Editorials
Not Every Asymmetrical Horror Game Is a ‘Dead By Daylight’ Ripoff
Let me preface this with an important disclaimer: I’m a huge Dead By Daylight fan. In fact, the very first article I’d written for Bloody Disgusting is a piece highlighting its enduring success. I’ve been playing it since 2016, back before it even landed its first classic iconic horror character with Michael Myers, and I believe Behaviour Interactive is largely responsible for putting asymmetrical horror on the mainstream map. When most people hear “asymmetrical horror,” Dead By Daylight likely is the first thing they think of if they’re familiar with the genre. Despite this, I’ve become frustrated with what appears to be a cyclical trap that large swaths of horror fans fall into every single time a new asymmetrical horror game is released:
“It’s another Dead By Daylight ripoff!”
I remember noticing it as early as Gun Media’s Friday the 13th: The Game. Despite an extremely different gameplay format–seven survivors vs. one killer, multiple escape routes, the ability of the survivors to defeat the killer, a completely different tone–I saw discussions online about how it was “trying to be” Dead By Daylight, that it was a “less fun” Dead By Daylight, and “copying” Dead By Daylight’s formula.
And I have always been confused by it. Was it because Friday centered around one of the most iconic figures in horror with Jason Voorhees during the same time that Dead By Daylight was adding characters like Leatherface and Freddy Krueger to its roster? It couldn’t be that Dead By Daylight invented asymmetrical horror–after all, it wasn’t even the first well-known horror game to implement the genre. For many people (myself included), their first foray into asymmetrical horror was Left 4 Dead’s versus mode, where one team played humans trying to escape and one team played the undead trying to kill them. So why is it that Dead By Daylight seems to have a monopoly over the genre?
When a new multiplayer first-person shooter comes out, people don’t instantly brand it a Call of Duty or Modern Warfare rip off. There are myriad 2D fighting games being released that aren’t instantly referred to as Mortal Kombat rip offs. Even looking at horror in particular–games where you have a gun in a zombie apocalypse aren’t instantly referred to as worse takes on Resident Evil. So why is it that almost every single time an asymmetrical horror game is released, the masses descend upon it and immediately use Dead By Daylight as the benchmark of whether or not it’s “good” or just an unsuccessful attempt at copying it? It doesn’t seem like a beneficial discussion or comparison anymore–it just feels like people have decided for themselves that asymmetrical horror equals Dead By Daylight, and anyone who tries experimenting with the genre shouldn’t even bother.
I was especially confused when I saw the comparison being made between Dead By Daylight and Saber Interactive’s Evil Dead: The Game. Say what you will about Evil Dead, but it took asymmetrical horror and made some genuinely fun and innovative spins on it that I hadn’t seen in any other games at the time. In Evil Dead, you’re not even trying to escape if you’re on the survivor team–you’re going head to head with the player on the killer side, trying to be the first to destroy one another. It couldn’t be further from the gameplay format of Dead By Daylight, and yet the prevailing conversation, you guessed it, “Will it be enough to dethrone Dead By Daylight? Does it stack up to Dead By Daylight?”
The reason I get so frustrated by all of this is because I’ve been watching the asymmetrical horror space closely for years, and I’ve been keen to see how it’s been evolving and building upon itself. And it’s exciting! There’s an entire generation being introduced to characters like Pinhead, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and so many more that are being resurfaced in these games that may have otherwise fallen under the radar. You could argue that Friday the 13th: The Game even helped reignite–and shined a spotlight on–the infamous ongoing legal battle related to IP of the Friday franchise.
Yet when new asymmetrical horror games that center these characters are announced–take Gun Media’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for example–the excitement surrounding it is diminished by the crowds of people who implore “Well, it could be good, but it’s not Dead By Daylight…” Here you have a game with a beloved IP, with a character as prominent as Leatherface, crafted so delicately to not only be faithful to its roots, but also just be fun to play…and people can’t seem to get past the arbitrary parameters of how it stacks up against Dead By Daylight. I’ve invested hours that amount to entire days of my life into Texas, and I agree, it’s not Dead By Daylight, but I see where it has drawn its inspiration, and I can celebrate that it’s an innovative take on the genre. I still play Dead By Daylight, but I opt to play and enjoy Texas for different reasons–isn’t that how every other game in every other genre works?
The reality is that every game in the asymmetrical multiplayer space is looking at its peers and drawing inspiration from them to push the genre forward. Even with Dead By Daylight, I’ve noticed some great improvements and additions to the gameplay that I’d noticed in other asymmetrical horror games first–the fact that the survivor hud now shows the activities of other survivors (whether they’re healing, repairing, etc.)? I first noticed that in Hellbent Games’ Video Horror Society before it was eventually a Dead By Daylight feature. Even the new Prop Hunt mode in Dead By Daylight Mobile is exactly like FNTASTIC’s Propnite. Do I think it’s wrong that Dead By Daylight is drawing inspiration from its peers? Absolutely not! It’s exciting to see the genre build and expand upon itself. Yet when both Video Horror Society and Propnite were released, the usual crowds were quick to chalk them up to less successful takes on Dead By Daylight’s format. We should be able to extend some grace to other games in this space–especially when they’re implementing features that are moving the genre forward.
Asymmetrical horror will always be synonymous with Dead By Daylight–there’s no doubt about that, and I don’t dispute that it has been a trailblazer for the genre for good reason. I don’t think Dead By Daylight is going anywhere anytime soon, and I think because of that, we’re doing a disservice to a lot of really innovative and aspirational projects by not removing our bias and giving them a shot. I just can’t help but think of all of the meaningful critiques and discussions we lose out on by only using Dead By Daylight as our frame of reference. The genre will only continue to grow as much as we allow it to, and to that end, I encourage you to go into asymmetrical horror that isn’t Dead By Daylight with an open mind. Enjoy those games for what they are!
Editorials
Before ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Alien Autopsy’ Showed How Real Found Footage Could Feel
The line separating artist from con man is a lot thinner than you might initially believe. While I think we can all agree that lying for the sake of profit is actively malicious behavior, isn’t it also true that the faux documentary aspect of The Blair Witch Project is half the reason why that film became such a cultural phenomenon? After all, if there’s one thing filmmakers have in common with stage magicians, it’s that misleading and misdirecting audiences is simply part of the job.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of mostly ignoring the moral quandaries behind many of film and television’s biggest “hoaxes” in favor of appreciating the narrative elements that drive productions like Mermaids: The Body Found and even Animal Planet’s highly underrated The Cannibal in the Jungle. However, if there’s a definitive case of a highly publicized broadcast fooling the world into taking it seriously, it has to be Fox’s infamous 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.
It’s been over three decades since that eerie footage first haunted television screens right at the peak of the ’90s ufology craze, and in that time, the video has taken on a life of its own. From countless parodies and references in everything from The X-Files to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (as well as John Dower’s recently released tell-all documentary The Alien Autopsy Scandal, which I’d highly recommend to genre fans everywhere), there’s no denying the legacy of the Alien Autopsy video. However, I rarely see the tape discussed as what it truly is: a highly convincing found footage film directed by a passionate stage magician and brought to life by masterful practical effects work.
That’s why I’d like to invite readers to join me on a deep dive into one of the most infamous broadcasts of all time in an attempt to reevaluate the footage as a fascinating narrative experience rather than a complete hoax.
The TV Special That Convinced Millions It Was Real
Ray Santilli next to Extraterrestrial replica in ‘The Alien Autopsy Scandal’
For starters, regardless of whether or not you believe that there was in fact an extraterrestrial crash in Roswell during the summer of 1947 and that some form of autopsy was performed on the victims, the producers behind the black & white recordings, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, insist that their video was a “restoration.” Though I’d argue that the proper word is “remake”of genuine footage that was too damaged to air on television. That’s why the duo went on to recruit filmmaker and eccentric magician Spyros Melaris and sculptor/monster designer John Humphreys to bring their version of the autopsy to life and sell it to the highest bidder.
This is where the story of the Alien Autopsy as a narrative experience really begins. Melaris claims that his approach to the faux recording consisted of striving for extreme period accuracy in both shooting equipment and setting while also planting subtle details that would initially seem like mistakes but could later be revealed to actually fit the time period. That being said, the filmmaker was under the impression that the short would be released for free as a PR stunt, with the team later producing and selling an informative documentary chronicling exactly how the footage was faked and commenting on how easy it is to manipulate public perception with a good old-fashioned magic trick.
This obviously isn’t how things went down, and that’s likely the reason why Melaris has since distanced himself from everyone else involved with the project. Yet, no amount of behind-the-scenes drama can undermine the genuine effort that went into making the short as impressive as it is. From the sourcing of real animal organs from a local butcher to make the organic part of the creature more lifelike to the highly detailed sculpt that made use of a hollowed-out underlayer that could be filled with fake blood and assorted viscera, there’s a reason why so many Hollywood specialists are still impressed with the artistry on display here.
Of course, the believability is only half the story, as I think that the best part of the autopsy is how Melaris builds on the existing tension by obscuring certain details and often embracing the chaos of what a real examination of extraterrestrial life could feel like. The camera often goes out of focus at just the right time to make certain effects hit even harder, and we can only speculate as to what the hazmat-suited doctors are gesticulating about during the operation. There’s a real air of mystery to the whole thing that almost makes it feel like a cosmically terrifying, cursed film containing forbidden knowledge that civilians were never meant to see.
So when Fox’s Fact or Fiction brings in the specialists to comment on the film and its otherworldly subject, it’s no surprise that we end up with one of the most memorable mockumentaries of all time – albeit one where the participants are unaware that the footage they’re commenting on is basically a large-scale practical joke. A joke that the network was obviously in on, as many participants claim that the TV special cut out significant portions where guests point out that they believe the footage to be an elaborate hoax.
The Lasting Impact of the Hoax Turned Cultural Event
Regardless, I remember going to bed terrified after watching reruns of the special and thinking about the respected pathologist who claimed that the body was almost certainly inhuman, with even effects maestro Stan Winston commenting on how difficult it would be to recreate some of these visuals through practical puppetry. That’s not even mentioning Jonathan Frakes’ dramatic hyping up of the disturbing imagery as if he was talking about the tape from The Ring, with his spooky demeanor here likely being responsible for his later role as the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction a few years later.
Personally, I’d argue that the Alien Autopsy phenomenon had just as much of an impact on me as a horror fan as The Blair Witch Project, a film that was almost certainly influenced by the success of this immensely popular hoax (to the point where they even produced their own TV special commenting on Heather’s found footage). Even if Fox didn’t intend to produce a narrative feature about the aftermath of the Roswell crash, the end product still holds up remarkably well as a highly entertaining mockumentary exploring the idea that we may not be alone in the universe.
While neither Santilli nor the rest of the production team has ever commented on this, I also think it’s very likely that the idea of a faux Alien Autopsy could have been influenced by Dean Alioto’s The McPherson Tape/UFO Abduction. I’ve already written about how this granddaddy of found footage was co-opted by rogue ufologists who began selling bootlegs of the tape at conventions as if it were real evidence of a close encounter, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that Santilli and company could have heard about this phenomenon and been inspired to come up with their own highly profitable hoax.
At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that the Alien Autopsy film is recreating any real footage from Roswell, but I can still appreciate the short and the accompanying television event as a standalone horror story that still influences the way we see found footage to this very day.
After all, the possibility that something could be real is often much scarier than finding out for sure – and that’s why I think Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is still worth revisiting three decades down the line.
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