Sony is taking the Marvel approach to its PlayStation franchises and creating in-house movies and TV shows via its newly minted PlayStation Productions company. There are some salivating prospects among PlayStation’s library of titles from the last 20+ years, and among them are some pretty good opportunities to contribute to the horror genre. We decided to go through the best horror and horror-adjacent franchises in PlayStation’s locker to adapt and how to adapt them.
Bloodborne
From Software’s PS4 exclusive action RPG is considered to be one of the greatest games of the generation, and its cosmic horror world is ripe for a screen adaptation. A TV show could work, but the fear would be that it may try to overexplain the rich lore when it works best at the fringes of the tale.
So a film then. Not a traditional action horror film as that would rob it of some of Bloodborne‘s grim grandeur, but one that respects its audience’s intelligence and tells a story through its world. A straight adaptation of the game would likely not work, but there’s plenty in there to recreate the spirit of it in a respectful manner. Plus, who wouldn’t want to see some of those boss designs come to life on the big screen?
MediEvil
Upon hearing the news of PlayStation Productions creation, one of the first things that came to my mind was a MediEvil animated film. The goofy, gothic adventures of undead Knight Sir Dan Fortesque could be a fantastic family film, given a bit of that Tim Burton-style magic (though probably not directed by Burton).
The redemptive arc is there after all. A failed Knight coming back from the dead to prove his honor? That’s gold.
Until Dawn
I’d be reluctant to see a straight up slasher movie adaptation of Until Dawn. It works best because it’s an interactive experience, so why not continue that with an interactive film in the vein of Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch episode?
Bonus points if Hayden Panettiere and the Oscar-winning Rami Malek can be cast as live-action versions of their in-game characters.
The Last of Us
There’s been talk of a The Last of Us movie being in production pretty much since the original game arrived to so much acclaim, but that’s seemingly in limbo, so perhaps we could revisit Naughty Dog’s fungal apocalypse in the form of a TV show?
The issue, of course, is competing against numerous other post-apocalyptic shows with infected foes, but to leave such an integral franchise off the slate for TV and film seems unlikely, so that’s a problem that would have to be tackled in time. leaving the story from the games alone would seem wise though, as there’s a world of new stories to explore.
Parasite Eve
Not PlayStation-owned so to speak, but very much a great part of the original PlayStation’s roster. Surely Square-Enix could be convinced to collaborate on a Parasite Eve TV show? The strange horror of the series deserves further exploration and an episodic approach would be a great way of delving into that.
It’d be better than an adaptation of The Bouncer anyway.
Twisted Metal
Making Twisted Metal work as a show or film would be an interesting challenge (it’s been attempted before). It’s essentially an adult Wacky Races so perhaps an adult-orientated animation? According to recent sources, Twisted Metal is in development and will be a TV show, so we’ll have to see if that’s approach PlayStation goes with.
What PlayStation game would you love to see adapted?