it feels like most of the budget is held for the ending. I’m noticing a lot of tropes as I watch the movie for this review.

Plot Summary

The movie begins by explaining a bunch of stuff about mitochondria, but it is handled much better than the Star Wars prequels. It is told in two parts: one to a crowd of academics and the other to a group of schoolchildren. There are also cutaways to a woman who might be controlled by her mitochondria.

Then, there is a car accident, and the lady we’ve been following is put in a vegetative state. She’s either declared brain dead or it is suggested that she will be brain dead. This is when we move into a plot about harvesting her organs, specifically her kidneys.

This would become a bit of a trope in several horror movies, whether it is an eye or hair, someone ends up getting possessed or cursed. With this movie, it is interesting to see that it is someone whose cells are rebelling against them. It makes this formula a little different.

So we have a few characters who are important:

• Kiyomi – She’s the carrier for the mitochondria, and her organs are used to form a super being near the end.
• Toshiaki Nagashima – This is our main character. He is the one doing all the research on mitochondria, and he goes a little crazy.
• Asakura – She’s Toshiaki’s assistant, and ends up being possessed by the mitochondria.
• Mariko – She gets Kiyomi’s kidney and almost gives birth to the perfect being.
• Other Doctor – He was probably given a name, but I don’t remember it.

Mariko received Kiyomi’s kidney, then another Kiyomi is formed. People start getting set on fire, and things end up on the roof of a hospital. Then, using the power of love, Toshiaki saves the day, and he burns to death alongside Kiyomi.

Likes and Dislikes

This is a little harder than I thought it would be. As a movie, I didn’t like it that much. I found it to be a little boring for the first half of the film. It picked up in the last third of the movie, but by that time, I had checked out. It took a few viewings to know what happened and to care about it.

When the special effects are on the screen, they look comical. Not in a so bad that they’re good, but in a “oh, that is what movies used to look like. We’ve come a long way.” The best way I can explain the fire and creature effects would be a step above a PS1. It isn’t great, but it fits in 1997.

This movie reminded me of several other horror films. While it closes out in a way that makes you think there could be a follow-up, it isn’t all that obvious. We don’t learn about what happens to the characters in this; they just stand there as the power of love (and fire) saves the day. It is a fairly unsatisfying ending.

The more that I think about this film, the less that I like it. It takes a while for anything to happen, and you’re stuck with this guy who’s losing his mind in one scene, and then perfectly fine in the next. I was getting whiplash from the number of character changes this guy was going through.

Wrap Up

You can tell that this movie had a low budget. The effects are kept to a minimum, and a few of the sets are odd to say the least. I don’t think this is a scary movie, and it is more of a thriller, but that is stretching it.

I kept waiting for something fun to happen. There were a few moments in it where I thought they did a good job, but much of what happened was really drawn out. Things get exciting in the last forty-five minutes, but the first hour is a bit of a challenge to get through.

I wanted to enjoy this more than I did. I wish we could’ve gotten some body horror, but that might’ve been something added for the video games. My whole perception of the franchise is based on the video games, and not seeing the creepy, mutated monsters is a little surprising. The movie isn’t what I was expecting.

I like parts of it. As a prequel, it sets up what we would see in the first video game, and it is even mentioned in the game. If you’re expecting to see something close to the video game, then you’ll be disappointed. You have limited options to watch the movie, but the full version is available on YouTube, here.

If you liked this post, please check out my other posts about video game movies, such as Sweet Home, or my post on the Sweet Home video game.