Editorials
A Brilliant Nightmare In Space: Celebrating 10 Years of ‘Dead Space’
We tend to talk a lot about horror nowadays having too many jumpscares; or how so many works throughout the genre are too “in-your-face” with violence, taking away from the suspense and dread of stories. There are plenty of titles in gaming that one can find this and wave their finger at, but there are also those titles that obtain a superb balance within action-horror.
One of those games is none other than Dead Space.
The first entry of the Dead Space trilogy celebrates its 10 year anniversary today. While its sequels would become those action-horror games with a greater emphasis on the former rather than the latter, the first Dead Space is a horrifying masterpiece.
Developed by the late Visceral Studios, Dead Space puts you in the shoes of Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent with a team to answer a distress signal. Said signal is coming from the USG Ishimura, where Isaac’s girlfriend also happens to be. Shortly after docking the Ishimura all goes to hell; Isaac and crew are attacked and split up by a Necromorph, the alien lifeforms responsible for the station’s devastation. It is then up to Issac to make every effort he can to reconnect with his crew and get out alive.
In a formalistic sense, Dead Space is a “run and gun” game; Issac is able to use a variety of weapons to take on the Necromorphs as he moves from objective to objective. That said, Dead Space is a unique experience that uses its atmosphere to amplify tension throughout its formalist structure. Even from the moment you enter the Ishimura there’s an air of dread; from the damaged rooms and smeared blood trails, there’s so much to take in (and with zero understanding of the situation). Even considering the initial Necromorph attack, the creature pursues you without skipping a beat; and once you finally escape it, you’re left alone in a foreign place without your crew. It’s just you and the various hisses and hums of pipes surrounding you; nothing but the cold steel of the station’s infrastructure; nothing but the dead bodies surrounding you, and the Necromorphs trailing you from the shadows.
For action games it is common to maintain a high speed in aggression; games will provide many opportunities to throw waves of enemies at the player, allowing them to swing their sword or shoot away. And while Dead Space offers this same idea, it executes it much differently, elevating the emotion of horror. So many horror-action games allow players to feel powerful thanks to heavy weaponry; Dead Space on the other hand, provides you with the weaponry, but continuously messes with the player’s senses. Brief visual and audio cues keep them on guard, balancing out periods of running to slowly creeping down halls.
The environment surrounding Isaac is one of Dead Space’s greatest qualities. The design feeds into the game’s tension and suspense; while Dead Space moves like a “run and gun” title, the player may find themselves hesitating from time to time. There are numerous moments where a shadow will scurry by, or there will be a random scream in the distance. These elements work to slow the player down, aiding to pace out the flow of the game.
The Necromorphs cannot be easily killed; you can’t just fill them with bullets, they must be dismembered to be defeated. So when the player controlling Isaac turns a corner and hears a sound and hesitates, they may turn around to find a swarm of Necromorphs behind them. The player is then forced into a situation where they need to react as fast as possible (while making sure to be careful with ammo). These predicaments exude anxiety, the player cornered and panicking as they strive to survive.
Survival is key, for the wrong move will surely lead to horrific results. Dead Space has some of the most satisfying, grotesque gore I’ve witnessed in a video game. Not only is dismembering the Necromorphs brutal, but all of Isaac’s death sequences are explicitly detailed. Being torn apart comes with gruesome detail as ligaments and blood spew about the environment. The gore and violence make Dead Space one of the most visually provoking games in horror.
Dead Space is very much in the vein of films like Alien; the latter a masterful horror/sci-fi film with action elements, effectively pacing out its on-screen violence. Dead Space also shares many similarities to that of Event Horizon; in this case, the latter is a tremendous gem of psychological horror/sci-fi. Within Dead Space and Event Horizon there’s a focus of psychological instability, both deriving from some ancient artifact. In the second half of the game, this psychological component begins to grow over time, presenting a new anxiety and horror while battling the Necromorphs. Without going into spoilers, characters throughout Dead Space slowly begin to lose their sanity (with Isaac facing some effects as well).
There have been a few action-horror games that have captured that balance of violence and emotion like Dead Space. F.E.A.R. is a major example of course, as it’s a first person shooter that also effectively measures out suspense through its action pacing. That said, many titles continue to pursue the traditional elements found within action games, having the player pick up powerful weapons and plow their way through enemies.
In Dead Space, terrifying detail comes together with formalist gameplay to present an ominous experience capable of establishing unease within players. While its structure may appear simple at first, the more you play, you will soon realize the depths of madness the game offers. Maybe one day we’ll see a reboot or another sequel that honors the mechanics and atmosphere of the original entry; for now, Dead Space stands as a testament to how action-horror titles are capable of establishing adrenaline, anxiety, and dread.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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