Editorials
Metro Exodus’ Spider Bunker Shows the Importance of Level Design
SPOILERS FOR METRO EXODUS FOLLOW.
The chaotic streets of Racoon City, fog-drenched Silent Hill, and derelict USG Ishimura are among some of the best settings in horror game history. They instill us with feelings of dread and help make the terror feel real. Great level design can craft a unique sense of unease and act as a foundation for all of the player’s fears to be built on.
Enter Metro Exodus, the latest entry in this fan-favorite series from developer 4A Games. Set in nuclear ravaged Russia, players assume the role of an elite commando called Artyom. While his journey sees him visit a number of unique locations, Exodus doesn’t really ramp up the terror until they reach The Caspian Sea. Now a barren desert, Arytom is tasked with retrieving a map from an abandoned bunker hidden filled with mutated spiders. What follows is a potent cocktail of tight level design mixed with absolute terror.
For the unfamiliar, the mutated spiders in the Metro franchise are fast, volatile, travel in packs, and heavily armored. This makes them a nightmare to deal with in any scenario – especially when ammo is such a finite resource. Thankfully, living in the dark has made these bothersome bugs vulnerable to any kind of light. So all one has to do is shine their flashlight on a spider for around 15 seconds until they burn up and die. Simple, right?
Things get complicated thanks to the former bunker turned nest of man-eating arachnids’ claustrophobic corridors. Filled with narrow passages and rooms cluttered with debris, 4A Games gives the player just enough room to navigate through the base. The spiders don’t have this issue since they can climb on the walls and traverse through log-sized holes littered throughout the environment. Normally, this would signal areas where the bugs would crawl out from an attack, but the developer’s show an impressive amount of restraint.
Instead, these spider-holes just tease the player, acting as a visual reminder that these monsters could attack from anywhere. You can constantly hear the bugs moving behind the walls or in other rooms, threatening to pounce on Artyom at any moment. Sometimes you’ll chase one of the arachnids into a hole, only to learn that they can emerge from any of them throughout the level. You never feel safe in the bunker and even if you kill every bug that crosses your path, Exodus constantly reminds the player that there are more.
There are also dozens of spider cobwebs strewn throughout the bunker. Since the start Exodus has been conditioning players to set these ablaze, but doing so may cause a bunch of smaller bugs to crawl across Artyom. It’s a minor visual flourish that doesn’t cause any harm, but their movements over his arms and face can easily fool a player into thinking they’re being attacked. I’ve lost track of how many times I reflexively meleed the air when one of those baby spiders crawled across my screen.
4A Games escalates the tension by laying out the level in a very linear fashion. There’s only one way in and out of the bunker, meaning the player will need to backtrack if they want to escape. Your first trek through is quite simple and there are a ton of lights on. This not only helps users understand the general geography of each room but eases new players into combating the spiders. Then the lights go out and the realization of backtracking completely in the dark sets in.
Even with a flashlight, your safety isn’t guaranteed since your back is always exposed to the spiders. This causes a sense of panic, as you’ll constantly whip around only to see nothing is there – most of the time. Those holes in the wall you blissfully walked by are now potential death traps and the cobwebs you forgot to burn up will only slow you down. Most of the time you’ll find yourself huddling in a corner, frantically moving your flashlight around to scare off the mutants. All of this culminates in a mad rush for an elevator as dozens of arachnids chase you down.
Then Metro Exodus winds up and throws a curve ball at players. Much later in the game, you’ll have to traverse a building that full of spiders. But you can handle it, right? Just do the same thing as before! That plan falls apart almost instantly when Artyom’s equipment malfunctions and that all-powerful flashlight dies on him. Now, with only a lighter in hand, players have to fight off swarms of spiders. It’s a unique feeling of vulnerability that tears away everything you learned in that dark bunker.
Despite how much of a horror cliche the giant spider is, Metro Exodus manages to make them the scariest monsters in the game. This is not only thanks to their terrific design but the way that 4A Games utilizes their environment. Instead of just making them another foe roaming the world, these nests are used scarcely and punctuate moments where the player feels like they finally have control. We’d take the man-eating catfish over a bunker of spiders any day of the week.
Editorials
‘Immaculate’ – A Companion Watch Guide to the Religious Horror Movie and Its Cinematic Influences
The religious horror movie Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Michael Mohan, wears its horror influences on its sleeves. NEON’s new horror movie is now available on Digital and PVOD, making it easier to catch up with the buzzy title. If you’ve already seen Immaculate, this companion watch guide highlights horror movies to pair with it.
Sweeney stars in Immaculate as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Cecilia’s warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside gets derailed soon enough when she discovers she’s become pregnant and realizes the convent harbors disturbing secrets.
From Will Bates’ gothic score to the filming locations and even shot compositions, Immaculate owes a lot to its cinematic influences. Mohan pulls from more than just religious horror, though. While Immaculate pays tribute to the classics, the horror movie surprises for the way it leans so heavily into Italian horror and New French Extremity. Let’s dig into many of the film’s most prominent horror influences with a companion watch guide.
Warning: Immaculate spoilers ahead.
Rosemary’s Baby
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The mother of all pregnancy horror movies introduces Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an eager-to-please housewife who’s supportive of her husband, Guy, and thrilled he landed them a spot in the coveted Bramford apartment building. Guy proposes a romantic evening, which gives way to a hallucinogenic nightmare scenario that leaves Rosemary confused and pregnant. Rosemary’s suspicions and paranoia mount as she’s gaslit by everyone around her, all attempting to distract her from her deeply abnormal pregnancy. While Cecilia follows a similar emotional journey to Rosemary, from the confusion over her baby’s conception to being gaslit by those who claim to have her best interests in mind, Immaculate inverts the iconic final frame of Rosemary’s Baby to great effect.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s horror classic shook audiences to their core upon release in the ’70s, largely for its shocking imagery. A grim battle over faith is waged between demon Pazuzu and priests Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). The battleground happens to be a 12-year-old, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), whose possessed form commits blasphemy often, including violently masturbating with a crucifix. Yet Friedkin captures the horrifying events with stunning cinematography; the emotional complexity and shot composition lend elegance to a film that counterbalances the horror. That balance between transgressive imagery and artful form permeates Immaculate as well.
Suspiria
Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American newcomer at a prestigious dance academy in Germany who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy amid a series of grisly murders. It’s a dance academy so disciplined in its art form that its students and faculty live their full time, spending nearly every waking hour there, including built-in meals and scheduled bedtimes. Like Suzy Bannion, Cecilia is a novitiate committed to learning her chosen trade, so much so that she travels to a foreign country to continue her training. Also, like Suzy, Cecilia quickly realizes the pristine façade of her new setting belies sinister secrets that mean her harm.
What Have You Done to Solange?
This 1972 Italian horror film follows a college professor who gets embroiled in a bizarre series of murders when his mistress, a student, witnesses one taking place. The professor starts his own investigation to discover what happened to the young woman, Solange. Sex, murder, and religion course through this Giallo’s veins, which features I Spit on Your Grave’s Camille Keaton as Solange. Immaculate director Michael Mohan revealed to The Wrap that he emulated director Massimo Dallamano’s techniques, particularly in a key scene that sees Cecilia alone in a crowded room of male superiors, all interrogating her on her immaculate status.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
In this Giallo, two sisters inherit their family’s castle that’s also cursed. When a dark-haired, red-robed woman begins killing people around them, the sisters begin to wonder if the castle’s mysterious curse has resurfaced. Director Emilio Miraglia infuses his Giallo with vibrant style, with the titular Red Queen instantly eye-catching in design. While the killer’s design and use of red no doubt played an influential role in some of Immaculate’s nightmare imagery, its biggest inspiration in Mohan’s film is its score. Immaculate pays tribute to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times through specific music cues.
The Vanishing
Rex’s life is irrevocably changed when the love of his life is abducted from a rest stop. Three years later, he begins receiving letters from his girlfriend’s abductor. Director George Sluizer infuses his simple premise with bone-chilling dread and psychological terror as the kidnapper toys with Red. It builds to a harrowing finale you won’t forget; and neither did Mohan, who cited The Vanishing as an influence on Immaculate. Likely for its surprise closing moments, but mostly for the way Sluizer filmed from inside a coffin.
The Other Hell
This nunsploitation film begins where Immaculate ends: in the catacombs of a convent that leads to an underground laboratory. The Other Hell sees a priest investigating the seemingly paranormal activity surrounding the convent as possessed nuns get violent toward others. But is this a case of the Devil or simply nuns run amok? Immaculate opts to ground its horrors in reality, where The Other Hell leans into the supernatural, but the surprise lab setting beneath the holy grounds evokes the same sense of blasphemous shock.
Inside
During Immaculate‘s freakout climax, Cecilia sets the underground lab on fire with Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) locked inside. He manages to escape, though badly burned, and chases Cecilia through the catacombs. When Father Tedeschi catches Cecilia, he attempts to cut her baby out of her womb, and the stark imagery instantly calls Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s seminal French horror movie to mind. Like Tedeschi, Inside’s La Femme (Béatrice Dalle) will stop at nothing to get the baby, badly burned and all.
Burial Ground
At first glance, this Italian zombie movie bears little resemblance to Immaculate. The plot sees an eclectic group forced to band together against a wave of undead, offering no shortage of zombie gore and wild character quirks. What connects them is the setting; both employed the Villa Parisi as a filming location. The Villa Parisi happens to be a prominent filming spot for Italian horror; also pair the new horror movie with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood or Blood for Dracula for additional boundary-pushing horror titles shot at the Villa Parisi.
The Devils
The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. There are the horror classics, like The Exorcist, and there are definitive transgressive horror cult classics. The Devils falls squarely in the latter, and Russell’s fearlessness in exploring taboos and wielding unholy imagery inspired Mohan’s approach to the escalating horror in Immaculate.
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