Editorials
Garys, Giant Ants, and Killer Plants: The 10 Creepiest Moments in the ‘Fallout’ Series
The end of the world is perhaps the most popular settings for the horror and science fiction genre. Whether it’s caused by Mother Nature, a killer virus, or invading alien forces, artists have flocked to this setting to craft their own unique stories. Enter Bethesda Softworks’s entries into the iconic RPG franchise, Fallout.
Originally developed by Interplay Productions, Bethesda Softworks acquired the license and released their spin on the series in 2008. While the Fallout series is typically known for its dark sense of humor and futuristic 50s design, there are some truly terrifying experiences waiting for players. With Fallout 76 officially released, we decided to look back at some of the most horrific, disturbing, and unsettling moments in this series.
10. Meeting the Mothman – Fallout 76
Is there anything more uncomfortable than the feeling of being watched? A new enemy in the Fallout franchise, the Mothman is a special type of foe that will stare at the player from a distance. Its bright red eyes can be seen from a considerable distance, constantly reminding the player that they are not alone. In a game where everything is hostile, the passive nature of the Mothman only enhances the sense of dread that looms over it. Did we mention there was a cult worshipping and trying to summon this insect? Maybe bring some bug spray the next time you visit the wasteland.
9. Vault 22 – Fallout: New Vegas
The first of several Vaults on our list, this nightmarish location can be found outside of Thorn in the Mojave Wasteland. A Vault completely overtook by a dangerous fungus, the former residences have either died or mutated in horrific creatures. There are also giant bugs and killer plants, just in case you thought the humanoid plants weren’t terrifying enough.
What makes this Vault unsettling is the use of color and plant life. Fallout: New Vegas‘s color pallet is generally very brown, so stumbling across a vibrant area is exceedingly rare. There’s a feeling of hope when you first see the door to Vault 22. A small reminder that the world won’t remain a hellish landscape forever. Then New Vegas masterfully cuts the idea off at the legs when you actually venture into the Vault. It’s a horrific experience that reminds the user that no place is safe in this new world.
8. Those! – Fallout 3
Fun fact about me, I have a terrible, dumb, irrational fear of bugs. This makes the Fallout 3 quest – Those! – absolutely hell to complete. A riff off the 1954 film Them!, this quest tasks players with wiping out a colony of fire ants. Did we mention the ants are the size of a large dog and spew fire?
While their size alone is intimidating, it’s the creepy shuffling sound they make that really ratchets up the scare factor. You can hear them coming in most scenarios, which can be quite terrifying in the dark tunnels you have to explore.
Of course, it doesn’t stop there, as you’ll have to encounter the ant queen. Even though Fallout 3 gives you the option to let the queen live, we recommend burning it to ash. Is launching a mini-nuke at an oversized bug overkill? Maybe, but it’s incredibly satisfying to obliterate this insect.
7. Vault 108 – Fallout 3
During the nuclear apocalypse, the inhabitants of Vault 108 were given three times the normal amount of weapons, no entertainment, a power supply that was designed to break. On top of all that, the Vault sported a cloning facility where every clone became increasingly more hostile.
What could go wrong?
While Vault 108 is generally pretty normal, it’s the enemies inside that really make this place creepy. Every enemy is a clone of a single person named Gary, all of which can only say different variations of the word “Gary.” Hearing these manic souls call out Gary down the halls will send shivers down your spine. They aren’t especially tough, but there’s something nerve-wracking about how these clones communicate.
6. Seeing The Master – Fallout
The only entry from the original Fallout games, meeting the being known as The Master is a gruesome reminder of how much the world has changed. Formally known as Richard Moreau, The Master is the leader of The Unity and the Super Mutants. A twisted abomination that not only fused with other humans but a large computer.
Sporting several different voices (one of which is Jim Cummings of Winnie the Pooh fame), The Master is a great example of how to showcase body horror. His vile look is contorted and appears painful, which is only enhanced by his constant vocal shifts. To this day, The Master remains one of the scariest beings every introduced into the world of Fallout.
5. Everything in Far Harbor – Fallout 4
Far Harbor is a nightmare. This DLC location is set on an island off the coast of Maine and is full of new, aquatic creatures for players to kill. The catch is that entire island is encased in a thick, irritated fog that drastically reduces your visibility. This simple addition makes exploring Mount Desert Island a harrowing experience. Having a horde of Ghouls rush out from the fog or a massive Mirelurk will easily send you screaming back to the boat.
4. Museum of Witchcraft – Fallout 4
Shocking exactly no one, the Museum of Witchcraft did not get more cheerful following the end of the world. Located on the far eastern side of the Commonwealth, players are forced to endure an agonizingly slow build up from the minute they enter this place. As you progress through the base of the museum you’re treated to moving shadows, bodies falling from the rafters, and the sounds of something above you.
The museum also has creepy, destroyed mannequins everywhere, because of course it does. Only making things worse is what you find out is actually in the museum. Surprise, it’s a very large, very angry Deathclaw! Fighting this in a confined space is scary enough, but the journey to find this beast makes the Museum of Witchcraft one of the scariest moments in the Fallout franchise.
3. The Trap House – Fallout 4
Yes, it’s not technically a house, but “trap parking garage” is 100% less intimidating. A random location you might stumble across in Fallout 4, this multiple level parking structures feels ripped right out of a Saw film. During your journey, you’ll have to contest with multiple life or death scenarios along with Ghouls and Radroaches.
It’s psychological terror at its most basic. Every step you take could be booby-trapped, which will make you extremely paranoid the entire time. You’ll never feel safe, even after you collect your prize at the end of the maze. There are also creepy mannequins (because this is a Fallout game) wind up monkeys, and some really cool psychedelic lighting in areas. The Milton Parking Garage is one of the most unique locations in any Fallout game and absolutely worth going in blind.
2. Vault 11 – Fallout: New Vegas
Sometimes all it takes is a good story for something to be creepy. Once the bombs dropped, the inhabitants in this Vault discovered that the doors would not open. Instead, they were instructed to sacrifice a person every year or the entire population would be exterminated. What followed was a descent into madness as factions began to form in an attempt to elect the poor soul who would be killed.
This culminated in a massive war that left only five people left. When the remaining survivors decided to just accept their fate, they learned that if you didn’t sacrifice someone the doors to the Vault would open. Even though the Vault itself isn’t scary, uncovering what happened here will stick with you well after you’ve left this area.
1. Dunwich Borers – Fallout 4
There’s something very wrong in the Dunwich Borers.
A normal looking rock quarry found in the Commonwealth, players quickly discovered that this isn’t a simple Raider hideout. As one dives deeper into this mine, they begin to experience visions, read disturbing messages, and deal with what appears to be a supernatural force.
It’s incredibly dark down in the mine and users are only afforded small sources of light to traverse the tunnels. As the story slowly unravels it becomes clear that someone or something was influencing the management staff at Dunwich Borers.
Yet, what really makes this area scary is Fallout 4 never reveals what was causing all this. It’s left entirely up to the player’s imagination and fears, which makes the experience even more terrifying. We may never know the full story of what happened at Dunwich Borers, but it’s a place we don’t want to visit again.
Due to a complex series of anthropological mishaps, the Wayans Brothers are a huge deal in Brazil. Around these parts, White Chicks is considered a national treasure by a lot of people, so it stands to reason that Brazilian audiences would continue to accompany the Wayans’ comedic output long after North America had stopped taking them seriously as comedic titans.
This is the only reason why I originally watched Michael Tiddes and Marlon Wayans’ 2013 horror spoof A Haunted House – appropriately known as “Paranormal Inactivity” in South America – despite having abandoned this kind of movie shortly after the excellent Scary Movie 3. However, to my complete and utter amazement, I found myself mostly enjoying this unhinged parody of Found Footage films almost as much as the iconic spoofs that spear-headed the genre during the 2000s. And with Paramount having recently announced a reboot of the Scary Movie franchise, I think this is the perfect time to revisit the divisive humor of A Haunted House and maybe figure out why this kind of film hasn’t been popular in a long time.
Before we had memes and internet personalities to make fun of movie tropes for free on the internet, parody movies had been entertaining audiences with meta-humor since the very dawn of cinema. And since the genre attracted large audiences without the need for a serious budget, it made sense for studios to encourage parodies of their own productions – which is precisely what happened with Miramax when they commissioned a parody of the Scream franchise, the original Scary Movie.
The unprecedented success of the spoof (especially overseas) led to a series of sequels, spin-offs and rip-offs that came along throughout the 2000s. While some of these were still quite funny (I have a soft spot for 2008’s Superhero Movie), they ended up flooding the market much like the Guitar Hero games that plagued video game stores during that same timeframe.
You could really confuse someone by editing this scene into Paranormal Activity.
Of course, that didn’t stop Tiddes and Marlon Wayans from wanting to make another spoof meant to lampoon a sub-genre that had been mostly overlooked by the Scary Movie series – namely the second wave of Found Footage films inspired by Paranormal Activity. Wayans actually had an easier time than usual funding the picture due to the project’s Found Footage presentation, with the format allowing for a lower budget without compromising box office appeal.
In the finished film, we’re presented with supposedly real footage recovered from the home of Malcom Johnson (Wayans). The recordings themselves depict a series of unexplainable events that begin to plague his home when Kisha Davis (Essence Atkins) decides to move in, with the couple slowly realizing that the difficulties of a shared life are no match for demonic shenanigans.
In practice, this means that viewers are subjected to a series of familiar scares subverted by wacky hijinks, with the flick featuring everything from a humorous recreation of the iconic fan-camera from Paranormal Activity 3 to bizarre dance numbers replacing Katy’s late-night trances from Oren Peli’s original movie.
Your enjoyment of these antics will obviously depend on how accepting you are of Wayans’ patented brand of crass comedy. From advanced potty humor to some exaggerated racial commentary – including a clever moment where Malcom actually attempts to move out of the titular haunted house because he’s not white enough to deal with the haunting – it’s not all that surprising that the flick wound up with a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite making a killing at the box office.
However, while this isn’t my preferred kind of humor, I think the inherent limitations of Found Footage ended up curtailing the usual excesses present in this kind of parody, with the filmmakers being forced to focus on character-based comedy and a smaller scale story. This is why I mostly appreciate the love-hate rapport between Kisha and Malcom even if it wouldn’t translate to a healthy relationship in real life.
Of course, the jokes themselves can also be pretty entertaining on their own, with cartoony gags like the ghost getting high with the protagonists (complete with smoke-filled invisible lungs) and a series of silly The Exorcist homages towards the end of the movie. The major issue here is that these legitimately funny and genre-specific jokes are often accompanied by repetitive attempts at low-brow humor that you could find in any other cheap comedy.
Not a good idea.
Not only are some of these painfully drawn out “jokes” incredibly unfunny, but they can also be remarkably offensive in some cases. There are some pretty insensitive allusions to sexual assault here, as well as a collection of secondary characters defined by negative racial stereotypes (even though I chuckled heartily when the Latina maid was revealed to have been faking her poor English the entire time).
Cinephiles often claim that increasingly sloppy writing led to audiences giving up on spoof movies, but the fact is that many of the more beloved examples of the genre contain some of the same issues as later films like A Haunted House – it’s just that we as an audience have (mostly) grown up and are now demanding more from our comedy. However, this isn’t the case everywhere, as – much like the Elves from Lord of the Rings – spoof movies never really died, they simply diminished.
A Haunted House made so much money that they immediately started working on a second one that released the following year (to even worse reviews), and the same team would later collaborate once again on yet another spoof, 50 Shades of Black. This kind of film clearly still exists and still makes a lot of money (especially here in Brazil), they just don’t have the same cultural impact that they used to in a pre-social-media-humor world.
At the end of the day, A Haunted House is no comedic masterpiece, failing to live up to the laugh-out-loud thrills of films like Scary Movie 3, but it’s also not the trainwreck that most critics made it out to be back in 2013. Comedy is extremely subjective, and while the raunchy humor behind this flick definitely isn’t for everyone, I still think that this satirical romp is mostly harmless fun that might entertain Found Footage fans that don’t take themselves too seriously.
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