Movies
Uwe Boll Is Rebooting ‘Alone in the Dark’ With New Film and Possible TV Series
German filmmaker Uwe Boll isn’t done with the horror action franchise Alone in the Dark. THR reports today that the director of the maligned 2005 feature adaptation has optioned the rights to make a new film.
The H.P. Lovecraft-inspired franchise follows private detective Edward Carnby in his fight against the undead and has launched multiple games and sold millions of units worldwide.
Boll promises to adhere much closer to the games than his 2005 feature, which starred Christian Slater and Tara Reid. The story pulls from last year’s Alone in the Dark, featuring Jodie Comer and David Harbour.
The 2024 game is set in the gothic American south in the 1920’s, in the haunting Derceto Manor, where players take on the roles of Emily Hardwood and Edward Carnby. Together, they must unravel the disappearance of Emily’s uncle, delving deep into the secrets that shroud the manor’s dark past. Along with solving puzzles, you’ll have to confront the terrifying entities that inhabit the manor along the way to uncover the truth.
“We will capture the spirit and the era of the original games and follow the story of the new game. We can’t wait to reboot the franchise and cast our new Edward Carnby,” Boll said.
It may not stop with a new feature, either. Boll’s production partner, Michael Roesch, revealed to THR that they also intend to develop a TV series.
Boll’s filmic output is heavily focused on video game adaptations to date. His directorial credits also include House of the Dead, Bloodrayne, Far Cry, and In the Name of the King, with House of the Dead sequel Return to Zombie Island on the way. This is unrelated to the House of the Dead reboot from Paul W.S. Anderson.
This is also the same filmmaker who challenged his online critics to a boxing match, then pummeled them in the ring. We can thank the success of The Minecraft Movie and Sonic the Hedgehog for getting Boll back into fighting/filmmaking shape.
Tara Reid and Christian Slater in Alone in the Dark 2005
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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