Editorials
Why ‘DOOM 3’ is Still Haunted House Perfection
In 1993 developer id Software changed the face of gaming forever with the release of DOOM. This polished, face-paced FPS put players in the blood-soaked boots of the Doomslayer and asked them to clear out waves of angry demons. The game was drenched in controversy thanks to its brutal violence and disturbing imagery. Yet, this title quickly amassed a dedicated fanbase that helped catapult DOOM as one of the most iconic franchises of all time.
But this isn’t about that game.
DOOM 3 launched on August 3, 2004, for PC and the original Xbox. Taking the series’ “run-and-gun” formula and melding it with horror proved to be an instant success. Both critics and fans praised DOOM 3 despite its radical departure into a genre that the franchise only previously flirted with. Gone was the thumping metal soundtrack and colorful sprites exploding into comical amounts of gore. Instead, id Software offered users a moody, unsettling experience and the series was better for it.
Like many survival horror games, DOOM 3 embraces a haunted house attraction style that’s filled with loud noises, jump scares, and monsters hiding in the dark. While this method can be viewed as a cheap way to induce fear, id Software masterfully balances these scares through clever level and sound design Only a few encounters are accompanied with dramatically loud music meant to jolt the player out of their seat. The rest is left to the player’s imagination, with various ambient sounds flooding the creaking, empty halls of the Mars space station.
Every tightly packed room is a claustrophobic nightmare that grabs hold of the player right as the game begins. Only when users are shuffled onto Mars’ surface do they get a second to catch their breath. A brief, serene moment as DOOM 3 exhales before taking in a big gulp of air and plunging back into the abyss. There are no huge arenas for players to run around in, which causes most encounters to be far more threatening. With such restricted space, fighting the demons becomes tricky as they, for once, have the advantage.
This is something that has been lost in later entries, with demons acting as nothing more than cannon fodder for the Doomslayer to tear through. They are no longer scary, but cartoonish and exceptionally over the top. Inversely, DOOM 3‘s demons are just otherworldly enough to be scary, while still embracing their classic appearances. All of these creatures are genuinely threatening and can easily take down a player if they aren’t careful. It elevates the stakes of every encounter, forcing users to make snap decisions about how to approach each encounter.
Even the lighting adds a terrific amount of tension. Despite being absent in later remasters of DOOM 3, players originally had to manually pull out their flashlight. Doing so would lower the weapon and make players temporarily vulnerable. This takes control out of the user’s hands, forcing them to quickly light up an area to check if it was safe. Understanding when to use your flashlight was vital and DOOM 3 was hardly forgiving if you picked the wrong time to shine some light in a location. It’s a small, but clever way to always keep people on the edge of their seats.
Power-ups, health, and ammo are also hidden away in secluded areas or closed storage lockers. DOOM 3 forces players to engage with its story via audio logs if they want to obtain the best gear. This isn’t an issue as the general plot and characters are shockingly superb. During your journey you’ll learn all about the Mars base and the people within, lending DOOM 3 a more intriguing story than any of the other franchise entries.
Story has always been secondary in the DOOM franchise. Yes, 2016’s DOOM has terrific visual storytelling, but the third installment took it a step further. There were so many secrets to uncover that added real emotional weight to the world. Stumbling upon a dead scientists PDA could help shed some light on not just the demons, but who these people were. DOOM 3 respects its world, allowing it to organically open up to those brave enough to explore. Id Software understood that this franchise can be more than stylishly killing monsters in some macabre spectacle.
Sure, cutting up demons is fun, but DOOM 3‘s decision to embrace the horror genre was a perfect evolution for the franchise. On paper, the setting for the upcoming DOOM Eternal should be terrifying. An Earth that has been ravaged by demonic beings sounds like a great horror premise, but Eternal appears to treat its world like something out of a twisted comic book. That’s not to say there isn’t a time or a place to cut loose and carve up some monsters, but DOOM is a series that’s perfect for the horror genre.
Going forward, I would love to see this franchise look to the third installment for inspiration. Make the monsters horrific again and not Saturday morning cartoon versions of Clive Barker demons. There’s so much potential for this franchise to grow and expand beyond its classic roots that it’s frustrating to see it slink back into the safety of the run-and-gun design. The Resident Evil franchise boasts a vast assortment of uniquely designed entries, each of which are capable of standing on their own. Id Software should follow this mentality and not be chained to the classic formula it originally crafted.
DOOM 3 is not just a great DOOM game, but a fantastic example of how to craft a survival horror experience.
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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