Hook Man

"Hook Man" as seen in the E3 2003 demonstration.

The "Hook Man" was an enemy that appeared in the E3 2003 live demo and trailer for Resident Evil 4. It was one of several enemies created for the purpose of the tech demo to demonstrate the enemy spawn and combat mechanics, and was likely never intended to be in the retail version itself. The enemy took the form of a painting which seemingly comes to life during one of many hallucinations suffered by an infected Leon S. Kennedy.

Details

Background

Following the TGS 2002 showing of Resident Evil 4's "Castle" build, co-writer Yasuhisa Kawamura petitioned for a re-working of the game to replace the broken Black Fog enemy while maintaining the game's ambitious nature. The "Hallucination" build was built up on the previous version, and was to focus on hallucinatory enemies more akin to the Silent Hill franchise; in this build a real and un-real version of each room was to load simultaneously, with the player crossing hidden checkpoints to transition between worlds and having a blue filter indicate the transition.

Hook Man

The Hook Man enemy was created as part of the E3 2003 demo. Like the living dolls, it was designed to better demonstrate the hallucination mechanic and the game's new approach to enemy design. During the demo, Leon would enter a dining room and attempt to go down an adjacent corridor. The start of the corridor hides a secret checkpoint positioned against painting of a fisherman carrying a hook; when Leon goes past this painting, the player triggers a hallucination, and the Hook Man climbs out of the painting.

The Hook Man demonstrated several mechanics during combat. Firstly, it was capable of limited teleportation as a means of catching up with the player and throwing off their aim. As its attacks were physical in nature, the player was also able to use the game's Struggle mechanic to avoid injury. Hook Man was generally immune to gunfire, though this immunity could be turned off by environmental conditions. In the demo, this was shown as him being hurt by a flash of lightning while stood at a window, which would momentarily paralyse him and render him vulnerable.

In the ending of the demo, which is ripped from the Biohazard 4 trial, the "Thank You for Playing" message featured a concept art that presumably belonged to the Hook Man. The artwork in question featured a man with white eyes that are slightly asymmetrical (specifically, his right eye is slightly higher than his left eye). A similar illusive effect on his face can be seen in the actual game-play footage.

Further Notes

Lost Souls hallucination scene

The scene in question from Lost Souls.

• According to Yasuhisa Kawamura, the concept of the Hook Man, and to a greater extent the entire idea behind the Hallucination build, was derived from a scene in the 2000 American horror film Lost Souls, where Maya Larkin (played by Winona Ryder), proceeds to have a hallucination of her being in a derelict building with a killer on the loose while washing her hands.