Editorials
Remembering “Clock Tower 3”!
Survival Horror has been making a comeback these past few years. With terrifying games like Outlast, Alien: Isolation and the unexpectedly brilliant Resident Evil 7, horror fans can rejoice once more with the largest selection of fright-inducing video games since the late nineties. However, with the increasing influx of interactive horror media, a few hugely influential franchises have unfortunately been forgotten. One of my personal favorite game series, Clock Tower, is sadly among them.
Clock Tower began as a 1995 Japan-exclusive Super Famicon cartridge, which was later ported to the PC and PlayStation. This innovative game was similar to classic point and click adventure titles, but with a horrific twist. As you progressed through the levels, collecting items and solving puzzles, you’d be chased around by a terrifying murderer wielding a giant pair of scissors (not unlike Cropsy and his garden shears from the 1981 slasher film The Burning).
With no real combat system to speak of, the player would be forced to flee from the iconic Scissorman, resulting in some of the most intense chase sequences in video game history. Naturally, the game was successful, resulting in a number of sequels, mostly for the PlayStation. The first of these sequels, also called Clock Tower, is fondly remembered as a gaming classic and considered by some to be the best game in the series, with a clever branching story and fear-inducing gameplay.
Familiar, isn’t it?
The next sequel, Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within initially seemed like more of the same, and was heavily criticized for not updating the archaic controls and interface, not to mention the disconnected plot. The game had its moments, with the same intense chases and brain-melting puzzles, but it’s still widely regarded as the worst in the series.
That brings us to what might very well be the strangest and possibly most creative game in this already peculiar franchise, 2002’s Clock Tower 3. Directed by the renowned Japanese filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku, of Battle Royale fame, this game is more of an original entity that borrows and adds to the Clock Tower formula rather than a proper sequel to the previous titles.
Set in modern day London, Clock Tower 3 follows the terrifying misadventures of Alyssa Hamilton, a fourteen-year-old girl who returns home from boarding school after receiving an alarming letter from her mother. From there, the story sprouts into nearly incomprehensible madness as Alyssa gets involved with serial-killer-possessing spirits, time-travel, and piano-playing ghosts, all the while searching for her mysterious mother and grandfather.
Breaking Clock Tower tradition, the gameplay here is more reminiscent of traditional survival horror titles like Silent Hill and Resident Evil, with suspenseful fixed camera positions and 3D controls and no trace of the original point and click interface. Although the game still lacks a traditional combat system (for the most part), enemy encounters are frequent, forcing you to find unconventional hiding places.
Boo!
The meat of the game consists in time-travelling to certain periods of history to solve puzzles, allowing the spirits of murder victims to head into the afterlife. As this is going on, you’ll naturally be pursued by a varied selection of possessed serial killers depending on the time and place. Unlike previous games, however, Alyssa is equipped with limited amounts of holy water to stun her enemies long enough for her to make a break for it.
These memorable (if somewhat exaggerated) antagonists are easily the best part of the game. Most of them are actually based on real life murderers, adding a supernatural twist that makes them even more menacing. The chase sequences here are honestly the best in the franchise, as the soundtrack and virtual camera placement make these scenes legitimately thrilling. This quintessential slasher movie experience of hiding in a closet or under a bed and helplessly observing as a masked maniac stalks you through the night is downright exhilarating. It’s really no surprise that so many modern games have borrowed this terrifying formula.
Clock Tower 3 is undoubtedly full of frights and clever design choices, but it’s still far from perfect. Hell, despite loving the hell out of this game, I’m not sure if I can even say that it’s “good”. I can get past the repetitive gameplay and occasional quirks, but then, there are several moments of mood-shattering absurdity that come close to breaking the game.
Once you’ve finished a level, Alyssa will be forced to confront these serial killers in one of the most bizarre examples of a boss fight in gaming history, as she undergoes a Sailor-Moon-esque transformation sequence and equips an ancient bow that fires magical arrows. These boss fights may be intense, but they’re undeniably stupid and destroy the haunting atmosphere of the rest of the game. That being said, I particularly love how the enemy health bar in these sequences is determined by their number of victims and the length of their prison sentence.
I wish I was making this up.
Nevertheless, when Clock Tower 3 works, it’s amazing, and many of these concepts demand revisiting in future games. When it’s not falling prey to its own ridiculousness, the game actually does a great job at emulating the thrills and atmosphere of a good slasher movie, which is why I love it so much.
Sadly, this game also marked the end of the official Clock Tower series, and survival horror as a whole eventually fell out of favor as well. There were a few spiritual sequels after this (with a new one called Remothered: Tormented Fathers still in development), namely Haunting Ground (which is amazing) and Nightcry (which isn’t), but the Clock Tower franchise is basically dead at this point. This is a damned shame as modern horror games owe so much to these games, but they still aren’t as revered as some other horror series.
Either way, despite some insane moments, Clock Tower 3 has a special place in my heart. Even if there’s never another game in the series, I’m glad that I can still pop this one into my dusty old PlayStation 2 and remind myself of a bygone era of survival horror.
We’re now officially in the back half of 2026 now that July is here, but what a year it’s been for horror so far. The sequels and reboots are still holding strong at the box office with films like Scream 7 and Scary Movie, but it’s also been a year where new voices are shattering records in unexpected ways.
Markiplier eschewed conventional production and distribution channels with his feature adaptation of Iron Lung, for example. We’re also still in the midst of Backrooms and Obsession-mania, with the former back in theaters with bonus footage and the latter extending its box office reign. Liminal horror has exploded, and low-budget indie horror is seeing just as much, and sometimes even more, success as big studio-backed fare.
All of which to say that 2026 has been a hell of a year so far for the genre, and it’s only getting warmed up. Still on the way are Evil Dead Burn, Insidious: Out of the Further, Resident Evil, Clayface, Whalefall, and Werwulf, just to name a few.
Also catch up with the Best Horror Books and Best Horror Games of the year so far.
Here are the ten best horror movies of the year (so far).
10) Chime
Horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with one of his most haunting yet, though one that’d likely be higher on this list if it were more accessible. The 45-minute feature was initially produced and distributed as an NFT before receiving a theatrical run earlier this year, with no plans to distribute digitally or on home media. It spins a somewhat cryptic tale, introducing a culinary teacher, Takuji Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka, Never After Dark), whose classroom becomes disrupted by a strange sound that leads to violence. It’s a quiet but haunting unraveling, one that leaves no aspect of Matsuoka’s life untouched, in true Kiyoshi Kurosawa style. That it defies any easy explanation also ensures Chime embeds itself under your skin.
9) Send Help
Sam Raimi’s splatstick return to form is a delightfully deranged two-hander that doubles as infectious catharsis for anyone who’s ever had a bad boss. Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange) and Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) face off when their characters are shipwrecked on an island, prompting a bid for survival in more ways than one. While O’Brien often matches her, It’s McAdams who shines as she deftly handles everything that Raimi, working from a script by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason), throws at her. Send Help is full of vibrant personality, packed with all of Raimi’s signatures, making for one of the most entertaining films of the year.
8) Mārama
New Zealand filmmaker Taratoa Stappard’s gothic tale begins in familiar fashion, with Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne) arriving in Yorkshire upon invitation to learn more about her parents, only to find the remote manor haunted. Just when Stappard’s period horror story feels doomed to succumb to familiar gothic trappings and jump scares, though, its true horror emerges. The more Mary uncovers about her heritage and her Māori culture, the clearer it becomes that this grim home is built on violence and exploitation. Stappard’s vision comes into its own when it leaves behind its gothic influences and embraces its Māori identity; few scenes are as powerful as when Osborne’s Mary performs a haka in response to her vile oppressors, heralding in a righteous bloodbath.
7) Touch Me
Writer/Director Addison Heimann draws from retro Japanese horror, exploitation cinema, and perhaps even hentai for his campy, psychosexual sophomore feature. A toxic friendship plagued by trauma, codependency, and addiction gets tested to the extreme when Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), a hip-hop-loving, tracksuit-sporting alien, gets between them. Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris have an easy rapport and play off each other well as directionless, depressed Millennial besties prone to ignoring their problems until they become insurmountable. But it’s Pucci’s inspired, childlike take on the chicken nugget-loving extraterrestrial with tentacled secrets of his own that steals the show. Heimann has a lot on his mind with his sophomore feature and neatly condenses it all into a quirky, eccentric psychosexual camp odyssey that leans heavily into humor.
6) Backrooms
Director Kane Parsons translates the vast liminal labyrinth of his web series to the big screen in his feature debut, one that instills existential dread with its atmospheric horror and narrative. The ‘ 90s-set horror movie introduces a protagonist with a serious chip on his shoulder over life’s many disappointments, who then discovers his furniture store harbors a hidden door that leads to an endless labyrinth. It’s not just the incredible production design that instills a disorienting sense of doom and terror, but the lead characters’ palpable and profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Parsons exudes impressive confidence and control as he methodically entrusts his quiet worldbuilding and talented leads to carry the dramatic weight. While Backrooms does deflate by the film’s cryptic, cliffhanger-y end, it’s arguably the most effective and scariest yet at capturing the uncanny valley of generative AI.
5) Leviticus
Writer/Director Adrian Chiarella uses an It Follows-like supernatural entity that relentlessly stalks its prey as a launchpad to immerse audiences in the horror of constantly living in fear for simply existing. A conversion therapy ritual among a deeply conservative community plunges a pair of erstwhile lovers into a nightmarish bid for survival when it summons a force that takes the shape of those whom the afflicted desires most. Chiarella refines the horror mechanics and metaphor with much sharper precision, ensuring that the scares and emotional gravity of the young couple’s terrifying predicament reach their intended impact. It’s the central layered performances by Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Stacy Clausen (Thrash) that clinch emotional investment in their heartbreaking plight, ensuring that the social horror cuts deep.
4) Redux Redux
The McManus Brothers, writer/director duo Matthew and Kevin McManus (The Block Island Sound), dials up the intensity of a classic revenge story by setting it within a multiverse, where Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus) seeks to snuff out every single iteration of her daughter’s murderer, Neville (Jeremy Holm). The more she stalks and slays every world’s Neville, the more she risks losing her humanity entirely. Through a narrative foil in Mia (Stella Marcus), Redux Redux smartly bypasses repetition as it explores the moral complexities and vulnerabilities of Irene’s extremely violent quest. Holm becomes utterly terrifying in the climax, ensuring that no matter whether Irene loses herself to vengeance for good or not, it’s justified if it means ridding the world of this sick maniac.
3) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Director Nia DaCosta takes the reins in the second entry in writer Alex Garland and original director Danny Boyle’s trilogy, picking up from the previous conclusion that saw Spike (Alfie Williams) fleeing from the infected straight into the welcoming arms of Sir Jimmy Crystal (Sinners’ Jack O’Connell). From here, DaCosta presents a stark contrast between humanity’s best and worst. The former sees the tender studies of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) make poignant strides toward humankind’s future, while the latter unleashes more pain and bloodshed courtesy of the Jimmies. The dual paths of light and dark collide in one epic conclusion, an inspired confrontation between good and evil on a stunning set piece of heavy metal insanity. Yet it’s DaCosta’s handling of both extremes that impresses most, teeing up one epic conclusion to this trilogy.
2) Obsession
Sketch comedian turned horror filmmaker Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) wrings blood-curdling terror from a classic Monkey’s Paw wish fulfillment scenario in a way that no one could have ever anticipated. To say that it’s taken the box office by storm would be a massive understatement; Obsession is the top horror movie of the year in terms of gross. It’s not hard to see why, either. While Monkey’s Paw scenarios often yield predictable outcomes, and this outcome is practically telegraphed from the start, Barker manages to surprise with the journey itself. And it’s one insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel. What truly sets it apart, though, is leads Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette as the central pair undone by one vicious wish. Expect to see a lot more from breakout Navarette.
1) Hokum
A surly, traumatized writer must break free from his self-imposed shackles of guilt when confronted by a wicked witch haunting a quaint Irish inn in the latest by writer/director Damian McCarthy (Oddity). Adam Scott’s Ohm makes for an atypical but rewarding protagonist, and his complicated emotional journey gives way to a deeply moving story of a man so thoroughly broken by personal trauma that he constantly dwells in darkness. In true McCarthy style, expect the creepy as hell witch to dole out some supernatural retribution for crimes committed, but never in the way you’d expect. The filmmaker has a way of making whimsy pure nightmare fuel; Hokum distorts a kids’ show into eerie, uncanny valley-induced terror in its torment of Ohm. Channeling Stephen King, this creeper plays like a traditional campfire tale in mood and style, infusing genuine scares with a sense of magic and heart.
You must be logged in to post a comment.