The iconic Resident Evil series has intense and intricate lore behind it, exploring biological warfare, human augmentation, and the zombie apocalypse. On a long enough timeline, it's only natural that the series has its dark, morbid, and down-right disturbing moments.
Resident Evil's subject matter is generally quite dark, but there are certain events in the overarching story that left fans with a particularly long and lasting impression. It's usually the player's job to take down zombies by the dozen; and although it can be easy to feel desensitized to the violence, every now and then there's an event that sticks out from all the others. Here are the most disturbing moments throughout the entirety of the Resident Evil series' timeline.
Warning: Heavy Spoilers Ahead
8 The Baker Family Transformation – Resident Evil 7
For most of RE7, Ethan's main antagonists are (or rather used to be) everyday people. When players first met the Baker family, they were already too far gone; their transformation via Eveline's control had already been completed, and they were already shells of their former selves. Being introduced to the Bakers in that state made it easier to antagonize them and see them as nothing but monsters.
However, towards the end of the game (as well as in certain DLC), the Bakers' former sense of humanity is finally revealed. Ethan has a brief encounter with the true Jack Baker (via the mold) where the heartbroken man asks Ethan to help "free his family."
In the "Daughters" DLC, players get even more of a glimpse into the Baker household before their encounter with Eveline. Seeing how incredibly kind and hospitable Jack and his family were (minus Lucas) just months before Ethan's arrival makes their horrific transformation even more unsettling.
7 The First Zombie Encounter – Resident Evil
There are indeed hundreds, if not thousands, of zombies that are featured in the Resident Evil series, but there's one particular zombie that almost every die-hard fan could recognize, no problem. The iconic cutscene featured in the very first Resident Evil is one of the most chilling depictions of zombies in any video game.
Upon entering the Spencer Mansion, the player goes off to explore other rooms, in search of any survivors. Eventually, they come across the corpse of fellow S.T.A.R.S member, Kenneth Sullivan, slowly being eaten by the infamous "turning around zombie." Not only was the first zombie in the series featured feasting on a human being, but to make matters even more upsetting, the unfortunate victim was also a fellow S.T.A.R.S member.
The original game was already terrifying, but the famous zombie's makeover in the remake was somehow even more unsettling!
6 The Clancy Jarvis Tapes – Resident Evil 7
Many Resident Evil fans may already know of the tragedy of Ethan Winters, but Sewer Gators cameraman, Clancy Jarvis also went through his fair share of traumatizing events as well. Clancy Jarvis is a playable character in certain cassette tapes and later DLC.
Before his painful death, Clancy had to deal with the likes of Marguerite and her "cooking" in the "Bedroom" DLC, fighting off hoards of the molded until his survival at dawn, and even Lucas' morbid game of blackjack in the "21" DLC where a single wrong move would cost him a finger.
In the end, after all the pain Clancy had endured, he loses his life to a rigged escape room, planned by Lucas, where he was stabbed in the chest with a fountain pen, and later, burned to death even though he had (technically) successfully solved the room's puzzle.
5 The Giant Baby Chase – Resident Evil 8
While the entirety of the Beneviento House in RE8 is a horrific experience altogether, there is one particular part that left a lasting impression on players.
As the player progresses through the house, they are forced into an escape room-style puzzle, where they are stripped of all their equipment and have no choice but to cooperate and find their way out. The basement area where the puzzles all take place is already terrifying enough but in the middle of Ethan's journey to solve his way out, he is suddenly pursued by a horrific monster.
The giant baby monster is one of the most iconic enemies of the entire game, and it is only featured in one specific level for a short amount of time. The infamous House Beneviento baby is a terribly deformed baby/fetus that is large enough to devour any enemies and has a chilling cry that resembles both a baby and a grotesque beast.
4 Marguerite's Boss Fight – Resident Evil 7
Marguerite's level of RE7 heavily featured bugs of all kinds, so players already knew that when the time came to face her boss level, things were going to get messy. Perhaps many players expected Marguerite's level to simply consist of giant hoards of bugs or maybe oversized spiders that Ethan would have to face off before getting to Marguerite herself to take her down. However, things weren't that simple.
Marguerite's transformation from a "mildly scary zombie lady" to a giant human-insect hybrid was both surprising and deeply unsettling. Just the sight of her silhouette alone was enough to send shivers down players' spines.
As if her disgustingly long limbs weren't gross and disturbing enough, a good close-up of her reveals that her lower abdomen area (as well as her crotch and backside) have mutated into a giant mess resembling a hive or wasps nest.
3 Chris Redfield's Ever-Changing Appearance
Sometimes, the most disturbing things aren't the obvious atrocities like powerful tyrants committing murder or zombie dogs feasting on human beings. The eerie, ever-changing face/appearance of fan-favorite, Chris Redfield, will forever be one of the series' most disturbing mysteries.
Chris Redfield is an iconic character, and it goes to say that when his look was tampered with, fans were quick to notice. Fans eventually accepted Chris' change from RE1 to RE5 as maybe the former S.T.A.R.S member simply decided to hit the gym more often. However, from then on, his face continued to morph drastically from one look to another.
One major change may be easy to accept but in Chris' case, it seems as if Capcom just can't ever decide on how they want their iconic protagonist to look as he seems to sport an entirely new face every time he makes an appearance!
2 Ethan Winter's Constant Dismemberment – Resident Evil 7 & 8
There was a good reason why Ethan had the worst luck of any Resident Evil protagonist and that reason was lore-based. Ethan at the end of RE8 was revealed to essentially be a mass of sentient mold and wasn't truly "alive" the way he was before the start of his journey after his encounter in the Baker residence. Because the writers wanted Ethan's uncanny resilience to be easily noticeable well before the big reveal, they needed as many opportunities for Ethan to be maimed, dismembered, or fatally hurt for his "mold superpowers" to kick in.
Unfortunately for Ethan, that meant him getting his hands cut off (once by his wife and again by Lady Dimitrescu), getting his leg cut off (by Jack Baker), and even endured getting hung on hooks by his hands thanks to the warm welcome of Lady Dimitrescu's lovely vampire daughters.
Almost the entirety of Ethan's journey made for one of the most disturbing sagas of the entire series.
1 The Story Of Lisa Trevor – Resident Evil
The story of Lisa Trevor is a heartbreaking one, as she was once an innocent little girl that had absolutely nothing to do with the outbreak of the T-virus; she was simply involved in the mess in the Arklay Mountains because of her father's work with Umbrella founder, Oswell Spencer.
Lisa was imprisoned within the Spencer Mansion, being subjected to painful tests after being injected with the Progenitor Virus. Her mother was soon executed due to being deemed a failed experiment, whereas Lisa was then doomed to spend the next twenty-eight years of her life under the Spencer estate in misery.
Reading all her notes and discovering her long history of pain and longing to be reunited with her mother makes her boss battle all the more difficult to play.
