Editorials
Five More Horror ARGs That Hollywood Should Adapt After ‘Backrooms’
It’s been two years since it was first announced that Kane Parsons’ reimagining of the Backrooms would be getting the Hollywood treatment. Since then, it seems like audiences have finally warmed up to the idea of internet-based horror on the big screen.
Not only does A24’s Backrooms movie look like it’s going to be an unprecedented hit, but the success of films like Markiplier’s Iron Lung seems to suggest that mainstream viewers are ready for less conventional creators to make the transition to Hollywood filmmaking.
In honor of internet-based scares making their way to theaters, I’m highlighting five more ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) that Hollywood should adapt after Backrooms! While the film’s initial announcement inspired a similar article, there are now plenty of new options available, sure to entertain horror fans.
That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own online favorites if you think a particularly freaky ARG was missed that could impress viewers on the big screen.
With that out of the way, onto the list.
5. The Mandela Catalogue
The best part about engaging with an effective horror ARG is being able to immerse yourself in a creepy new world that feels like a warped version of reality. This is precisely why Alex Kister’s The Mandela Catalogue is so effective, as his alternate history narrative about shapeshifting demons slowly replacing the population of a small town takes place within a fully fleshed-out community.
Set in the fictional Mandela County, Wisconsin, The Mandela Catalogue may not boast a Hollywood-level budget, but that doesn’t make this apocalyptic story showcasing the eternal conflict between Heaven and Hell any less ambitious. From nightmarish imagery crafted from simple Photoshop edits to subtle storytelling that implies Eldritch horrors without actually having to show them, Kister’s project is a masterclass in making the most of limited resources.
4. Where is Everybody
Originally posted to TikTok in October of 2019, Alexander Nielsen’s Where is Everybody is one of the shortest horror experiences on this list. In fact, I’d argue that it’s easier to simply watch all of Nielsen’s videos than to continue reading this entry. If you don’t have the time, however, this fascinating TikTok account posts brief recordings supposedly made by a young man who finds himself quite literally alone in the world, with his post-apocalyptic exploration making for a fascinating series of lo-fi thrills.
While we’ve seen similar concepts before in minimalist ARGs like hiimmarymary, Nielsen’s flawless execution of a simple concept makes his work extremely easy to adapt to a feature film. In fact, studios could maintain the exact same found footage format and focus on expanding the lonely world surrounding our doomed protagonist.
3. Angel Hare
The cursed kid’s show is one of the oldest tropes in Creepypasta history, with similar horror stories having been told even before the rise of Kris Straub’s infamous Candle Cove back in 2009. However, Angel Hare stands out by having its fictional animated series be a bizarre Christian program with a sentient main character that appears to directly address our confused protagonist.
Not only is this a legitimately unsettling story about confronting your past, but Angel Hare also benefits from tight writing that makes it feel like a complete narrative with a clearly defined beginning, middle, and ending – a rarity amongst ARGs.
2. The Oldest View
Kane Parsons has already stated that he’s not yet done working with The Backrooms, and fans have been left to wonder if the filmmaker’s comments are hinting towards a possible sequel or perhaps even more videos in his long-running ARG. However, I’m of the opinion that, after the release of his hotly anticipated film, Parsons should instead focus on an adaptation of his most original work to date: the incredibly underrated The Oldest View series.
A surreal narrative about a vlogger who inexplicably encounters an abandoned mall at the bottom of an underground tunnel, the show appears to be a moody commentary on nostalgia and historical memory. It also happens to be bursting at the seams with Liminal Horror (while also featuring one of the all-time creepiest antagonists in ARG history). That’s why I’d love to see this found footage yarn make the leap to the big screen.
1. Mystery Flesh Pit National Park
Inspiration can come from anywhere, but even veteran storytellers will likely be surprised to learn that Trevor Roberts’ cosmic/body horror opus has its origins in a rotting cantaloupe that he discovered in the break room while working as an architect. Roberts would then edit a snapshot of the decaying fruit into an existing picture of a mine in South Africa, with the ensuing image becoming the basis of a long-running story about a massive superorganism buried in central Texas.
A gruesome satire of corporate greed and how human beings can quickly adapt to ridiculous situations, Mystery Flesh Pit National Park is a multifaceted narrative told through in-universe writing, illustrations, and even a Tabletop RPG. Of course, a Hollywood movie would ideally take the form of a mockumentary following the creation of the park and the terrifying 2007 disaster that led to its closing.
College kids, strippers and vampires—those were Donald P. Borchers’ only requirements when he approached Richard Wenk about writing and directing a movie for New World Pictures. As requested, Wenk cooked up Vamp (1986), a tailor-made blend of the decade’s teen movie craze as well as its horror boom.
Grim and earnest stories were still very much a part of the ’80s horror landscape, yet Vamp is something of a comedy. One difference between it and, say, Saturday the 14th, though, is the former avoids using schtick. Wenk’s movie proves that horror comedies also don’t have to subtract thrills from their recipes. Of course, it takes a minute before reaching that point; college antics and culture shocks preface this one macabre misadventure.
Vamp‘s initial setup is apt for a typical college-set, sex-driven comedy; to bribe their way into a fraternity house, two pledges (Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler) go looking for some adult entertainment. Without wasting time on any further exposition, the characters embark on an all-in-one-night trip that quickly detours into terror.
To procure their elusive MacGuffin—a stripper willing to gyrate for some frat boys—Keith (Makepeace) and AJ (Rusler), plus a third wheel named Duncan (Gedee Watanabe), trade the safety of their remote college campus for the seediness of some unnamed city. The setting is recognizably L.A. by day, but as soon as night falls, downtown, along with the characters, slips into a kind of surreal universe. Director of photography Elliot Davis gave this early entry on his prolific résumé an unusual yet distinctive look; that Mario Bava-esque, magenta-green lighting is omnipresent, so much so that it’s almost its own character.
Chris Makepeace and Robert Rusler in Vamp
The faint comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours are merited, although not just because of Vamp’s distinguishing nighttime aesthetic. Save for the primary characters, the supporting roles in Wenk’s movie are also quite colorful and transactional in their behavior. The difference here, though, is the additional urge to ruin Keith and his friends at every turn. Some of that harm is humorous and tolerable enough, whereas the moment Vamp dishes out its first fatality, it’s abundantly clear how this movie qualifies as horror.
Vamp falls into that category of horror movie that reveals its genre with a scream rather than a series of whispers. The opening scene can function as a hint of what lies ahead—things are not at all what they appear to be—but otherwise, Wenk is more than happy to hold off on the horror. When that time does come, though, it catches the viewer off guard. In addition to the pure shock value is that sudden decision to upend the movie’s foremost feature. Or so it would seem.
If afraid of major spoilage, those new to Vamp would be wise to stop reading here. There’s just no skirting around the fact that the central fellowship in this buddy movie hits a serious snag when AJ is killed. That development causes the story to become more of a “long, bad night” journey for Keith and his romantic interest. So while Wenk scores points for subverting expectations, there is also a touch of sadness in his decision. Because if Vamp does anything well, it’s making the characters likable.
Something that comes easily to Vamp—and other teen horror movies from this same era—is its ability to invent young characters worth caring about, or at the very least, are interesting and not so immediately off-putting. More impressive is how Wenk did all this without actually fleshing out those characters. Still and all, Keith and his kind are a grade above cookie-cutter, and in some cases, aren’t completely devoid of growth.
Grace Jones in Vamp
Vamp appeals with an assorted cast of characters. No two are the same, nor are they operating on the same wavelength. The cinematically extroverted AJ, whose actor conveyed charm and vulnerability in near equal amounts, comes alive when he’s at his most undead. Makepeace then makes the chronically cautious Keith a sympathetic fellow, even as he’s more and more affected by the night’s bizarre events. Meanwhile, Duncan is indeed the designated loser of the whole bunch, but Watanabe still manages to humanize him. As a bonus, the role didn’t require him to pull a Long Duk Dong.
As for Dedee Pfeiffer, she is plain adorable as the mysterious After Dark server nicknamed “Amaretto”. She spends all night fixing her dress strap while at the same time trying to get Keith to remember how he knows her. As their offbeat romance grows, it becomes another highlight of this movie. Whether or not Pfeiffer’s character is really a vampire also creates some welcome tension in the story.
Like a lot of its contemporaries, Vamp went on to become a bit of a cult classic. That current status is determined by several factors, but without a doubt, the casting of Grace Jones is the most considerable. The image of her writhing on that unique-looking chair, a Keith Haring original, springs to mind whenever this movie is brought up.
Chris Makepeace, Billy Drago and Paunita Nichols in Vamp
Prior to that first display of unequivocal horror, local vampire queen Katrina (Jones) took to the stage and delivered a strip show like no other. One would expect nothing less from that renowned model and performance artist. By now reports of Jones’ tardiness on set are no secret, yet it’s also hard to deny her commitment to the part of Katrina. It was, in fact, Jones who took charge of her character’s appearance—on top of Haring painting her body and that now-iconic chair, she had Andy Warhol handle her costuming. And not too many actors could seize a room’s attention without saying a single line of dialogue.
In 2022, Vamp received a retrospective novelization from Encyclopocalypse. This literary union of preexisting source material—Wenk’s original screenplay—and new ideas from author Christian Francis amounts to a more comprehensive visit to the After Dark Club. The basic story there is no different than what’s shown on screen; however, Francis gets creative with the characters’ origins and designs, and he enhances a number of key scenes.
The novelization expands on the urban and social decay of the main setting, and supplies a background for the After Dark Club. Sandy Baron’s character, Katrina’s emcee and familiar, is given ample motivation for sticking around; up until the fiery end, he is loyal to his friend and former business partner “Squeak”, who looks like he was “fed through a combine harvester, and left as nothing more than a heap of mangled remains”. Then there is Billy Drago’s character Snow, the leader of a street gang called The Dragons. His reason for menacing Keith and AJ is more altruistic than in the movie; he and his peers act tough to scare off any potential food for the vampires.
Lisa Lyon in Vamp
If not for all the backstories, Francis’ Vamp would be a hell of a lot shorter. Instead, this tie-in read dives into how AJ met Keith—the orphaned Anthony Joseph hailed from a broken home back in Brooklyn—and how their friendship flourished over the years. Keith’s archership is no longer just an assumed part of his entire being; it’s a confidence-building extracurricular for a boy who got picked on before coming into the protection of the new kid in town. These supplemental, in-depth looks at the protagonists, plus their close connection, are maybe unnecessary. The movie already did a fair and concise job of addressing their platonic intimacy without the need for flashbacks and insights, specifically in that scene where AJ lays it all out as he sacrifices himself.
Where the novelization gets off course is its approach to the minor characters. Intermittently backstorying the likes of Katrina’s indentured servants, Seko (Leila Hee Olsen) and Vlad (Brad Logan), ends up disturbing the flow of the writing. Was it absolutely essential that readers know Vlad was the Grand Duke of the House of Romanov, or how Snow’s accomplice Maven (Paunita Nichols) became so dentally challenged? No, not really. However, one’s mileage with these random biographies may vary.
The novelization is a more substantial experience, but for a movie like Vamp, less is more. And as plentiful as they are, it never simply coasts on its campy charms, either. The character work sits comfortably in that realm between cursory and meticulous, the script is sharper than first realized, and Greg Cannom’s vampire makeup is straightforward yet effective. Most of all, the movie didn’t squander its out-of-the-box concept. Richard Wenk made his vision of a “comic nightmare in which just about anything that can go wrong does” come true, and it is very enjoyable.
You must be logged in to post a comment.