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Could Left 4 Dead Make Its Way to the Wii U?
Nintendo’s next console, the Wii U, was officially revealed at E3 earlier this month to a mostly warm reception. It brings with it things we expected, like better hardware, and a few surprises, particularly its unique controller. The Wii U is Nintendo’s next console is also a big step toward giving third party developers, like Valve Software, more options with their console. So far the list of third party companies interested in the console is pretty impressive, including big names like Ubisoft, EA, and Activision. So what about Valve?
The team that brought us the critically acclaimed Portal, Left 4 Dead and Half-Life series definitely has their interest piqued. Valve’s managing director, Gabe Newell, had positive things to say about Nintendo’s next console, saying “It sort of fits better into the scalability in terms of graphics performance and CPU performance, so I think it’ll be a lot easier for us to fit it into our scalability model.” Could this mean the cooperative zombie series Left 4 Dead might make its way to the Wii U? If anything, the chances are better now than they were on the Wii. When showcasing the console’s controller at E3 Nintendo demonstrated a potential ability that would only be possible on the Wii U. Because you essentially have two screens, your TV and the touchscreen on the controller, there may be situations where you’ll need to aim the controller at the blind spots on the left and right of the television to reveal potential enemies (like, say, zombies) that could be hidden from view. This feature would be a fantastic addition to the Left 4 Dead series, adding to the already incredibly frenetic combat in the game.
Or Nintendo fans could get other major Valve games like Team Fortress 2, a game who’s cartoony style would fit well with the Wii’s demographics (the violence and bloodshed however might not).
Yeah, that works too.
Let’s start with the good news. Lockbox looks far better than its misleading marketing materials suggest, a supernatural horror movie so darkly lit and color graded that you’ll have to squint your way through jump scares. It’s also anchored by reliable genre performers. That’s also about where the good news ends with this rote adaptation of Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop.”
The empathetic Carla Gugino gives her all as Ellen, a saint of a woman with boundless patience who takes on life’s hard luck with a kind smile. After giving up her career as a fashion designer to become caretaker for a dying mother, she’s then forced to reinvent herself once more when her caretaker role ends. That catches us up to the events of Lockbox, where Ellen is asked to take in a cousin she hasn’t seen in quite some time who’s dealing with severe PTSD.
Just as Ellen finally establishes a real connection with Winthrop (Lou Taylor Pucci), it’s interrupted by the arrival of peculiar neighbor Vahna (Katharine Isabelle), who spells clear trouble. When Vahna shows up dead, it sets in motion a supernatural battle of possession.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
Director Daniel Stamm (The Last Exorcism, Prey for the Devil) and screenwriter Justin Yoffe approach Lockbox in the broadest of brushstrokes, dooming it from the start with clunky storytelling and woefully underdeveloped themes of heady topics like PTSD. Winthrop is a character that comes loaded with emotional baggage and trauma that’s piled on throughout his tragic life, but much like its title, his interiority and history are treated like a tightly guarded secret meant to prolong the supernatural mystery.
The problem here, though, is that Lockbox is too sparse to sustain mystery at all, and it instead robs Winthrop of characterization. It winds up trapping the talented Pucci without anywhere to go, toggling between wounded animal and mentally disoriented.
From there, Lockbox bounds through plot developments without any sense of stakes or purpose, peppered by a smattering of haphazard paint-by-numbers jump scares. The only unwavering constant is Ellen’s resolute faith, and Stamm seems to leave it entirely to Gugino to guide confused audiences through this inconsequential story right up until its supernatural climax.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
To give more credit, Lockbox at least injects an unconventional exorcism here; just don’t expect much in the way of explanation. When the film finally reveals the meaning behind its title, it dangles a fascinating carrot it has zero interest in delivering. More than a severe lack of fleshing out its characters beyond plot drivers or devices, this faith-based flick also seems terrified to offer any worldbuilding whatsoever.
Yoffe’s script stretches the short story beyond its means instead of fleshing it out, and Stamm fills out the gaps with cheap CGI scares and overwrought performances; Isabelle’s Vahna is beyond cartoonish in her villainy. It’s also pretty nonsensical, treating only Ellen’s faith with the utmost sincerity and largely squandering its typically reliable talent. So much so that the final imagery, pure sunkissed saccharine sentimentality, leaves you with the feeling that this horror movie might be better suited as an entry in Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Lockbox releases in select theaters on July 3, 2026.
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