Editorials
Revisiting the Post-Nuclear Horrors of the ‘Fallout’ Franchise
Fallout was my first M-rated game. While I was way too young at the time to truly appreciate Interplay’s satirical odyssey through a dystopic wasteland, I still remember opening that jewel case in awe of a title that was clearly meant for a more mature audience. Unfortunately, I was also really bad at the game, which led to an overwhelming sense of dread whenever I decided to boot up this strange world where everything was out to murder my woefully under-leveled Vault Dweller. Even the loading screens and ambient music gave me the heebie-jeebies, but I soldiered on anyway, eventually becoming a massive fan of the franchise.
I may not have gotten very far during those initial playthroughs (I only managed to finish the original two titles during my last year of High-School), but Fallout certainly left a lasting impression as a spooky post-apocalyptic simulator. Of course, nowadays I’m aware that the franchise is mostly known for its dark humor and satirical writing, using the retro-futuristic setting as an excuse to explore the sociological consequences of a nuclear holocaust while also satirizing real-world issues. Nevertheless, I’m still convinced that the more unnerving elements of this setting are a crucial part of the series’ massive success.
These games have come a long way since 1997, starting out as isometric adventures and eventually evolving into the FPS/RPG hybrids that we know today, but the heart of the franchise is still based on the same unsettling philosophies. It may be the wacky post-apocalyptic escapades that keep players coming back for more, but it’s the little moments of genuine nuclear terror that make this such an effective and immersive world. That’s why I think it’s worth revisiting some of the horrific influences behind this weird and wonderful Wasteland.
Even with the tongue-in-cheek approach to the nuclear holocaust, it’s no surprise that a setting inspired by the terrors of radioactive warfare has spawned its fair share of nightmare fuel. While there are obvious examples of terrifying abominations roaming the Fallout wastes, the original games actually relied a lot more on atmosphere and body horror rather than traditional atomic monsters. From the social isolation enforced by Vault-Tec (which was later revealed to be using the Vaults for their own unethical experiments) to cannibalistic raiders, and even the mere existence of Ghouls (zombie-like humans cursed with immortality after being ravaged by radiation), these games featured all sorts of disturbing content that would oftentimes be overshadowed by humor.
It’s enough to make David Cronenberg blush.
That’s not to say that players won’t be facing off against all manners of monstrous mutations while exploring the Wasteland, as the original games featured a veritable smorgasbord of now-iconic enemies. From the demonic-looking Deathclaws (somehow descended from genetically-enhanced chameleons) to the disgusting Floaters (mutated flatworms with a penchant for human flesh), the early Fallout games actually did a great job of conveying terror despite the crude visuals. One could even make the argument that the lack of visual clarity actually made these creatures more terrifying, as these pixelized depictions of radioactive atrocities would force players to fill in the blanks with their own imagination.
Many of these horrific designs would actually be physically sculpted before being scanned into the game, with media like Fred M. Wilcox’s Forbidden Planet and Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend (plus its adaptations) being cited as the inspiration for some of the mutated denizens of the Wasteland. Of course, some of the most disturbing material was inspired by real-life accounts of radiation poisoning, leading to the Ghouls’ exposed flesh and the iconic two-headed Brahmin. This just goes to show that fiction can rarely compete with the horrors of the real world.
Nevertheless, these serious elements were also accompanied by an unexpectedly entertaining amount of primitive gore effects. While the exaggerated bloodshed would often be more humorous than disturbing (the developers even included an optional “Bloody Mess” character trait/perk for players with a thirst for more ultra-violence), this penchant for schlock would become a staple of the franchise even as it transitioned into the third dimension.
While the highly-detailed models of later titles weren’t quite as grungy or off-putting as the isometric sprites of earlier games, there were still quite a few frightful creatures that successfully made players soil their pants while exploring the three-dimensional ruins of Bethesda’s (and Obsidian’s) Fallout games. One might even argue that the added detail actually made some of the designs even creepier, as we were now able to take a closer look at decrepit Ghouls and even the revolting Centaurs.
I still have nightmares about these guys in New Vegas’ Quarry Junction…
The cinematic flourishes of these big-budget sequels also allowed for some more direct inspiration from the horror genre. Fallout 3 featured obvious references to H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror (with one quest-line even involving a mysterious tome named Krivbeknih, inspired by the Necronomicon), and New Vegas boasted an entire DLC add-on (Dead Money) that felt like a post-apocalyptic heist designed by Jigsaw. Hell, even the terrifying Lake-Lurkers look an awful lot like a certain lagoon-based Universal Monster.
Benefiting from the New England setting, Fallout 4 would continue referencing Lovecraft, with one side-quest even serving as a loose adaptation of Pickman’s Model. The game would also add some more appropriately fishy monsters and locations with the foggy terrors of the Far Harbor DLC, though the main storyline focused on more traditional sci-fi conflicts.
More recently, Fallout 76 has been making a big deal out of incorporating irradiated versions of North-American cryptids into the game, featuring everything from Mothman cults to ravenous Wendigos and even the Flatwoods Monster. The multiplayer elements may have distanced the game even further from the horror genre, but it’s nice to see that the franchise is still paying homage to its scary roots.
Ultimately, Fallout is at its best when balancing the genuinely horrific nature of a nuclear apocalypse with darkly humorous writing and addictive role-playing mechanics. While the experience gets progressively less spooky as your character turns into a radioactive badass, the Wasteland never stops being a terrifying place, which makes your eventual conquering of it all the more satisfying. These horror elements might not be the explicit focus of these games, but the series definitely wouldn’t be as popular as it is today without that eerie touch that makes us hesitate before looting a giant mole-rat.
That’s why I think any future Fallout projects (including that recently-announced Amazon Studios adaptation) should try and remember these scary influences when trying to immerse fans in a new version of this iconic setting. After all, what’s scarier than the end of the world?
Comics
‘Spider-Noir’ Comic Changes Explained: How the TV Series Reinvents Marvel’s Darkest Spider-Man
A little while back, I wrote an article chronicling the Hellraiser franchise’s affinity for Film Noir and touched on how that genre has, historically, always been connected to horror.
This connection can be observed in everything from the cannibalistic serial killers of Frank Miller’s Sin City to the disturbing criminal plots fueling neo-noir thrillers like Stuart Gordon’s underrated King of the Ants. That’s why it came as no surprise when I finally sat down to watch all eight episodes of Prime Video’s recently released Spider-Noir series and was confronted with plenty of classic horror tropes.
What did come as a surprise, however, was how showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot approached these horror elements when compared to the 2009 comic book that the show is based on. From the heavily altered rogue’s gallery to an equally terrifying yet completely different origin story for Nicolas Cage’s take on the webslinger, there are plenty of changes here that I feel might be of interest to genre fans.
With that in mind, I’d like to invite readers to take a closer look at all the adjustments that Spider-Noir made to the story in order to bring this incarnation of Spider-Man to life in all of its monochromatic glory (unless you watched the True-Hue color version of the show, in which case you’ll be treated to a surprisingly comic-booky palette that you don’t usually see on television).
The Dark Origins of Marvel’s Spider-Man Noir
Our first order of business should be to examine the origins of the Noir comics themselves. Originally published as part of the Marvel Noir alternate universe that reimagined several characters as hard-boiled crime-fighters, Spider-Man Noir became the most successful book in the entire run. This highly politicized story about Peter Parker coming to terms with the capitalist evils of the Great Depression seemed to have struck a nerve with audiences looking for a darker take on the wall-crawler, which is likely why we’d soon see several sequel stories as well as a video game adaptation of the character in 2010’s underrated Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.
Of course, it wasn’t just Spider-Man’s darker disposition that made this version of the character a hit, as 1930s New York City was depicted as being much more hostile than what we generally see in the standard Marvel Universe. From Peter’s powers coming from an Eldritch Spider God that spawns man-eating arachnids to Vulture being an ex-Freak-Show Gimp with a taste for human flesh, you can definitely understand why this Web-Head isn’t pulling his punches.
Unfortunately, this alternate universe was a little too popular for its own good, with each subsequent sequel/adaptation further diluting the political anger and classic horror influences that fueled the original comic-book run in order to appeal to a wider audience. Spider-Man Noir was nearly unrecognizable once we got to the Spider-Verse crossover that turned the character into a household name, though this would at least lead to an interesting adaptation in 2018.
The Classic Horror Influences Hidden Throughout Spider-Noir
Jack Huston as Sandman in ‘Spider-Noir’
When Phil Lord and Chris Miller finally translated Spider-Man Noir to the big screen, with Nicolas Cage bringing the character to life in an unexpected case of pitch-perfect casting, he was still mostly relegated to comic relief as his nazi-punching antics and over-the-top edginess were played for laughs. However, while this version of the character had little to do with the comics that spawned him, Spider-Noir’s newfound popularity eventually resulted in the announcement of a darker live-action spin-off – a spin-off that I was cautiously optimistic about.
While the showrunners ultimately decided to go in a completely different direction than the 2009 comic, the new team of writers appeared to understand Noir as a genre in ways that even the folks at Marvel Noir couldn’t quite grasp. That’s likely why 2026’s Spider-Noir boasts plenty of horror elements, just not in ways we’ve seen them before.
The series is obviously borrowing tropes and aesthetics from period-accurate monster movies, with Universal’s 1930s output being a particularly big influence. From the re-imagining of Sandman and Tombstone as tragic figures to The Spider even being operated on by a mad scientist with hilariously antiquated techniques, this bizarre collection of super-powered freaks could have easily shown up in a classic creature feature.
The scares aren’t all retro, however, as the showrunners also injected plenty of body-horror into the mix during their attempt at unifying the origin stories for all these larger-than-life characters. Hell, the Spider himself is now revealed to have gained his powers after being bitten by a half-mutated Man-Spider during World War I, and the aforementioned mad scientist keeps a disturbing collection of failed experiments in her basement, proving that not all of her patients were lucky enough to simply gain superpowers after being experimented on.
Nicolas Cage Reinvents Spider-Man Noir for Television
Ben Reilly/Spiderman (Nicolas Cage) in SPIDER-NOIR
Photo: Aaron Epstein/Prime
© Amazon Content Services LLC
I also really appreciate how Cage insists on depicting Ben Reilly as an arachnid trapped inside of a human body, with his uncanny physical performance and classic Hollywood impressions keeping your eyes glued to the screen while also providing some of the show’s funniest moments.
I still think it’s a shame that the character is no longer politically motivated, and I miss the detail about Uncle Ben having been cannibalized by Vulture after his social activism ruffled too many feathers, but at least this time our protagonist actually feels like someone who could have been written by Raymond Chandler if he were a fan of Superheroes.
In fact, the writers nailed the snappy back-and-forth that Noir authors like Dashiel Hammett used to refer to as the “riposte”, and it’s fun to see supervillains being depicted as horrific movie monsters instead of specialized henchmen – with The Spider feeling like just as much of a Freak Show attraction as the rest of them. Purists might be put off by the lack of reverence for the source material, but I think that’s a small price to pay when even the show’s most clichéd moments intentionally harken back to the golden age of Hollywood.
That’s why I’d argue that Amazon’s Spider-Noir isn’t really an adaptation, but rather an equally valid take on the same premise that inspired Marvel back in 2009. And in a world filled with recycled storylines that only serve to advertise future releases, I’d rather have two completely different visions of the same character than a straight-up retelling of the same handful of ideas.
At the end of the day, there’s enough space inside this comic fan’s heart for both man-eating Vultures and a Cronenberg-inspired Man-Spider. And if you’re also a fan of nostalgic creature features with comic book flair, I’d highly recommend this street-level superhero story with a spooky twist.
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