Editorials
Our Most Anticipated Zombie Games
Zombies. Everybody loved them until games developers started dropping their rotten asses onto all the video games in an attempt to cash in on their enormous popularity. As their numbers swelled, so did their haters. The slow, wobbly march of the undead hordes has slowed down somewhat since then, leaving us with an acceptable number of new games to look forward to over the next two years.
I’ve been working to break down the fairly intimidating slate of upcoming horror games that are the most deserving of your anticipation into themed listicles, so this is more of that. Alright, let’s go!
Crowdfunded | Science Fiction | Lovecraftian | Virtual Reality
Season 3 of Telltale’s acclaimed episode series based on The Walking Dead promises to be more of the same — but in a good way — when it arrives later this year. After the mostly solid appetizer course that was Michonne mini-series, we’re more than ready to reunite with Clem and Co. for another round of post-apocalyptic people watching.
Why We’re Excited: The first and second seasons were frighteningly consistent in their ability to make us laugh, cry, or quickly switch to something less emotionally draining, so we’re confident Telltale will deliver another dose of drama with the third season.
Release Date: Fall 2016 (PC, PS3, PS4, 360, XBO, Mobile)
E3 2016 was really good to fans of the zombie genre. Like, it revealed enough new titles starring walking corpses that I had to update my list to include games like Dead Rising 4 and a handful of others we’ll be going over below. And this time, we’re returning to where it all began — a Christmasy Willamette, Colorado — because Frank West demanded it. Yeah, he’s back, too.
Why We’re Excited: Because Dead Rising is one of a select few zombie-themed video game franchises that’s not afraid to get silly, for better or for worse.
Release Date: A December 6, 2016 release was leaked, but it’s unconfirmed. (PC, XBO)
The PlayStation 4-exclusive open-world horror game Days Gone is another gift from E3 2016, where it had an enormously impressive showing that included a live demonstration in which a lone biker takes on a swarm of infected like a badass, right up until the point where he gets overwhelmed by the seemingly endless horde.
Why We’re Excited: Because it’s a blockbuster action horror game that blends The Last of Us, “Sons of Anarchy”, and the World War Z movie
Release Date: Fall 2016 (PS4)
As far as sequels go, Killing Floor 2 is one of the few that goes above and beyond in its sequel duties in just about every area. It’s a stellar shooter that looks fantastic and takes its gore seriously. It also sports some satisfyingly visceral gunplay, a solid character customization system and access to an endless stream of user-created content, courtesy of Steam Workshop. This game is an easy one to recommend despite being unfinished, and that’s something I’m not quite ready to say about the other Early Access zombie games, including Moving Hazard, DayZ and H1Z1.
Why We’re Excited: I’ve actually played this one, so my excitement for it is based on 33+ hours of experience, rather than, say, the hundreds of hours I’ve spent dreamily wondering what a Resident Evil 2 remake might look like.
Release Date: It’s out now on Steam Early Access, but a console release is expected this year.
That’s right. Capcom finally announced Resident Evil 7 at E3 2016, and it’s heavily inspired by Kojima’s brilliant P.T. demo for his cancelled Silent Hills game, so it looks nothing like any other game in the series. You can learn more about it over here.
Why We’re Excited: It won’t have a single QTE — not even one. Hallelujah.
Release Date: January 24, 2017 (PC, PS4, XBO)
I think I’ve adequately covered Overkill’s The Walking Dead game, as well as my anticipation for it, in these lists. We have yet to actually see the game in action, and that’s not likely to change until we’re a little closer to its late 2017 release date. We know it’s a standalone story set in the Walking Dead universe, and that it’ll feature a cooperative multiplayer mode similar to Payday 2. We also shouldn’t confuse it for Overkill’s The Walking Dead VR, which is it’s own thing.
Why We’re Excited: Series creator Robert Kirkman seems super pumped about the game, which he once referred to as the “Walking Dead co-op action game fans have been waiting for.” Surely he wouldn’t lead us astray?
Release Date: Fall 2017 (PC, PS4, XBO)
Jeff Strain, co-founder of State of Decay 2 developer Undead Labs, says the highly anticipated sequel will be “a bigger, badder, bolder, smoother State of Decay that you could play with your friends.” The incredible success of the original game has made the series a high priority for its publisher Microsoft, so I imagine it’ll deliver on all fronts. Fingers crossed.
Why We’re Excited: Undead Labs hit it out of the park with the first State of Decay, and its sequel looks like a worthy follow-up.
Release Date: TBA 2017 (PC, XBO)
When I stare longingly into the Dead Island 2 screenshots I keep in a very special place on my MacBook — i.e. next to the por- actually, forget it, no one downloads porn in 2016 — I see a game that wants to bring us the best of California (the lovely weather, ocean views), sans the less-appealing bits, like kale chips or the state’s propensity for seemingly sentient wildfires. Now that I think about it, knowing the longer I stay within state lines increases my chances of getting caught inside a blazing inferno might actually benefit this game.
Why We’re Excited: This kind of depends on what’s been changed since Deep Silver replaced its original developer, Yager, with Crackdown 3 maker Sumo Digital — but you can bet it’ll have satisfying combat, addictive co-op and a shitload of zombies.
Release Date: TBA 2017 (PC, PS4, XBO)
Capcom delighted everyone when they announced their plans to remake the beloved survival horror classic that is Resident Evil 2, so we can all move on to the next items on our list, starting with more Dino Crisis, another Outbreak, and something, anything, that stars the Merchant from Resident Evil 4.
Why We’re Exci-For real? It’s a remake of Resident Evil 2. That’s Resident Evil, followed by a 2. Nothing more needs to be said.
Release Date: A long fucking time from now (PC, PS4, XBO)
Dying Light 2, and Left 4 Dead 3. We want ’em something fierce, but it’ll likely be a while before we get them. Neither has been officially announced, and that’s okay. They’re still worth mentioning in a list about our most anticipated zombie games. Hell, I’ll even throw the non-conforming zombie game Dead Space 4 in there too. I could probably come up with a few more if I wanted to make myself sad. I don’t though, so let’s wrap this up.
Why We’re Excited:
Release Date: Don’t bother. (That they’ll each make the current console generation is about the best we can hope for until their respective publishers throw us a bone.)
Crowdfunded | Science Fiction | Lovecraftian | Virtual Reality
The great Ernest Dickerson turns seventy-five years old this month, so we’re looking back at his most memorable contribution to the horror genre – 1995’s Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight!
The film hit screens while the Tales from the Crypt series was winding down its run on television, and it stands apart with a story that feels a step or two removed from the franchise norm. That was the smart play, though, as the show’s stories – and those from the original EC comics – work best in short bites. The result is a film that holds up beautifully as a gory good time.
Now keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary for…
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)
Commentator: Ernest Dickerson (director), Michael Felsher (moderator)
1. Dickerson was in post-production on Surviving the Game when he got a call from his agent saying that producer Gil Adler wanted to meet about a Tales from the Crypt feature film. It went well, so Dickerson met with Joel Silver next and secured the job.
2. The original screenplay for the film came to the producers as a spec script wholly detached from the Tales from the Crypt brand. They added the Crypt Keeper (voiced by John Kassir) bookends to make it fit.
3. Dickerson was more familiar with the original EC comic books having read them as a kid, but he had watched a few episodes of the HBO series, so he knew what the current vibe was for the project.
4. Adler directed the film’s wraparound segments, meaning Dickerson never actually got to work with the creepy puppet. “Gil and the Crypt Keeper had a great relationship,” he adds, “they worked together for years.”
5. While he was new to the Tales from the Crypt family, Dickerson had previously worked as a director of photography on the Tales from the Darkside anthology series. That show is underappreciated in my humble opinion, and I will go to bat for both it and the equally underloved Monsters.
6. A big appeal of the horror genre for Dickerson is the idea of dark mysteries that challenge our imagination. For this film, that came down to the mythology being created between the characters.
7. Five executive producers are listed in the opening credits, but Dickerson says the only two he had dealings with were Silver and Richard Donner. The other three were Walter Hill, Robert Zemeckis, and David Giler.
8. Dickerson had only ever seen Billy Zane in movies with a full head of hair, so he was surprised when Zane showed up on the first day with a bald head. “He had this case, and he opened up the case that he had all these hair pieces in, and he says, ‘So which one of these do you think I should use?’” Dickerson looked at him and suggested he just go bald for the character.
9. While the bulk of the opening exteriors were filmed in a desert just outside Los Angeles, the shot of the old church at 11:26 was created on a warehouse hangar soundstage where the film’s interiors were shot.
10. When he had read the script, Dickerson pictured the character of Jeryline (Jada Pinkett Smith) “as a little, tough lady.” He had recently seen Smith in Menace II Society, and while the producers had someone else in mind for the role, he fought to get her instead.
11. Just as Zane surprised Dickerson with his hair (or lack thereof), Smith arrived on the first day with her hair dyed platinum white. He “liked the idea” but asked her to please get it tweaked so it looked more yellowish blond. “It’s definitely a statement.”
12. He had seen Brenda Bakke in the 1989 sci-fi/action film from Japan, Gunhed, and thought she’d be great here as Cordelia. The rest of us might recognize her from Death Spa or Trucks.
13. Felsher comments that the film’s setup does a good job not telegraphing who’s going to live or die, and he uses the “nice guy” (Charles Fleischer) and “the kid” (Ryan O’Donohue) as examples. “You don’t play by those rules here,” he says, and Dickerson replies that he wanted to subvert those rules. That extends to Smith as well because she’s Black, “and usually in movies like this they’re the first folks to die.”
14. Dickerson says they had forty days of filming, “which, the way I’m used to working, was a very generous schedule.” It was budgeted at around $10 million.
15. This probably won’t surprise you, but Zane improvised the bit at 26:25 after he jumps out the window and says, “Fuck this cowboy shit! You fuckin’, hodunk Podunk, well, then, motherfuckers!”
16. In the original script, the demons that The Collector (Zane) raises from the dirt actually looked more like the people they used to be. “They were more human,” but the very smart decision was made in pre-production to make them look far more unique instead.
17. The demons are killed by shooting their eyes, but Dickerson felt there should be one more element to it. “Shoot out their eyes, you gotta duck because the souls come shooting out, and if it hits ya, boom, it can kill ya.” This is a fun touch.
18. He’s been asked more than once if these demons are where Peter Jackson got the idea for how the orcs would look in his Lord of the Rings movies. “They do look like orcs.”
19. He recalls having seen Ronny Yu’s The Bride with White Hair shortly before going to work on Demon Knight, and he hoped to bring some of that staged style into his own film. An example of that in practice is Brayker’s (William Sadler) brief flashbacks to Christ on the cross.
20. Character deaths were mostly based on the idea that “each person’s downfall was going to be predicated by their weakness.” The Collector discovers someone’s weakness and then uses it against them. Cordelia wants to be loved, Jeryline wants to travel, Uncle Willy (Dick Miller) is a horndog for both liquor and ladies, Danny loves horror comics, etc.
21. Dickerson says that plenty of genre classics were in the back of his head while making the film, including Assault on Precinct 13, Alien, Aliens, and more.
22. Cordelia is possessed into a demonic form, and Dickerson’s idea for how she’d look was originally a bit different. “Since Cordelia was a prostitute, I thought that her mouth should actually be a vertical slit that was in her stomach… which would open up with teeth and a tongue.” It was nixed, he says, when “the wife of one of the producers read that and said ‘no way you’re putting that in the movie.’”
23. The key makes an appearance in the followup, Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood, but it wasn’t originally meant to. Apparently, early test audiences expected it to be a more connected sequel to Demon Knight, so the filmmakers added it in to appease them. This is where I go on record saying that Bordello of Blood is a fun time. Can’t touch Demon Knight, obviously, but it’s more entertaining than its reputation suggests.
24. They had to film Uncle Willy’s bar scene “dream” twice, once with the women topless and once with them in bikinis, to have versions for both theaters and television broadcast. “Dick’s a pro.” (To be fair, Dickerson says this in regard to Miller having to endure the makeup application, but the sentiment fits both situations, so…)
25. Dickerson says he’s “always amazed at the love that people show this film,” and adds that fans bring it up to him incredibly often. This is great to hear, as we should always be telling artists how much their work means to us while they’re still alive and able to hear it.
26. Zane also suggested the gag at 1:08:21 with the sponge coming out of his mouth. The beat reminds Dickerson to praise the actor even more, adding that he was an “ally” to the director when “bad ideas” came down from the studio suits.
27. He didn’t get any pushback on killing little Danny. He did insist on one added element, though, as he wanted to immediately follow the boy exploding in the air with a shot of his bloody and torn sneaker hitting the ground below. “And the sneaker had to be a hightop.”
28. Dickerson says there’s “something kinky sexy about” Smith being covered in blood, and then the two commentators go quiet for almost two minutes out of respect for the scene. It’s a good opportunity to reflect on how Dickerson had previously mentioned Alien and Aliens as films being in the back of his head during filming, and how two scenes here reflect that – Jeryline stripping down to her underwear for the final confrontation feels like a nod to Ridley Scott’s film, while an earlier scene with Irene (CCH Pounder) and Dep. Bob (Gary Farmer) realizing they’re surrounded and choosing to blow themselves up alongside some of the demons is something of a callback to the air vent sacrifice in James Cameron’s film.
29. Asked about the film’s critical reception at the time of release, Dickerson says it received good reviews from horror-loving critics and then talks about the importance of horror in general. “Horror has always been a great way of putting out ideas, of talking about some of the things that affect us as people. Some of the best horror, like the best science fiction, talks about what it’s like to be human. Some of the best horror gets very political.”
30. The original ending would have featured The Collector showing “his true self, which is a demon made of fire.” They spent a lot of time trying to make it work, but it was “extremely difficult… back in the day of analog effects.” It was rewritten into the faceoff between him and Jeryline featuring the dancing, the crotch fire, Zane’s attempts at saying “love,” and his eventual demise from her bloody spit.
31. They both agree that a direct sequel to Demon Knight could be a lot of fun, but Dickerson says he’s unaware of any talk on the possibility.
32. Dickerson was super excited about this new Scream Factory Blu-ray in 2015, and he mentions that before its release, he had imported a Blu-ray from Germany presumably to enjoy the film in HD. He’s just like us! (Or am I the only one here who’s imported a German Blu-ray of the much maligned werewolf flick Big Bad Wolf…)
Quotes Without Context
“I was so happy to get Dick Miller for this movie.”
“There was a time when guys used to put ketchup on everything.”
“I’m a big student of Hitchcock, and the best way to make a moment of horror work is to lull the audience into a false sense of security.”
“A villain should always be the most interesting person in a movie.”
“They were a really great bunch of performers who were performing on these little leg-extension stilts wearing a diaper that had a radio-controlled tail that was being manipulated by a special effects tech right out of the frame.”
“It’s hard to direct air; it doesn’t do what you want.”
“The only censorship problem came from the producer’s wife, who didn’t want the vagina dentalis [sic] in the movie.”
“One of the executives wanted to know why the devil didn’t try to have sex with Jada.”
“It always starts with the script.”
Keep up with more horror commentary breakdowns here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.