Editorials
6 Indie Horror Games Hollywood Should Adapt After ‘Iron Lung’
It used to be that video game adaptations were limited to big budget franchises, with household names like Super Mario Bros. and Mortal Kombat getting blockbuster movies while more niche experiences like Dino Crisis and System Shock were mostly ignored by non-gamer audiences. Not only that, but corporate expectations and bloated production budgets meant that these big screen adaptations would often misunderstand what made these franchises popular in the first place.
Fortunately, it seems that the days of the “video game curse” are far behind us. Not only are recognizable franchises like Five Nights at Freddy’s receiving long-awaited adaptations, but even indie experiments like David Szymanski’s Iron Lung are being adapted into feature length horror movies (with this one in particular being written and directed by none other than Markiplier). And with the indie gaming scene going through a creative revolution, we thought that this might be the perfect time to highlight six other indie horror games that Hollywood should adapt after Iron Lung.
To be featured on this list, a game must have been developed by a relatively small studio with little to no marketing push by big-name publishers, so we’ll be avoiding popular titles like Alan Wake or The Evil Within. With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own indie darlings if you think we missed a particularly good one.
Now, onto the list…
6. Dusk (2018)
There’s nothing more cathartic than diving into a good old boomer shooter when you’re in the mood for first-person mayhem, though it’s pretty clear that most of these gameplay-first experiences aren’t particularly suited for big screen adaptations. A rare exception would be New Blood Interactive’s darkly atmospheric action-horror title Dusk, which pits players against low-poly Lovecraftian cultists and eldritch abominations.
Sure, the plot itself isn’t anything to write home about, with the game describing the chaos that ensues when the inhabitants of a fictional Pennsylvanian town unearth cursed ruins, but I’d still love it if some insane filmmaking team could adapt this high-octane experience into a Hardcore-Henry-inspired first-person romp featuring a bad-ass protagonist and practical monster effects.
5. Cry of Fear (2013)
Originally a Half-Life mod, Team Psykskallar’s Cry of Fear became popular enough to warrant an independent release as gamers began to sing the praises of this unexpectedly deep horror experience. Featuring innovative gameplay and a surprising amount of atmosphere in its terror-laced urban environments, what really makes the title ripe for an adaptation is its mind-bending narrative that harkens back to the days of Silent Hill 2.
Even audiences who had never even heard of the game would likely flock to theaters to watch a moody urban thriller with more than a little influence from surreal horror classics like Jacob’s Ladder and Donnie Darko – though I’d appreciate it if the hypothetical film could maintain the game’s somber tone and unusual Swedish setting.
4. Bendy and the Ink Machine (2017)
It might be that ever-evolving cultural sensibilities end up giving a darker edge to things that were once deemed innocent, but you’ve got to admit that there’s something naturally unnerving about old-timey cartoons. This is precisely why Bendy and the Ink Machine would work so well as a movie, with its unique subject matter and aesthetic allowing for a cinematic adaptation unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
Hell, you could even pitch this hypothetical film as “what if Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a horror movie?”, with a potential adaptation combining live-action elements with animation in appropriately uncanny ways. It could even feature cameos from other public domain cartoon characters for added realism.
3. Lone Survivor (2012)
It actually took me an embarrassing amount of time finally finish Superflat Games’ Lone Survivor. Not necessarily because it’s a difficult game (though it can be), but because the oppressive atmosphere and gameplay made it hard for me to enjoy the experience for extended periods. That might sound like a strange endorsement of a video game, but it’s precisely the title’s decidedly unfriendly qualities that could make it into a big screen classic.
Telling the story of a nameless protagonist on the verge of losing his mind after a mysterious infection has turned the city’s population into homicidal monsters, the low-stakes apocalypse presented by the game would probably hit even harder now that we’ve survived the isolation of a real-world pandemic. Plus, the pixelated graphics allow plenty of room for interpretation when it comes to bringing the title’s fleshy monsters to life.
2. Bloodwash (2021)
A trip to the laundromat can be unpleasant even in the best circumstances, so imagine what it would feel like to find yourself trapped there late at night while a womb-ripping prowler is on the loose! Naturally, this is the premise of Black-Eyed Priest and Henry Hoare’s short but sweet Bloodwash, a retro homage to Giallo cinema with a lot more up its sleeve than you might initially realize.
While the game is a perfectly paced masterclass in creating anticipation (it shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours to beat the entire thing), I think the story could easily be condensed into an 80-minute thrill ride that will entertain any genre fan that likes their scares accompanied by a generous helping of vintage grime. Hell, you could even get a retro cinema specialist like Joe Begos to shoot the project on film for added effect.
1. The Penumbra Series (2007-2008)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent may have put Frictional Games on the map as an indie force to be reckoned with, but their current status as masters of horror couldn’t have been achieved without Penumbra. An episodic puzzle adventure that sees a physicist venturing into a mysterious underground facility hidden in the icy wilderness of northern Greenland, the game soon introduces players to horribly mutated monsters and an ancient conspiracy that could change the world as we know it.
While the game mostly relies on epistolary storytelling and hallucinatory voices to get its narrative across, it’s the Lovecraftian origins of the facility that would translate really well into a motion picture. A hypothetical feature film could see the main character slowly uncovering what went wrong here while succumbing to the otherworldly madness himself.
Editorials
‘Bloodstone: Subspecies II’ Revisited: A Bigger, Bolder Follow-Up to Full Moon’s Vampire Cult Classic
Horror sequels are a peculiar thing. In most cases, follow-ups to scary movies tend to retread the same formula with different victims and more over-the-top scares. This is because audiences tend to be more interested in the antagonists of these pictures than anything else, with even main characters becoming disposable when the time comes to produce a sequel.
That’s why some of the most memorable horror sequels are the ones that actually manage to hold onto interesting survivors from previous films while also pushing the story forward instead of having the same thing happen again to a different group of people. From Scream 2 to Dream Warriors (and arguably even The Exorcist III: Legion), there are quite a few of these innovative sequels to go around.
However, if there’s one franchise that deserves more attention when discussing bigger and better continuations that make the most of episodic filmmaking, it has to be Ted Nicolaou’s Subspecies.
The Full Moon classic spawned an indie horror icon, but bizarre sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II is even more beloved than its predecessor.
Building a Bigger Vampire Saga
While the film itself takes place almost immediately after the events of the first movie, Bloodstone only entered production a couple of years after the release of the original as both Charles Band and Nicolaou weighed the pros and cons of returning to Romania to continue the series. In an effort to maximize efficiency, the team decided to invest in a trilogy where parts II and III, now fully written by Nicolaou, would be filmed simultaneously over the course of a single grueling shoot.
Much like the first Subspecies, Bloodstone’s low budget meant that the filmmakers once again had to cut corners and re-use as many of their resources as possible. Thankfully, the process was much easier this time around as Nicolaou, with the help of Romanian cinematographer Vlad Paunescu and his wife Oana, became more acquainted with local customs and made new friends. Shooting abroad still came with its own unique set of challenges due to a lack of translators and the occasional safety concerns, but the crew managed to make things work by filming things guerrilla-style and setting up shop in abandoned caves and real medieval ruins.
The director’s newfound contacts, coupled with the relative success of the first movie, meant that he was basically given free rein over an assortment of shooting locations usually considered off-limits for indie horror. That’s why Bloodstone features insanely ambitious lighting and effects work even during scenes shot in the middle of a bustling Bucharest. The filmmakers went so far as to project Radu’s Nosferatu-like shadows over local monuments as if he were a Romanian boogeyman, an idea that was actually encouraged by local cinephiles.
In fact, many of the more elaborate scenes here had originally been planned for the first movie before being discarded due to the lack of available resources. It was only with the support of Romanian fans and filmmakers that Bloodstone was able to give Radu a chance to be even more menacing the second time around.
Michelle’s Transformation Takes Center Stage
However, when it came to the American part of the crew, not everyone was able or willing to return for another round of Romanian adventuring. That’s why Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) is unceremoniously killed off at the beginning of the film while the role of Michelle had to be recast. Denice Duff took over for Laura Mae Tate, with the character now being joined by her sister, Rebecca, played by Melanie Shatner (yes, that Shatner).
In the finished film, we follow Michelle as she awakens to her new life as a vampire and discovers that Radu has murdered her lover. Struggling with grief and her newfound bloodlust, Michelle contacts her sister overseas, with Rebecca soon travelling to Romania on an ill-advised rescue mission. Meanwhile, Radu (Anders Hove) reaches out to his undead Mummy (Pamela Gordon, underneath heavy layers of impressive makeup effects) and promises to deliver her the coveted Bloodstone artifact while also making Michelle his eternal consort.
Revisiting the movie, I was impressed with how introspective this story is when compared to the original. The sequel assumes that you’re already familiar with the previously established characters, so the story wastes no time in exploring the immediate aftermath of the previous film’s events. From Michelle’s reluctant transformation into a creature of the night to Radu’s obvious mommy issues, Nicolaou is way more interested in pushing these characters into new and uncharted territory rather than recycling existing plot points.
Practical Effects and Gothic Atmosphere Still Impress
Yet, much like the first film, it’s Romania itself that makes the movie worth watching. The ruins of Castle Vladislav are even more majestic now, and visiting the moody streets of Bucharest with its surprisingly punk-rock nightlife made for a nice change of pace when compared to the original film’s quiet village setting. Once again, the abundance of interesting locations makes the movie feel much more expensive than it really is, with the filmmakers surrounding our characters with a living, breathing environment that would be impossible to recreate in a studio.
The increased freedom also allowed Nicolaou to flex his filmmaking muscles and tackle more ambitious blocking/composition in the sequel. The low budget and tropey script mean that the visuals don’t always work, but it’s consistently clear that this neo-expressionist style could only come from a passionate team attempting to pay homage to the shadowy horror classics of yesteryear. If the retro atmosphere isn’t enough for you, there’s enough practical gore here to satisfy even the most demanding of horror hounds!
Radu himself is also far more interesting now that Hove is more comfortable working alongside an international crew, with the actor having gone on record explaining that, while he spent more time drinking vodka than working while shooting the first movie, the sequel was a much more creatively satisfying experience for everyone involved. The character’s relationship with his abusive Mummy is also a highlight of the expanded mythology, especially since the practical effects that bring her to life are just as freaky now as they were back in ’93.
My only real gripe with the horror elements of the picture comes from the glaring absence of the diminutive stop-motion minions from the first film, though I guess the surprisingly entertaining addition of Professor Popescu (Michael Denish) and his archeological antics mostly make up for that.
Bloodstone: Subspecies II is obviously the middle chapter of a trilogy, with the ending feeling a lot less definitive than its predecessor as several plot threads are left to dangle in the wind, but I appreciate how the flick explores new ground while remaining faithful to nearly all the ideas that made the original such a good time. While I don’t think it’s as big of an improvement over the first movie as some fans make it out to be, Bloodstone is definitely worth revisiting if you’re a fan of old-fashioned vampire yarns.
Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion to this initial trilogy, Bloodlust: Subspecies III!
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