Although the first Resident Evil games had George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and the other movies of his Dead series as main inspiration source, quite a few references to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies could be spotted occasionally on several installments. The latest game of the saga, Resident Evil 7, pays tribute to the Evil Dead films, as there are several nods to the orginal (1981), as well as to its recent remake (2013).

From the beginning, however, there was one specific item that could be seen in nearly all the Resident Evil games, and came directly from the very first Evil Dead movie. It is no other than the legendary deer trophy.

In the film, a group of friends go on a spring break vacation in the woods and unleash an ancient curse which wakes up a demonic entity, turning most of them into bloodthirsty zombies and killing the rest of them. Close to the start, a guy from the group enters a cabin; it's where the events will occur later. The first thing that we see as soon as he opens the door, is a deer trophy hanging above the fireplace.

The deer trophy sits majestuously above the fireplace

It can also be seen in several other scenes, that take place in that same room.

Ash with the deer trophy in the background

In Resident Evil Remake HD, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are trapped in the Spencer Mansion and have to do lots of exploration so as to be able to finally open the back gate (going out from the main exit which is unlocked is a no-no, because of course it is). One of the many doors in the villa, that opens with the Armor Key, reveals a small hall where a deer trophy observes the room from its high spot.

The deer trophy is just for decoration in this room

In another room that is unlocked much later with the Helmet Key, there is one more deer trophy on the wall, which holds an important item, a red gem, in its eye. In the same room, there is a stuffed eagle which however is able to sense Chris or Jill as they move around, and they have to trick it into turning its gaze to the opposite direction, so that they can sneak up a cupboard and grab the gem.

If the eagle is turned towards Chris, the gem locks in the deer's eye and he can't take it off

In one isolated room of the mansion, which can be accessed only after you restore the power to the villa's elevator, there is a deer trophy lying on a desk.

Chris is wondering where this trophy was going to be placed

In Resident Evil 2, and only if you play Claire Redfield's scenario, after meeting with Leon and getting separated from him, you have to explore the chaotic Police Department. Eventually, you will locate Chief Irons's office, which has a deer trophy hanging on a wall.

The deer trophy is the last thing that Claire notices in the office

In Resident Evil: Nemesis, Jill Valentine is trying to survive in the hostile streets of the zombie-infested Raccoon City, and at some points she gets in Jack's Bar. In there, a deer trophy is hanging on one of the walls.

Jill has no time to marvel at the deer trophy as she has more urgent issues to deal with

In Resident Evil 4, Leon Kennedy is in Spain, looking for Ashley, the kidnapped daughter of the US President (incidentally, Ashley is also the name of the main male hero in the Evil Dead movies). After finding her, they get inside the creepy castle of the half-crazy mutated midget Ramon Salazar, where Ashley manages to separate herself from Leon and fall in a trap. Leon starts exploring the huge, unfriendly castle to find her, and in one of its halls, he sees a deer trophy on a wall.

This deer trophy is serving decorating purposes only

Just beyond this hall is the Gallery, where one more deer trophy is hanging. This one holds a spinel in its eye. You can shoot it so as to get the stone, as it is valuable and you can sell it later, but it's optional.

The sparkling eye effect is because of the spinel

Much later, Leon enters a bizzare room where an important object, the King's Grail, is located. This room has a deer trophy on one of its walls. There is a red stone attached to the deer's forehead, but you can't grab it; you can't even shoot it.

The gem looks precious but Leon cannot take it

In Resident Evil: Revelations, Jill Valentine and Parker Luciani are captured on a mysterious ship and they have to go looking for keys and clues. In the cabin where Jill wakes up, there is a deer trophy on a wall.

Jill is wondering how come they decorated a ship with hunting trophies

There is one more in a luxurious cabin on the ship (probably of the A-class).

The deer heads look quite creepy in the gloominess of the ship

In addition, there a few more hunting trophies in the games, which belong to other animals that are not deer.

In Resident Evil: Outbreak File #1, in the episode Decisions, Decisions where you explore the Raccoon City University, you can see a moose trophy at the back of the main hall. This trophy is part of a puzzle, which requires from you to find two gems and place them on the moose's eyes to open a door.

Cindy is a bit intimidated by the gaze of the moose

In Resident Evil: Outbreak File #2, in the episode Desperate Times which takes place in the Racoon Police Department, a moose head can be seen on the wall of the back corridor, near the stairwell that leads to the basement.

This is a weird place for a hunting trophy

In Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, in the Fourth Survivor episode where we witness the events through Hunk's eyes, the moose trophy can be spotted in the exact same spot.

Hunk sees the moose head appearing as he is ascending from the basement

Interestingly enough, there is no moose trophy in that place in Resident Evil 2.

In Resident Evil Zero, Billy Coen and Rebecca Chambers are looking for clues in the many rooms of the Umbrella Training Facility. In one of the locked rooms, which opens with a special key, there is a moose trophy above a fireplace, which holds the Iron Needle in its right eye.

To be able to spot the item in the deer's eye, you have to turn the light on first

In Resident Evil 6, Leon with his new partner Helena Harper find themselves in the Tall Oaks University from where they are trying to escape as it is overwhelmed by zombies. In one of the main offices of the building, there is a moose trophy on a glass window frame.

A big moose head is decorating the main office

There is one more in the small library where they enter later with the janitor who is looking for his daughter.

Tall Oaks must have a lot of moose in its countryside

Some time later, and after helping out a group of survivors at a gas station, Leon and Helena seek refuge with them in a nearby gun shop. In there, a moose trophy can be spotted on one of the walls.

The gun shop owner has placed the moose trophy there so as to attact hunters

In Resident Evil Remake HD, in the same room with the deer trophy that holds the red gem, where the stuffed eagle monitors your moves, there is a bull head trophy on the opposite wall. This trophy holds a yellow gem, which is an optional item.

Jill has to outsmart the eagle in order to get the yellow gem

In Resident Evil 2, in Chief Irons's office where the deer head is also located, there is a bull trophy just next to it. And just like in the room with the deer and bull trophies in the original Resident Evil, here too there is a stuffed eagle to go with.

Chief Irons is obvously a hunter in his free time

In Resident Evil 7, there is a bull head trophy in the Recreation Room of the Baker residence. It is missing its left ear, probably alluding to Ethan, who had his left hand chopped off at some point.

Ethan finds the decoration in the Baker house to be rather scary

There is another bull trophy in the Drawing Room. It is missing its left ear as well.

Many hunting trophies are usually placed above fireplaces

In the backroom of the Drawing Room, there is a goat head trophy on a wall.

Obviously the Bakers were not so pleased with this trophy, since they had it in a dark backroom

In the same room, there is another goat trophy lying on a bookshelf.

They did not even bother hanging this one

Another goat head trophy is sitting on a shelf in the safe room just above the basement staircase.

So many goat heads

In Resident Evil 4, in the room of the castle that holds the King's Grail, where also one of the deer trophies is, there is a goat head trophy on another wall. It has a blue stone on its forehead.

The hunting trophies in this room are revealed when the crypts below them turn around to release the knights

In the same room, there is also a wolf head trophy on a third wall, which has a yellow stone.

The wolf looks quite angry

In Resident Evil: Revelations 2, in the Wossek Inn where the Terra Save members go following Alex Wesker's orders, there are moose horns hanging above the entrance.

Once upon a time, this inn must have been rather nice

In Resident Evil 7, the Drawing Room has a custom chandelier made of horns from a deer trophy hanging from the ceiling.

The Bakers must have always had a thing for creepy decorations

There may be no deer head tropy in Resident Evil 7, however there is one full stuffed deer in the Drawing room.

Did they actually kill it and stuff it themselves?

I didn't include the following at first, because I wasn't sure if it's actually a hunting trophy in the sense that the others are, or just a souvenir or a hunting prize. But since it is related to both the Evil Dead movie and Resident Evil 7, I decided to add it in. In the cabin where the movie takes place, there is a trout trophy (or at least something like it) on one of the walls.

The trout trophy is indifferent to what happens near it

In Resident Evil 7, we can see a very similar one in the Drawing room.

The Bakers used to like fishing

And there is one more on the wall of the corridor in the guest house.

The trophy in the guest house is identical to the one in the main house

The Resident Piano

One of the most popular recurring items in the Resident Evil universe is undoubtedly the piano, which most of the times is also an important puzzle element. From the first Resident Evil games to the latest ones, there almost always seems to be a piano found somewhere - sometimes more than one.

The 'expensive-looking grand piano' that is in the bar of the Spencer Mansion in Resident Evil 1 is probably the most iconic one. 

 

To access that room, Chris or Jill must first find the Armor Key, and to be able to play the piano, they must combine the Musical Score found in the same room with the Missing Music Sheet found in a small backroom just before Yawn's lair in the barn. The music piece they have to play is The Moonlight Sonata, and playing it correctly reveals a secret area in this same room.

Chris isn't very good at it, so he cannot open the secret area by himself. He tries to play the piece, but the tune he puts together is quite the improvisation.

Rebecca comes to the rescue, but she has to practice a bit before she is able to play the piece properly.

Jill has no need for assistance, as she seems to be quite skilled.

Jill has the chance to show off her talent again much later, during the flashback story of Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares. In that brief but memorable mini game, we get to see how Jill and Chris went back to the Spencer Mansion looking for answers. While exploring the creepy villa, they come across a grand piano in an empty room.

The music piece is again The Moonlight Sonata, so Chris does not even attempt to try it. When Jill plays the piece, part of the wall opens, revealing a secret passage.

What makes the difference in this case is that the player has to literally play the piano, as there are different prompts popping up while Jill is playing. If you press the wrong button, Jill presses the wrong key, makes a mistake, gets angry and stops playing, resetting the puzzle.

In Resident Evil Zero, Rebecca and Billy explore the Umbrella Training Facility which is naturally full of traps, enemies and puzzles. There is also a Piano Bar in the facility, because even bad guys with vicious intents need some entertainment.

The Piano Bar is a vintage-looking room, very atmospheric in its dim light. Again the piano is not there just for decoration, as playing it opens a hidden passage nearby.

It looks like that, unlike Jill, Rebecca was not always a good piano player. When she attemps to play, she messes up midway and gives up.

Which gives the chance to Billy to impress the crowds by unfolding his extraordinary piano playing skilks.

Billy plays the piece correctly and the wall nearby opens, giving access to the secret area.

In the recent remake of Resident Evil Zero, you get the chance to play the game in Wesker mode, where Billy is replaced by Wesker and you go through the whole adventure as him. When Wesker gets to the Piano Bar with Rebecca, he also shows off his great talent.

In Resident Evil 3, Jill comes across two pianos, both in the Clock Tower.

There is a grand piano in the anteroom of the Chapel.

And there is a regular one inside the Chapel.

Unfortunately neither one is playable, so we miss the chance to marvel at Jill's talent one more time.

In Resident Evil: Outbreak, there is a grand piano in the Art Gallery of the Raccoon City University.

This piano too is playable, but unless your character of choice is Cindy, you can't use it. Cindy seems to be the only one from the group of survivors who knows how to play the piano. Once she does, a statue behind her lowers its arm and a blue jewel, necessary for a puzzle later, becomes accessible.

In the beautiful but eery Ashford Mansion grounds, in Resident Evil: Code Veronica, there are two pianos. There is one in the main villa, in the Poker Room, which is locked and opens with the Silver Key that is hidden in the secret Residence.

It is a vintage grand piano, which is also a mechanical one, designed to read out data. Claire has to retrieve a Piano Roll from the torture chambers in the undergrounds of the prison area and place it in the respective slot on the piano to be able to use it. The piano then plays a haunting lullaby tune and an important item is revealed somewhere else in the room.

Claire finds one more piano, this time in the attic of the Residence. The Residence is hidden from the world, only accessed via a secret passage in a small office of the main villa. From there, a long ghostly path leads to an isolated tower, which is the house of the Ashfords. From another secret passage inside one of the bedrooms there, Claire goes up in the attic, which looks like a playground and is full of toys and musical instruments. There is a piano among them.

The piano in the Music Room of the Tall Oaks University in Resident Evil 6 seems to be a reminiscent of the one in the Raccoon City University.

This piano is not playable, but as you approach the room it is in, you can hear a piano melody echoing in the creepy silence. The melody stops abruptly as you kick open the door.

Something similar happens at the finale of Resident Evil: Revelations 2. As Barry and Natalia approach the final room, a piano melody is being heard from inside. Then in the room, they find a piano, but nobody is around.

This piano looks identical with the one in Tall Oaks (see above). Even the overturned chair is there. And it's not playable either.

In Resident Evil 6, there is one more piano in the Living Quarters of the Research Facility where Sherry and Jake are held captive. Once they manage to escape from the Research Center, they have to find a certain number of Medallions so as to unlock the Comms Room. While exploring the luxurious building, kicking the ass of any J'avo that gets in their way, they locate a fancy bar with billiards and a white piano.

This piano is playable, and once you play it you are rewarded with one of the Medallions. There is no specific piece you have to play and it doesn't matter if you play it correctly or not; you will get the Medallion anyway.

Sherry decides to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, admittedly not particularly well.

When it comes to Jake, he reveals an incredible talent, by playing the Revolutionary Étude by Chopin, an extremely demanding and difficult piece, like a virtuoso.

Well, he is a Wesker after all; his talents and skills could fill a book.

In Resident Evil 7, there are three pianos.

One in the guest house, which is the one that could be seen in the demo:

When you try to hit a key, the cover drops and shuts. A ghost piano, definitely.

There is another one in the old house, in the back room of Marguerite's altar:

On your second visit there, just as you are approaching, you can clearly hear someone playing and stopping abruptly but when you get in that room, of course there is noone inside.

And there is another one in Lucas's old bedroom:

When you try to play, Ethan says that it is broken.

• Playing the piano in Resident Evil