Editorials
Becoming The Dark Knight: ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ Turns 10
Well before the MCU and DCU took over cinema, superheroes were finding their way into video games. From X-Men to Superman and more, there have been a variety of games that have provided joy for players who love comic books. Some of these games are absolute gems, providing excellent gameplay that makes you feel immersed in the character. Take 2004’s Spider-Man 2, its open-world allows you to swing around New York, giving you this incredible feeling that you are Spider-Man.
But we’re here to talk about another video game based on an iconic superhero. We’re here to talk about Batman: Arkham Asylum.
When I first saw the trailer for this game 10 years ago, I was blown away. Not only were the graphics awesome, but the vibe itself caught me off guard. Up until Arkham Asylum’s release, I was used to seeing superhero video games in a more “kid-friendly” light; some titles may have tossed in a dark reference or theme there and then, but for the most part, the narratives associated with these games were simple and clean cut.
So when I got to see Arkham Asylum in all its creepy, gothic glory, I was amped.
The game begins with Batman taking the Joker into Arkham. Batman gets the sense that something is not right, as capturing the Joker was too easy. Not too long after initially bringing the Joker in, he is able to get away from the guards, revealing that it was his plan to be brought back to Arkham. Joker threatens to blow up Gotham City if Batman does not stay within the asylum to chase him down. As the player takes control of Batman, it is up to them to navigate the asylum, taking on thugs and part of Batman’s rogue’s gallery.
The game’s intro is pretty incredible; not only does the player get to take in all the lovely graphical detail, but it also does an excellent job presenting the overall atmosphere. It’s a gloomy night as you drive towards Arkham in the Batmobile; when you finally get into the asylum, you’ll notice the dim lighting and industrial coldness that make up Arkham. There’s even an awesome moment where you cross paths with Killer Croc, who looks terrifying in this game (and makes for one of the tenser boss fights later on).
Arkham Asylum’s narrative plays out to loads of epic moments that exude adrenaline and suspense. Along with an awesome cast of characters, one of the best components to Arkham Asylum is playing as Batman, for this is the first game to make you really feel like you are Batman. This sensation is primarily done through the game’s mechanics.
Combat feels powerful throughout Arkham Asylum; whether you are beating foes down with your fists, or catching them off guard with gadgets, it always feels satisfying to enter a brawl. But speaking of gadgets, there are several moments throughout the game where direct combat is not the best idea. In these cases, the game has the player take a stealth approach, using their grappling hook to latch onto nearby ledges and gargoyles, stalking their prey from above. When the moment is right, you can swoop down to tackle your foe, or pull them up to a ledge and knock them out up there. Strategy makes for a big element in Arkham Asylum, for if the body of a defeated foe is found by other thugs, they will all be on the alert. As Batman, you have the ability to jump into small passages, hiding in the darkness until the time is right to reappear.
Enemy types involve your typical thugs in various forms (sometimes with shields or additional weaponry). As these enemy types begin to mix later on in the game, the player has to keep in mind strategy as they move about; even though combat remains fluid from beginning to end, the pacing in which challenge is presented allows for the player to feel a sense of success in each confrontation.
On top of this gameplay immersion, the game also has Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Arleen Sorkin providing the voices for Batman, the Joker, and Harley Quinn respectively; this is pretty awesome if you grew up watching the Batman Animated Series, given that these actors voiced the characters for the show. As a whole, Arkham Asylum offers a terrific sincerity and makes the player feel like they are Batman in the Batman world.
Arkham is a truly grungy, chilling setting. As you run around and climb up its gothic structure, you can’t help but take in its ominous vibes. There’s also this great element of feeling trapped within its walls; since Arkham is meant to be an institution to keep mad criminals locked up, the game does a splendid job providing bits of anxiety and surprises along the way.
Along with this chilling presentation comes the Scarecrow segment; when it comes time to confront Scarecrow, the game’s environment goes to some surreal, nightmarish places. At one point, Batman will begin to see bizarre hallucinations of his dead parents (having ingested some of Scarecrow’s fear toxin). Shortly after, the game drops the player into this trippy world full of broken structures they must jump to and from. In the middle of all of this is a giant Scarecrow looming over everything. In this platforming section, the player must avoid Scarecrow, making their way to the end to properly defeat him. The Scarecrow segment makes for an excellent way to catch the player off guard and add upon the overall creepy atmosphere.
Each boss fight is intriguing; along with the Scarecrow encounter, you’ll go up against other baddies like Bane, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc. These encounters make for theatrical set pieces, each utilizing different strategies to defeat the opponent. Personally speaking, Killer Croc is a standout moment among the boss fights.
You encounter Croc in the sewers; you find yourself on these wooden boards as you walk up and down various pathways. Croc eventually makes himself known, threatening to take you out before diving underwater. From there, you must navigate the sewers on these boards, being mindful of how fast you are moving and when Croc may appear. Too sudden of a movement will alert Croc as to where you are. If he hears your footsteps, he springs up from the water and jumps onto the boards, charging right at you. You have a limited amount of time to hit him with a batarang before he grabs you. The visual of this hulking humanoid reptilian man is terrifying.
Along with its numerous collectibles and easter eggs, Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the most sincere Batman video game experiences to date. Upon its release the game received waves of commercial and critical applause, with many praising its gameplay, design, and authentic presentation. The Arkham series has gone on to spawn numerous additional entries (Arkham City, Arkham Origins, Arkham Knight, Arkham VR, and two mobile games).
Batman: Arkham Asylum is not only a brilliant action-adventure title, but also one of the truly best comic book video games of all time. For its ability to make players feel like the titular hero, along with its fun story, excellent gameplay, and a great environment, Batman: Arkham Asylum is how you create a captivating superhero experience.
The penultimate season of Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996) aired its first three episodes on October 31, so it’s understandable that at least one of those three stories is set on Halloween.
Sandwiched between “Let the Punishment Fit the Crime” (Russell Mulcahy, Ron Finley) and “Whirlpool” (Mick Garris, A. L. Katz & Gilbert Adler) is the most severe episode of the bunch. Maybe the entire series? William Malone and Dick Beebe’s “Only Skin Deep” traded the show’s typical sense of fun for startling amounts of bleakness and kink.
“Only Skin Deep” is, apart from the Crypt Keeper’s intro and outro, noticeably unfunny. There are no considerable attempts at making the viewer laugh. Come to think of it, if those bookends had been replaced, and there was more of a sci-fi element in the story, HBO could have easily squeezed this tale into that successor anthology, Perversions of Science (1997). In Crypt, though, “Only Skin Deep” is much too grim for an audience that had become accustomed to campiness and levity.
What makes “Only Skin Deep” feel dark, among other things, is its protagonist. Showing up to a Halloween party where he’s not welcome, and where his former girlfriend (Diane DiLasco) is attending, Carl Schlag (Peter Onorati) first comes across as your standard bitter ex. You soon realize it’s much worse than that, once Carl threatens Linda (“You know, silly me, thinking I gave you what you deserved. If I’d have done that, I’d have killed you”). Now, I haven’t forgotten that Tales from the Crypt was teeming with vile men who did women harm. Yet Carl’s brand of misogynistic menace hits differently—it borders on being too realistic for this kind of series.
Mike Vosburg’s EC-style comic cover for “Only Skin Deep”, as seen in the Tales from the Crypt episode.
Despite donning a party mask for much of the episode, Carl can’t ever mask his true nature. The invitation did say “come as you are”, after all. That inability to change and be better, however, is why Carl ends up in such a karmic predicament. His outburst of anger at the party attracts the attention of one loner partygoer named Molly (Sherrie Rose, who was also in Season Four’s “On a Deadman’s Chest”). Her bone-white, featureless “mask” and body-bag costume don’t initially register as too strange, especially on a night like this. But at a party chock-full of colorful, cartoonish, and lighthearted ensembles, it does look out of place.
Darkness attracts darkness as Carl ditches the party and accompanies the mysterious Molly to her place. Which, by the way, should have been an immediate red flag. But perhaps she’s so hot, he doesn’t seem to mind the serial killer aesthetic. Resembling a warehouse that has been converted into living spaces, but never then decorated to remove the cold, industrial look, Molly’s home (or lair) is as gloomy as this whole episode feels. It’s like the set of a grungy music video, albeit a tad cleaner. The environments in a typical Crypt episode tend to be small, overfilled, and broken-in. Warm, regardless of any weird goings-on. All that empty space in Molly’s hovel, on the other hand, elicits a creepy feeling that Carl was unwise to ignore.
Tales from the Crypt featured more sex than it didn’t, but hands down, “Only Skin Deep” boasts the steamiest scene in the show’s history. Pushing it over the line, in addition to Onorati showing bare buns and the camera never turning down one of his pelvic thrusts, is the twisted dirty talk. Carl stays in the moment, whereas Molly unleashes charged lines like “the hurt, the anger, give it to me” and “take it out on my flesh like you want to”. It’s all quite kinky, as well as tied into the story’s theme of pain.
How else “Only Skin Deep” differs from other episodes is its twists. Or rather, its lack thereof. Nothing comes as a great surprise here, particularly because the deuteragonist’s ulterior motives are so obvious. By no means is Molly a wolf in sheep’s clothing; her face is a fright mask, she practically reeks of death, and she lives in what can best be described as a serial killer’s hideout. That last-act revelation of Molly’s mask really being her face is also nothing shocking. Cleverness is certainly not this episode’s strength.
A page from “…Only Skin Deep!”, as seen in EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt.
While “Only Skin Deep” isn’t the most universally loved episode of Tales from the Crypt, it’s an interesting preview of William Malone’s future as a director. Most notably, he went on to helm House on Haunted Hill (1999) and FeardotCom (2002), the former of which was co-written by Dick Beebe, this episode’s writer. Dark Castle Entertainment, that genre house founded by Crypt producers Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler, was instrumental in bringing out Malone’s gruesome, over-the-top vision in House on Haunted Hill. However, FeardotCom and Malone’s Masters of Horror episode, “Fair-Haired Child”, are the most stylistically compatible with “Only Skin Deep”.
As one might guess, this episode is nothing like its source material. The “…Only Skin Deep!” found in the pages of EC Comics is set during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and save for its last couple of pages, is pretty sweet in nature. There, a man named Herbert is enamored with a woman he met five years prior to the present-day story. Every year, he has come down to Mardi Gras to see Suzanne, who’s always dressed as a hag-faced witch. Well, this time, Herbert plans on popping the question and marrying someone who is, for the most part, a total stranger. Suzanne accepts his proposal, but with one condition: they stay in costume until they’re officially hitched. You can probably see where this is going…
Once they are married, Suzanne remains incognito, even when she and Herbert have consummated their vows. A semi-predictive nightmare then rattles Herbert; he dreamt that Suzanne’s real face was as wizened as her mask. Finally, in his haste to find out the truth, Herbert winds up killing his new wife. Faceless and well on her way to bleeding out, the dying Suzanne manages to say she never wore a mask.
For more traditional EC-style ghastliness, your best bet is reading the comic. It’s wickedly sad. For something less conventional, as far as Tales from the Crypt goes, the role-reversing adaptation is worth watching. It’s not the best this show had to offer, although Malone’s visual style, plus the sexual abandon, does set the episode apart. If nothing else, “Only Skin Deep” leaves an impression that, even years later, shows no signs of fading.
Season Six of Tales from the Crypt can be streamed on Shudder, starting on June 5.
Tales from Tales from the Crypt celebrates the show’s Shudder premiere by singling out one episode from each season. So don’t even think about changing that dial, boys and ghouls. More spot-“frights” are to come.
Carl discovers Molly’s collection of human ‘masks’ in the Tales from the Crypt episode, “Only Skin Deep”.
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