Editorials
Horror Icons in Fighting Games – Why It’s a KO Move!
As more and more horror icons are getting crammed into fighting titles, we explore the relationship between the two
The villains and anti-heroes of our favorite horror franchises have effectively been terrorizing and entertaining audiences (“terrortaining”, to coin a bad phrase) for decades now across numerous franchises. We love these monsters. We need these monsters. But in spite of the constant franchise-ization of horror and the many costumes of these boogeymen that are trotted out every Halloween allowing us to become them, there is still a degree of disconnect going on here. Even though audiences have made it clear that they want to be these monsters, video games have been incredibly slow on the uptake to cater to this wicked whim.
With the recent announcement that the Xenomorph and Leatherface are both soon to join the bloody fray of Mortal Kombat X, some interesting questions have been brought up as a result. With this news causing an avalanche of excitement between Mortal Kombat and horror fans alike, why has this trend been so slow moving? Why haven’t horror icons seen a full invasion into the violent fighting genre of gaming at this point? We’ll examine the progress made in this area through the recent years, as well as how horror could firmly transplant itself in the medium and create a whole new messy playground to invade.
Admittedly, video games haven’t been completely devoid of featuring some of our favorite horror heavyweights through the years. Franchises like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and even The Texas Chain Saw Massacre have all seen video game adaptations, but these have been few and far between, not to mention resulting in shoddy titles that are largely superfluous. Only recently, with the release of Alien: Isolation have we seen horror franchises beginning to get respect in the medium with this hopefully becoming a trend of what’s to come. There have been wheels in motion recently to get Jason Voorhes back in the gaming world with a new Friday the 13th title, and the timing couldn’t be better.
With it appearing like (at least for now) that action-adventure and even survival horror angles for horror franchise adaptations aren’t the right direction, what seems like the next logical choice is to turn to the realm of fighting games. This genre distills this mindless carnage of horror films into a medium that revolves around excessive gore. Putting people in control of these psychopaths (as opposed to surviving them), is additionally a fresh twist that gamers are eager for. Adversely, having a bunch of free-range horror icons in one title together becomes a fun mash-up of sorts that allows you to create your own Monster Vs. Monster scenarios, truly indulging and flexing your horror muscle.
Horror franchises allow such an easy transition into fighting games, and it’s likely why there’s already been a good deal of cross-pollination in the field. While not taking iconic horror villains per se, the Killer Instinct and Clay Fighters series were still indulging in these sort of archetypes, featuring fighters that would span everything from werewolves, to headless horsemen, to skeletons, to killer snowmen. In a lot of ways the waters were being tested here to see how palatable characters like this could be in a fighting title.
Flash forward into the more recent generations of gaming and the genesis of the popular trend of “guest characters” in fighting games. I suppose it only makes sense that in a growing time of “system exclusives” and pre-order bonuses that differ depending on your retailer, finding a way to incentivize purchases is the natural progression of things. One of the more famous examples of this has been with Namco’s popular Soul Calibur series. The multi-platform fighting title would feature different guest characters depending on which system you were purchasing for. While they might not be horror franchise icons necessarily, XBOX’s version of Soul Calibur II contains Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, and Soul Calibur IV for the PS3 features Darth Vader, opening the doors for such villainous cameos. If these sort of sweeping experiments could work, then clearly pushing things a little further wouldn’t be that difficult.
Such a push finally happened in the ninth Mortal Kombat title (aptly titled simply, Mortal Kombat), which saw the release of several DLC characters (including Kratos from the God of War video game franchise), which most notably saw the inclusion of Freddy Kreuger. With fans accepting this character with open claws and Freddy quickly becoming one of the most popular characters within the game, clearly this crossover could work. Mortal Kombat might have merely grazed this premise, but the latest game in the series, Mortal Kombat X, has made it their mantra. So Freddy might be absent from the party this time, but Mortal Kombat X does have Jason Voorhes, the Predator, with Leatherface and the Xenomorph from the Alien series on the way. That’s kind of unbelievable. People are going to be reenacting their own personal Alien Vs. Predator fight scenes now, and it’s within a title that exists beyond both of them.
Elsewhere in gaming the boundaries have become increasingly fluid, with multi-property titles like Lego Dimensions bringing stuff on the fringe of horror like Doctor Who, Jurassic World, and even 2001 into play. Valve’s Poker Night surprisingly has Ash Williams from Raimi’s Evil Dead as a character, which is a step in the right direction, even if his inclusion here is mostly useless. Even an iOS game like Car Town Streets has the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters in it! Our perception of what is acceptable and how sacred these worlds are is broadening every year.
There have been several fighting games at this point that have featured a mélange of all the monsters and kaiju out of the Godzilla franchise, with that seeming to have a somewhat smaller fan base (at least in America) than all of the most popular horror series. If these Godzilla fighters can stand, then why not a horror royal rumble? Sure, licensing could be a pain (the only real obstacle I see), but if Mortal Kombat can already assemble this sort of “talent” while seemingly not even trying, then it must be doable. Mortal Kombat saw itself branching out and crossing over with the DC Universe in their Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe game, and with so much of a horror slant already being present in their following titles, why not just go all-in and make your next crossover title be Mortal Kombat Vs. All-Star Slashers? When Shrek can appear in Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 (and Iron Man in its predecessor), pretty much anything is possible.
A fully realized horror franchise fighting game seems like where we should be heading, so naturally it makes sense to touch upon when this very thing did end up happening…kind of. Terrordrome is a fan-made, free-to-download PC/MAC/Linux title that’s a nightmare come true for horror fans. It’s essentially everything we’ve been talking about here, as it provides a fighting game featuring fourteen of horror’s most famous antagonists. Terrordrome is far from perfect, but there’s a ton of attention to detail and love for horror that’s clearly present in the project (plus online play). It’s a far cry from a commercial release in this vein, but any fraction of enjoyment that you experience here is a glimpse of how incredible a major release like this would be.
A very nice blueprint has been set up so far by the likes of Mortal Kombat but just picture the madness that could be had by really scraping the bottom of the murderers’ row of horror villains. Legends like Ash, Hellraiser, Michael Myers, Damien Thorne (in both child and adult-form, like Human and Robot Smoke), or any Murder Santa would be too much. There could even be DLC focusing on certain sizes of characters, with a Tiny Horror Pack containing the likes of Chucky, Leprechaun, and Critters, and a Beasts of Burden Pack featuring more unruly types like The Thing or Pumpkinhead. The sort of variety of fighters present in a title like this, rather than everyone being lumbering men with sharp knives, adds even more value to the concept.
With the release and fallout of Leatherface and the Predator in Mortal Kombat X still having yet to take place, it’s impossible to predict just how much of an influence they’ll end up having. It seems safe to say though that we’ll surely be seeing more of this, and I would honestly be surprised if Mortal Kombat didn’t end up eventually fully giving into this rather than just dishing out more and more guest DLC characters. Whether it’s through Mortal Kombat or some new franchise all onto its own, it likely won’t be long until we’re creating our own horror franchise deleted scenes and acting like a murder pig in murder slop. And don’t we deserve that?
Now, quickly, tell me what Chucky’s fatality would be! Go!
Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
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