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‘Moving Hazard’ Footage Weaponizes the Undead Hordes
We’re only privy to a fraction of the video games that are expected to arrive in 2016 and it’s already shaping up to be another solid year for the horror genre. Illfonic will be contributing to this in a big way with the long-awaited Friday the 13th: The Game, and another that could end up being more than just another video game about zombies.
The zombie subgenre has gotten so crowded lately that it’s appeared to have run out of room for original ideas. Instead, we’ve endured a steady stream of open-world survival games peppered with the odd Resident Evil and occasional Walking Dead spin-off.
Enter Moving Hazard. An over-saturated market may actually benefit a game like this, as it’s one of the few titles we have to look forward to in the coming year that’s not repeating the same tired formula. It probably won’t be revolutionary or breathe new life into anything, but it might have something to say that we haven’t already heard dozens of times over.
Moving Hazard is a squad-based shooter set in a world that’s still recovering from a zombie apocalypse. An epidemic has decimated our civilization and the already scarce natural resources it relies on to function, forcing what’s left of humanity to hide behind thick walls so as not to be interrupted while they make lemonade out of lemons — i.e. weaponize the undead hordes.
If that sounds like a loose video game adaptation of the films that were supposed to follow the official Resident Evil storyline until the success of the later sequels freed Paul W.S. Anderson to do what he wants, then I concur. Those movies always had more in common with a video game. When this hits PC in early 2016, it’ll bring it full circle.
Interestingly enough, Moving Hazard has the greatest competition in Capcom’s series, and specifically its multiplayer-centric Umbrella Corps spin-off that also employs a similar combination of human soldiers enlisting science on a legion of mindless ghouls given purpose to win their wars for them. There’s no escaping that “humans are worse than zombies” message, apparently.
The best part about engaging with collaborative genre fiction on the internet is that anyone can get in on the action, with worldwide accessibility often resulting in absurd story beats that wouldn’t be possible if any single person was responsible for the entire narrative. And while Kane Parsons’ Backrooms film is definitely the young filmmaker’s own unique take on the infamous creepypasta, it’s fun to see other creators join the Backrooms sandbox now that the big screen adaptation is getting ready for a record-shattering opening weekend.
As if cleverly timed releases like Puppet Combo’s The Backrooms game weren’t enough (not to mention that Scary Movie poster poking fun at Parsons’ flick), McDonald’s official social media accounts have now released an analog horror video of their own celebrating the liminal terrors of the McRooms – complete with a familiar purple surprise at the end of the footage.
While it’s funny enough to see the world’s most recognizable Fast Food giant engage with internet-borne Found Footage thrills seemingly out of the blue, the video is actually referencing a long-running gag among the Backrooms fandom where creators jokingly talk about there being a fully functional McDonald’s restaurant hidden somewhere in level 0 of the infamous liminal labyrinth.
Now, would it be too much to hope for a moist-carpet-flavored McShake to tie in with the film?
Backrooms is now playing only in theaters from A24.
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