Editorials
From ‘Night Trap’ to ‘The Quarry’ – Chronicling the Evolution of Interactive Horror Movies
Since the dawn of the first horror movie, there have been genre fans yelling at the screen and criticizing ill-fated characters, often claiming that they would have made better decisions in their place. That’s why it’s only natural that the eventual rise of videogames would lead to digital media attempting to repackage that scary movie experience with an interactive twist.
While we’re still a far cry from the completely immersive virtual reality that was promised to us by science fiction, interactive horror movies have come a long way since the days of full-motion video and clunky arcade cabinets. In fact, from the charmingly lo-fi thrills of Digital Pictures’ Night Trap to Supermassive Games’ recent The Quarry, there’s a surprisingly interesting history behind the evolution of these choose-your-own-terror projects.
As it turns out, the first instances of interactive movies actually predate the digital age, with pioneer filmmakers borrowing from live theater productions and experimenting with audience participation during the early days of cinema. While most of these examples involved alternate endings and live moderators, carnival workers were also appropriating film technology to create interactive experiences as far back as the 1910s, coming up with primitive shooting galleries that incorporated real footage and often featured rudimentary narratives.
These fun little gimmicks eventually inspired a whole genre of arcade cabinets during the 80s, with many of them running on the then-revolutionary Laserdisc technology. Most of these titles simply repurposed footage from obscure sci-fi flicks and even anime, but it was here that developers really started playing around with quick-time events and branching storylines. While there were a few unprecedented hits like Don Bluth’s infamous Dragon’s Lair and the live-action Crime Patrol, it would be quite a while before these games began to lean into the scary side of interactive storytelling.
It was only with the rise of home-based FMV games that we’d start to see some legitimately spooky thrills akin to truly interactive horror movies. Since gaming as a medium depends on technological advances, these experiences were originally limited to VHS/board game hybrids like Atmosfear, which mixed traditional role-playing elements with a surprisingly compelling cinematic narrative. Of course, the ever-evolving world of home consoles meant that the 90s would offer up more interactive experiments like Corpse Killer (a rail shooter that incorporated campy live-action horror elements) and the aforementioned Night Trap.
Night Trap is an especially interesting example of interactive storytelling as it was originally developed for an unreleased VHS-based console exclusively meant for movie-like gaming experiences. While the “Control-Vision” was never released, Night Trap eventually found a home on the Sega CD a few years later (though it was popular enough to warrant a much-needed remaster back in 2017). The game was never considered a masterpiece, with even contemporary critics pointing out that the clunky controls and inherent limitations of live-action video made it unnecessarily frustrating, but there’s no denying the B-movie charms of Digital Pictures’ vampiric romp.
This was apparently too racy for 90s parents.
Sure, the whole thing is a bit too janky to be properly scary, but I’d argue that Night Trap has some of the most innovative use of live-action elements in a videogame, predating most Found Footage movies with its voyeuristic thrills and making up for a lot of its limitations with a sense of humor. The game is also notable for the controversy surrounding its “creepy” subject matter, with both Night Trap and Mortal Kombat becoming key players in the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
Beyond Night Trap, we’d also see a plethora of horror-themed point-&-click adventures that incorporated cinematic elements and live-action footage. From the surprisingly polished Dracula Unleashed (which was later remastered and released on DVD) to Sierra On-Line’s seven-disc juggernaut Phantasmagoria, this era saw plenty of experimentation on the FMV front, with some titles even featuring celebrity guest stars like Tim Curry and Christopher Walken. We’d even get peculiar licensed experiments like Hyperbole Studios‘ The X-Files Game, which was basically an interactive episode of the third season of the show.
At the same time, Japanese developers were also experimenting with interactive cinematic horror experiences with the rise of visual novels. While they were often cheaper to produce and had varying degrees of interactivity, games like 1992’s Otogiriso proved that there was an international market for immersive horror stories, with the title even being adapted into a successful feature film with 2001’s St. John’s Wort.
The late 90s and early 2000s brought advances in both DVD technology and 3D rendering software, which made it even easier for creators to close the gap between gaming and film. Even blockbuster movies were getting in on the action, with films like Final Destination 3 releasing with special “Choose Their Fate” editions which allowed audiences to affect death scenes and added alternate endings. Meanwhile, developers like David Cage were starting to forgo the live-action elements of previous “interactive movies”, replacing full motion video with motion capture technology and focusing on real-time gameplay.
Unfortunately, while titles like Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain borrowed heavily from the horror genre, there were few explicitly scary experiences to be found until the 2010s. One of the first exceptions to this lack of notable horror games was Telltale’s episodic The Walking Dead, which not only garnered praise for the heartbreaking nature of its interactive elements but is also my personal favorite incarnation of Robert Kirkman’s undead franchise.
Later on, we’d see a resurgence of FMV elements in indie games like 2015’s Her Story, which incorporated real footage into a retro gaming experience with a surprisingly somber narrative. While it’s definitely a nostalgic throwback to the heyday of FMV titles, the added benefit of modern hardware meant that gamers didn’t have to deal with most of the technology’s frustrating drawbacks. The success of Her Story even led to a spiritual successor in the form of Telling Lies, as well as other similar titles like Erica and At The Dead of Night.
Things were about to get a whole lot scarier.
That same year, Supermassive Games would also release the PS4 exclusive Until Dawn, which revolutionized the interactive horror movie experience with production value that rivaled most big-budget monster movies. Featuring a diverse cast of talented actors and an intricately branching story that believably adapts to your choices, Will Byles’s game remains a shining example of why this sort of interactive experience became so popular in the first place.
That’s why it’s no surprise that Until Dawn led to wave of like-minded successors in the form of The Dark Pictures Anthology, and I’d even argue that the game’s success influenced Netflix’s decision to turn their 2018 Black Mirror movie into an interactive horror experience. Naturally, this also led to a proper successor in the form of 2022’s long-awaited The Quarry, which is the clear culmination of a style that has been honed by Byles during these past years.
While The Quarry ditches some of the excessively game-y elements of Until Dawn (like the emotional character stats and overly complex quick-time events), it keeps and improves on the midnight movie spirit that made its predecessor such a compelling romp. The experience isn’t exactly perfect, as the insane amount of variables means that the story has a hard time tying up all the loose ends, but I still think The Quarry is the closest we’ve come to a truly interactive horror movie without literally being trapped inside of a haunted house.
While overly cinematic gaming experiences have been the subject of controversy over the years, with the FMV trend often being cited as one of industry’s biggest failures and art critics having mixed opinions on the merits of story-focused videogames, I think that this negative reputation is unfair. The way I see it, this kind of interactive adventure is simply a natural progression from the way that we traditionally immerse ourselves in our favorite narratives.
The desire to overcome challenges and survive cathartic experiences is at the very heart of gaming, so it makes sense that developers would try to find a compromise between virtual playgrounds and the vicarious thrills of horror movies. These experiences may not be for everyone, but with constantly advancing hardware opening up new storytelling possibilities, I know I’m not the only one who can’t wait to see what kind of terrifying interactive narratives we’ll see in the future.
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Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
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