Editorials
[Editorial] What’s Behind There? The Effective Use of Doors in Video Game Horror
I’ve always been a disaster for horror games. I get interested in the characters, the stories or even unique mechanics that some of them offer, but it’s hard for me to take the first step. Even with one or several friends alongside me, I could never shake off a particular feeling whenever I’m traversing new scenarios. And I think that a big part of my fear comes from the uncertainty that doors hide within.
In some games they are a mere illusion, serving a purpose of decoration or design with an unsurprising “blocked from the other side” message. But in the horror genre they take a starring role and depending on the studio’s vision over what they want to accomplish in the game towards the player’s feeling, they’ve made different use of them throughout history.
Back when Resident Evil was trapped under console limitations, doors were used as a mask for loading screens whenever you entered a room. But if like me, you were lucky enough to go through it without this in mind, they were a mystery. In a matter of seconds, you would start thinking what could be expecting you on the other side of the door, firmly holding your gamepad and trying to remember how many bullets you had left.
They served a purpose, technically speaking, but the developers were well aware of their potential almost to the point of worshipping each one of them. There are 167 door load screens in the first Resident Evil, including some ladder and gate screens as well.
Games like Amnesia and Outlast started to treat them differently. Instead of a slow, meticulous pace, these both modern takes on the horror genre had you constantly escaping from danger, including a key difference: you can’t fight back using weapons. In each, doors became both a way to defend yourself from your own sanity or terrifying, surprisingly fast patients. But they were also an obstacle in certain situations, and it didn’t take long for you to regret closing every door behind you when you’re forced to turn back in order to escape.
Under these two visions, Resident Evil 7 managed to find a balance. During my first minutes into the game, everything was going fine while I was roaming through Baker’s house perimeters. Yet an eerie, familiar sensation came to me once I opened the door on the back, finding myself against a pitch dark room. I immediately paused the game and started streaming it, so a friend could later join me on the distance to keep me company.
While the influence had a leading role in the first part of the game, it didn’t take long for Resident Evil 7 to remind me that I actually had an inventory with weapons on my disposal. But doors were no longer in a leading role with a loading screen, and I’ve had several tools to defend myself now.
And yet, while a new standard was starting to finally settle down, Paratopic showed up with three completely unique ways of using them within. This lo-fi surreal experience does a lot in under an hour, but doors carry some of the most memorable moments of the story.
Stranded in the forest, taking photos of birds and enjoying that is perhaps too calm, we find a cabin. There doesn’t seem to be anything inusual at first: a mattress and a pair of empty food cans showcase a mundane picture. But there’s a closed door beneath it, and the sole response we get are a few knocks from inside if we’re insistent enough. It remains a mystery that can be completely skipped if you choose to ignore it, but ever since I did nothing but wonder what’s behind that door. This moment became such a huge collective question that the developers decided to answer it in the Definitive Cut edition.
The second door in Paratopic has a completely different momentum, being opened abruptly by kicking it and immediately followed by a fleeting glimpse of violence, surrounded by the dark synth sounds of the marvelous soundtrack. The third, however, involves an elevator along with probably the slowest sequence in the game. The player is set to wait in a room, watching how it slowly descends to the floor. It might seem like a moment of respite, but you start feeling anxious, scared. If there’s something in that elevator, you have no way of escaping. And, when you least suspect it, the door opens…
Even after witnessing dozens of different mechanics and moments surrounding doors, there are still new ways to experiment with them. The importance of them to horror, even if it’s just a sound or a transition, shouldn’t be taken for granted. It’s in the attention to detail that doors proved to be much more intimidating than they actually should be, forcing you to think twice about investigating a room or making you jump once you hear one being slammed on your back. But every time, it’s about now knowing what’s on the other side, and it’s one of the most valuable elements that horror games can offer.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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