The Hive (Resident Evil)

The Hive (or Hive) is a fictional top secret underground laboratory in the 2002 film Resident Evil. The complex is controlled by a super computer known as The Red Queen. The facility is located deep beneath the streets of Raccoon City and houses more than 500 scientists, technicians and support staff, all of which are employed by The Umbrella Corporation.

History
In Resident Evil, it is implied that the origins of the T-Virus were first discovered and produced in the facility. The T-Virus was engineered by Dr. Charles Ashford to make his daughter Angela Ashford walk again.

After Umbrella learned of his discovery the virus was taken away, and it was later used to create biological and viral weaponry. Dr. Ashford was instructed to oversee the design and construction of the Hive, and was given the Hive's leadership duties. He designed a supercomputer called the Red Queen (with a holographic representation of his daughter as an user interface) to automatically control the Hive.

T-Virus outbreak
During the attempted theft of the T-Virus, a vial was deliberately broken, releasing the virus into the ventilation systems. An uncontrollable pattern of infection began to spread and the Red Queen sealed off all entrances killing everybody inside in order to contain the infection. Hours later, Umbrella dispatched a team of Special Ops (Possibly the U.B.C.S.) to investigate the homicides of the Hive's staff and to shut down the Red Queen. They find Alice (a security operative who has just woken up with amnesia), Matt Addison (an environmentalist) and Spence who is found locked inside the train's closet.

After successfully shutting down the Red Queen, The Hive loses power, unlocking all doors and rooms. The dead reanimate and roam the corridors of the deserted complex. The mission becomes a fight for survival and results in the reactivation of the Red Queen. Only two survivors emerge from the Hive, Matt and Alice. Upon arrival at the mansion, both are seized by Umbrella scientists. Matt is taken away into the Nemesis program. Alice is placed into quarantine at Raccoon City Hospital.

Re-opening
After the events of Resident Evil, the Umbrella Corporation assembled and sent in a specialist team to re-open the underground facility in order to find out what happened to everyone down there.

In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the specialist team is situated at the Hive's emergency entrance. As the medical team proceeds into the dark, the infection begins to spread with hundreds picked up on the contagion screen.

Raccoon City incident
The re-opening of the Hive was responsible for the deaths of thousands in Raccoon City. The virus spread from human to human quickly. Umbrella set up a wall around Raccoon City to quarantine the civilians. A screening process was implemented at Raven Gate's bridge to detect T-Virus in people, and remaining infected citizens were ordered to return to their homes.

When the virus reached its critical stages, Umbrella activated its Nemesis program to kill the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members (Special Tactics And Rescue Squad) who knew the truth about Umbrella's involvement in the Arklay Mountains incident. During the Raccoon City incident, news reporter Terri Morales videotaped Umbrella's response to the outbreak. Umbrella was held responsible for the death of thousands until the video was discredited as a hoax. Umbrella stated a nuclear disaster similar to Chernobyl occurred during the early hours.

Trivia

 * The Hive is the name of one of the levels in Resident Evil Outbreak. However, this scenario takes place in Raccoon City Hospital, with the characters being attacked by hordes of leeches.
 * The train featured in the film's closing sequence is borrowed from the final level of Resident Evil 2.
 * The laser grid security system seen in the Hive was later implemented in Resident Evil 4. However, failing to pass the grid will result in a clean death sequence instead of a graphic dismemberment.