Rampage is rated PG-13, as might be expected, given that it’s a blockbuster action adaptation of a corny video game series starring Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson. However, there are still some pretty gnarly moments and plenty of extreme deaths during the three monsters’ assault on Chicago. One particularly unfortunate kill is an Easter egg that harkens back to video games’s pixelated violence.
This post contains spoilers for Rampage.
Toward the end of Rampage, when George the giant gorilla, Ralph the giant wolf, and Lizzie the giant Crocodile are all attacking Chicago, the Rock is trying to find a way to stop them from, well, rampaging. The three beasts are going off in the first place because the evil corporate executive Claire Wyden (Malin Akerman) has lured them to the top of the Willis Tower. She has a serum that will make the monsters end their blind rage, but the Rock has no way of getting it to George, especially when Claire has a gun. She’s also wearing a red dress, which will be important in a moment.
The Rock manages to solve two problems at once by luring George to where Claire has him cornered. Then, the giant ape picks her up in one giant hand, holds her over his mouth, and drops her into his jaws as she screams before swallowing her whole.
Eating a woman wearing a red dress is a hallmark of the video games, as director Brad Peyton told Digital Spy.
“You know, the game is quite simple. It’s smashing buildings as a creature,” he said. “Every once in a while, you’d smash open a window, and there’d be a woman in a red dress, and you could eat her and get extra points.”
“The woman in the red dress is, to me, the ultimate Easter egg,” Peyton said.
Given that one of the other Easter eggs in the movie is a quick shot of a literal Rampage arcade game, George chowing down on a lady in a red dress is certainly a more subtle Easter egg. It’s also a pretty terrible way to die, getting swallowed alive! Sure, Claire was super, comically evil, but it’s a little strange to see George engage in a little vore action, and then later laugh and walk into the sunset with the Rock, a good guy once more.
Rampage is now in theaters.
