Spoiler Alert: There are numerous creature design spoilers for Resident Evil Village within this article.
A Dutch filmmaker has accused Capcom of stealing one of his monster designs for their recently released horror title Resident Evil Village.
Richard Raaphorst is a Dutch filmmaker best known for directing and writing the 2013 found footage film Frankenstein’s Army. According to the film’s IMDb page, the plot follows a group of Russian soldiers who uncover the lab of a deranged scientist. Once inside they must survive against an army of flesh-and-metal war machines. Richard Raaphorst, who designed the monsters for the film, has claimed that Capcom used one of his creature designs without permission. Furthermore, a Twitter user by the name of CloneKorp also claimed that Capcom stole additional designs. They posted a series of comparison images in a thread they posted to their Twitter account.
Sturm Vs Propellerhead
Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer (as well as posting his feelings on Linkedin), Raaphorst claimed that one of the bosses from Resident Evil Village named Sturm is a “one to one” copy of the monster Propellerhead from Frankenstein’s Army. Encountered at Heisenberg’s factory, Sturm is a horrifying boss with a propeller for a head. Once he is defeated, he bursts into flames. Similarly, in the 2013 film, Propellerhead is defeated by having his fuel tubes detached before it sets ablaze. In the Eurogamer interview, Raaphorst claims that the fight in Resident Evil Village “looks like an animatic for [his] movie.” He followed this up by saying:
“At first I felt pissed, ten 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. 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.”
Richard Raaphorst ~ Eurogamer Interview 10/05/2021
What is arguably the most egregious part of this whole ordeal is that Capcom never approached Raaphorst for permission. They never offered him any money or even a credit. Raaphorst claimed that had Capcom approached him and asked to use his design he would have been “honoured and flattered and proud”. He said that “it would have been a super positive experience.”