Editorials
Celebrating The 20th Anniversary of ‘Metal Gear Solid’
With the Western release of Metal Gear Solid Happening on this day 20 years ago, we revisit last month’s celebratory article for Hideo Kojima’s classic.
The PlayStation had been out for a little under four years come September 3rd of 1998; it was on that day that Metal Gear Solid would make its debut in Japan. While there had been previous Metal Gear entries beforehand, Metal Gear Solid would end up becoming one of the most significant titles in gaming history.
Developed by Konami and directed by the prestigious Hideo Kojima, the action-stealth adventure placed gamers in the role of Solid Snake; a special-ops soldier entrusted with a mission to break into a secret facility and rescue hostages, all while stopping a nuclear crisis. What starts out as a typical espionage game, however, quickly changes pace, as Snake finds himself up against supernatural forces and deadly mechs.
Metal Gear Solid received immense applause from critics and fans alike. Since its inception, it has spawned numerous sequels and prequels, with the majority receiving their own outstanding acclaim. From their riveting stories to their unique characters and their exploration of philosophies, the Metal Gear Solid series has become one of gaming’s proudest achievements.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of Metal Gear Solid (with August being the 31st anniversary since the first ever Metal Gear game). To celebrate this entry in the series, I’m going to take a look back at Metal Gear Solid and what makes it such an astounding work in video game history.
The Dawning of The Stealth Genre
While there are plenty of thrilling moments, including gun-toting action, Metal Gear Solid (MGS) puts much of its focus on stealth. Providing gamers with a small radar at the bottom of the screen, they are able to keep track of not only where enemies are walking, but in what direction they are facing in.
Stealth throughout the game is further affected due to the setting. While taking place in a large facility known as Shadow Moses, the outside environment of MGS has lots of snow; walking through said snow leaves footprints, alerting enemies to suspicious movement. These sorts of small details make MGS all the more interesting, providing an extra level of awareness when playing stealthily.
On a similar note, in regard to the game’s stealth, MGS starts players out with a tranquilizer gun. You can go ahead and pick up other weapons, but the tranquilizer gun is significant to MGS. Even though future Metal Gear titles have leaned towards more action-oriented gameplay, the tranquilizer has always been a means of progressing through each entry.
These stealth elements were essential in Kojima’s design; MGS was not only the beginning of a whole new genre in video games, but its influence has echoed throughout the years. The way MGS handled action was unlike any other game before it; the limiting of weapons, the encouragement to quietly take out or dodge foes, were all ideas not common in games; as gamers, we were always expected to kill the enemy. This concept of stealth and taking out the opponent through non-violent means would become an integral part of Kojima’s gaming philosophy.
Even almost two decades later, his final Metal Gear entry (Phantom Pain), offers the chance to quietly go about missions or to kill. It’s such a simple idea that has gone on to influence such video games like Dishonored. The way the player maneuvers and stalks the shadows throughout MGS has also influenced games like Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
MGS can be marked as one of the biggest turning points in gaming; it’s a title where one can go back and find innovation and technology coming together to present a more immersive presentation. But even though MGS is successful on a game mechanic level, it also presents a truly exhilarating, cinematic story experience.
A Video Game Of Cinematic Quality
While the game takes place in a fictional 2005, it embodies many Cold War Era tensions; this is due to the heavy dialogue and themes revolving around espionage, politics, and nuclear war. As Snake makes his way through the facility he comes across a wide variety of extravagant characters; many who he finds to have passionate political and personal beliefs.
With a love for film, Kojima came into MGS with the understanding of how important drama is to a story. Rather than give us flat characters that just gun it out, he provides numerous characters with depth; each one brings their own identity, adding more substance to the plot. An example of this is found in the game’s main antagonist, Liquid Snake; even though it isn’t his only motivating factor, he is driven by jealousy towards his brother Solid Snake. Their confrontations are consistently heated, with the former stating his desire to surpass his “genetic history” (referring to their “father” Big Boss).
The Horror in Metal Gear Solid’s History
One major concept that made MGS so different back in the day (compared to other video games), was just how cinematic it was in nature. In one moment you’re playing a game and in the next, you feel like you’re watching a movie. As Kojima has said in interviews, “70% of my body is made of movies.” His passion and knowledge of film can be felt throughout MGS; dynamic camera angles, conflict-driven dialogue, as well as the physical action taking place in the game’s cutscenes, come across as elements you would find on a big theatre screen.
Given that MGS is such a cinematic experience, one place that it greatly shines is that of its boss fights. MGS is home to some of the most unique and innovative boss battles in video game history. Two worth major notice are that of the battles between Sniper Wolf and Psycho Mantis.
When battling Wolf, you find yourself at the end of a long narrow path. A shot blasts towards you, and you know somewhere Wolf is in the distance. What takes place is moment-to-moment tension in holding your breath, looking down the scope of your rifle, and searching for her before she gets you first. It’s a superb sequence that pushes the player into a state of constant awareness, requiring them to have fast reflexes.
The battle with Psycho Mantis is one of the biggest moments in fourth wall breaking techniques via gaming. Upon confronting him you learn of his psychic abilities; but rather than be just any old boss who levitates and uses telekinesis, Mantis takes it one large step further. Depending on past or current save files in your PlayStation memory card, Mantis will actually comment on said saved data. If you’ve been playing Castlevania for example, he’ll say something along the lines of how much of a fan you must be. On top of that, he could also dodge all your attacks by reading your movements via the game controller. It’s only upon research that you learn that by switching your controller to a different port on your console, that you can throw Mantis off.
These innovations were/are mind-blowing; and even with how far technology has come since then, feats like this have been rarely accomplished so well. The cleverness found in these fourth wall breaking moments adds a level of immersion to an already in-depth, fascinating story.
MGS was one of the first big games to shape itself around the impact of war and violence. At times Kojima’s characters will discuss the politics and economics of war, and specifically, the cost in human lives. MGS, in particular, works itself around these ideas throughout its story, taking more time to center in on the nuclear conflict at hand. But by including such mature concepts, MGS became one of the first major examples in how games were capable of mature stories.
Considering past and present commentary, negative criticism towards video games has stated that games are forms of entertainment that are about and perpetuate violence; MGS flipped this idea on its head, offering more of a conscious statement about violence. Much contemporary gaming journalism has looked at the impact and commentary throughout the Metal Gear series; and specifically, how the games point out the horrors of violence, offering players the chance to avoid violent actions.
Kojima’s efforts helped to bring about the idea that video games could be cinematic experiences; that one could infuse game mechanics into the human need for stories. We’ve seen games today that strive to bring about those cinematic vibes (via interactive button prompts), but what Kojima has pulled off through Metal Gear is on a different level; it’s that intricate balance between immersion and voyeurism, allowing the player to participate and to experience all at once (but with much more interaction). Starting with MGS, he has taken so many traditional elements from different mediums, meshing them together to present a new medium of sorts.
MGS not only stands as an incredible feat in gaming but is a testament to the emotion and immense quality that games are capable of presenting.
A Solid Legacy
Since Metal Gear Solid’s release, the world of gaming has massively changed. We have photorealistic graphics, AR & VR technology, innovative ways to use a game controller, and many more mature stories. All of that, in one way or another, is thanks to Metal Gear Solid.
The game isn’t just responsible for helping to establish a new genre of titles, but more importantly, set the bar for rich stories. Metal Gear Solid paved the way for future video games to pursue intellectual adventures, balancing the line between drama and action. It demonstrated to future developers how you could take creative chances with games; how utilizing story and game mechanics together allow gamers to immerse themselves further into an experience.
In the 20 years since it was released Metal Gear Solid has made a name for itself as one of the greatest video games of all time. In 2018 we have thousands of players who have fond memories of experiencing it; we have loyal fans who stand by Kojima and whatever new project he touches; we have artists looking to do what they can to even create a film out of it.
As time moved forward, the Metal Gear series continuously built upon the foundations established in Metal Gear Solid; its following entries offered other unique means for us to interpret our playing experience, while still providing stories that embodied action, stealth, politics, and emotion. From the moment it was born, Metal Gear Solid was meant to embark on a legacy that would not just alter how we play video games, but how we perceive what a video game is and what they can teach us.
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.