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[Ghosts Of Gaming Past] A Review Of ‘Evil Dead: Regeneration’
Welcome to Ghosts of Gaming Past — here we’ll be reviewing older horror games, classics and non-classics we missed when they were originally released. Have a game you’d like reviewed? Send us an email.
Written by Hayden Dingman, @haydencd
Okay, reader, I can hear you puzzling this out in your brain. “If Hail to the King was the ‘Evil Dead’ of Evil Dead video games, and Fistful of Boomstick was ‘Army of Darkness,’ then Regeneration must be…Evil Dead 2!”
And you’d be wrong.
Evil Dead: Regeneration is a serviceable game, just like Fistful of Boomstick, but it never finds that perfect balance between funny and scary exhibited in Evil Dead 2. As far as I can tell, Regeneration doesn’t want to be scary. Or, I hope that’s the case, because it isn’t. Ever.
I’m afraid I have to say Regeneration is also the Army of Darkness of Evil Dead video games. “But that doesn’t make any sense!” I hear you scream. Too bad, I do what I want. Groovy?
In fact, this game is perhaps even more deserving of the Army of Darkness award than Fistful of Boomstick. Regeneration takes place in an alternate time line from the last two Evil Dead games—one in which the actual Sam Raimi film Army of Darkness never happened. In other words Regeneration picks up after Evil Dead 2, if that film concluded without Ash getting sucked into a portal and into the past.
Unfortunately, that means no resolution to the ending we saw in Fistful of Boomstick, and that means the Evil Dead games are 0 for 2 in terms of actually resolving their damn cliffhanger endings.
Regardless, Regeneration’s tutorial picks up back at the Knowby cabin with Ash reliving a few of the memorable moments from Evil Dead 2. After escaping from the deadites at the cabin, Ash is sent to a mental hospital. Nobody believes his story about the Necronomicon and the evil beings who attacked him. Instead, everyone believes Ash is some ranting psychopath who butchered all his closest friends. Poor guy.
Unfortunately, the man in charge of the mental hospital does believe Ash, and uses the Necronomicon to welcome evil back into the world. Ash is forced to hunt down this evil Dr. Reinhard and try to banish the deadites a second time.
Regeneration is, in many aspects, a modern game. Combat and animations are fluid and dynamic, the sound design is a damn sight better than the last two games, and textures are almost pleasant. If you looked at screenshots of the game you might not be impressed, but at least you wouldn’t throw up.
On the other hand, there are so many glaring flaws with the fundamental design of the game, and they’re all related back to one character. Early on in the game, the ghostly, disembodied head of Professor Knowby makes it clear Ash needs to take along a sidekick to finish his task.
What the hell? I am Bruce “the king himself” Campbell. Bruce “chainsaw attached to my arm” Campbell. Now you’re telling me I need a damn sidekick?
Ugh, fine.
Your sidekick, Sam, has some practical uses. He can be “killed,” but he’s already undead so he just respawns again nearby. Sam’s death mechanic is actually built into most of the game’s puzzles, as well as the combat. You kick Sam into objects in the environment, he breaks them or tweaks them in some way, then dies in some occasionally-funny way and the path ahead is cleared. It’s not exactly a bad mechanic, though also not one requiring a ton of thought. Myst, this game is not.
Unfortunately, Sam (voiced by Ted Raimi) also sounds like Gilbert Gottfried’s even-more-annoying cousin. I didn’t think that was possible, but there it is. His voice was literally one of the most grating sounds I’ve ever heard. I can see what the developers were going for. Many times over the course of the game (as in, practically every two minutes) Bruce Campbell reiterates how annoying Sam is. Obviously Sam is supposed to be irksome to Ash too. Here’s the problem: they made a character that’s actually annoying and you have to put up with him the whole damn game.
And it’s not just his voice. Sam’s humor isn’t nearly up to the quality I expect from the Evil Dead series. While Evil Dead is mostly funny because of Bruce Campbell’s ridiculous one-liners (in my opinion), Sam’s jokes are consistently flat. He’s slapstick at best, juvenile at worst. At one point I even groaned out loud. Ash and Sam get expelled out of some demon’s rear end (something which happens four or five times during the game, actually) and Sam ends up with a big corn-studded turd on his face.
Hilarious!
Sam is also responsible for introducing another of those cardinal sins of game mechanics—the escort mission. Now, of course, an escort mission doesn’t have to be bad. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is one long escort mission and it works great.
Regeneration does not work great. Not even close. At various times during the plot, Ash’s path is blocked by a giant monster named Peepers (a.k.a. the pooping demon mentioned above). Peepers eats souls. Three souls each time, to be exact, before the path will open. These souls are tucked away down very long corridors full of enemies. Do you see where this is going?
In case you haven’t guessed it yet, Sam is the only one who can bring these souls back to Peepers. He has to absorb them into his body and make it back to the starting area, where you kick Sam into Peepers’s mouth in order to transfer the souls. Along the way, Sam is attacked by an onslaught of enemies. Sam is literally useless in most fights, and it’s easy to find him getting his ass kicked by fodder enemies while you try and fight off the more dangerous mobs. If Sam dies, you have to go back to where you picked up the soul and try again. Oh yeah, and all the enemies respawn.
Things get even more frustrating later in the game when Sam is under attack by enemies that explode, killing him in one hit. Terrible design. I could almost picture Ash’s severed right hand giving me the finger all through the five or six times I repeated these sections.
Oh man, I haven’t even talked about the sections yet where you have to play as Sam, while weird, repetitive nu-metal music plays on a loop in the background. You know what? I don’t even want to talk about these sections. Sam is going to make me have an aneurysm.
I apologize to all the people who really love this game. I actually think the game itself isn’t that bad. The combat, as I said, is slick. There’s no ammo counts so you can just cut your way through enemies with ease, and even the novelty weapons are fun to play with before you switch back to your chainsaw. The game also has a couple of great, humorous moments. I laughed out loud a couple times, because Bruce Campbell’s dialogue for Ash is absolutely on point in Regeneration. He’s hilarious, and I looked forward to his lines each time.
It’s just Sam.
The Final Word: If you’re an Evil Dead fan, Regeneration is probably the best full-scope console game out there in terms of mechanics, and there are a few great laughs in the script. It’s a shame the game is hamstrung by the addition of an obnoxious sidekick and way too many tedious escort missions.
PS: While I rarely watch the “Extras” included with games, most of Regeneration’s collectables unlock videos featuring Mr. Campbell himself. My personal favorite? He talks about whether Evil Dead 4 will ever get made, and says it depends on Sam Raimi deciding between Spiderman 2 and Evil Dead. Then he looks at the camera, laughs, and says, “Sam, I hope you’ll be able to make that decision.”
Well we might not be getting Evil Dead 4 but we are supposedly getting Army of Darkness 2, so take that, 2005-era Bruce Campbell!
Evil Dead: Regeneration is available on Xbox, PC and PS2 (reviewed).
We are now one full month into Spring 2024, which kicked off on Tuesday, March 19 and comes to an end with the start of Summer on Thursday, June 20. This year’s summer movie season has a whole bunch of exciting horror highlights, including A Quiet Place: Day One, MaXXXine, and Alien: Romulus, but let’s hold that particular thought until June rolls around.
We’re here today to talk about Spring 2024 and the many horrors we still have left before the weather gets warmer and we find ourselves in the heat of one hell of a spooky summer.
Here are 12 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Spring 2024!
STING – April 12
Two words: SPIDER HORROR. Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood) hopes to induce eight-legged terror with his brand new horror movie Sting, only in theaters April 12.
Of particular note, Sting features practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, with the spider in this one inspired by H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph!
In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider. The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.
“But as Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable.”
BLACKOUT – APRIL 12
Indie darling Larry Fessenden is back with new horror movie Blackout this Spring, Fessenden’s third movie – following Habit and Depraved – to put his own spin on classic monsters.
While Habit was centered on vampires and Depraved was a fresh take on Frankenstein’s Monster, Larry Fessenden’s Blackout is the filmmaker’s contribution to werewolf cinema.
The film follows Charley, an artist whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might be a werewolf. He distances himself from those he loves and sinks deeper into solitude, his flashes of memory of his nighttime grisly acts manifested through his artwork.
ARCADIAN – APRIL 12
If Nicolas Cage is covered in blood, you better believe we’re going to be watching. Cage gets his own A Quiet Place with Arcadian, a new creature feature coming to theaters April 12.
In Arcadian, which also comes to Shudder later this year, “After a catastrophic event depopulates the world, a father (Nicolas Cage) and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge at night.”
Jaeden Martell (IT 2017) also stars in the post apocalyptic monster movie.
ABIGAIL – APRIL 19
If you’re bummed about Melissa Barrera being fired from the Scream franchise, you’ll definitely want to get out to your local theater this month to support Abigail, the new VAMPIRE BALLERINA horror movie from Scream and Scream VI directors Radio Silence.
Barrera stars alongside fellow horror favorite Kathryn Newton (Freaky) in Abigail, which is actually the latest horror movie in Universal’s relaunched Universal Monsters Universe.
In the film, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL – APRIL 19
One of the most talked about horror movies of Spring 2024 has been the Halloween 1977-set Late Night With the Devil, which has been playing in theaters since its premiere on March 22.
Late Night with the Devil will begin streaming at home on April 19, 2024, less than one month after arriving in theaters. Shudder will be the exclusive streaming home of the movie.
David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in Late Night with the Devil, set on Halloween 1977.
In the found footage-style film that captures a period aesthetic, “A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.”
INFESTED – APRIL 26
Spring 2024 is all about SPIDERS – sorry, arachnophobes! – with the previously mentioned Sting being followed by the French creature feature Infested (Vermines) later this month.
What’s particularly exciting about Infested is that its director, Sébastien Vaniček, has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, so this will be our first taste of what Vaniček is capable of within the genre. And the buzz for this one is strong.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, for starters, Bloody Disgusting’s own critic Trace Thurman raved that Infested is “one of the best spider attack movies in years.”
In the upcoming horror film, “Fascinated by exotic animals, Kaleb finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap.”
HUMANE – APRIL 26
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with IFC Films’ Humane, coming to theaters this month.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to reduce the earth’s population.”
The wild premise? 20% of the world’s population must VOLUNTEER TO DIE!
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
I SAW THE TV GLOW – MAY 3
Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters this May.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for BD, “I Saw the TV Glow offers a layered and authentic portrait of identity, wrapped in ’90s nostalgia and surreal imagery that embeds itself deep into your psyche.” Meagan continues, “Schoenbrun delivers a singular vision of arthouse horror that entrances for its fevered dream style and insanely cool imagery.”
In A24’s latest, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”
TAROT – MAY 3
Originally titled Horrorscope, a much better title if you’re asking me, Screen Gems returns to the big screen with studio horror movie Tarot this Spring, a Tarot-card themed spookshow.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards in the upcoming Screen Gems horror movie Tarot. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
The hook for this one? Artist Trevor Henderson designed the film’s eight monsters!
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 – MAY 17
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion classic The Strangers spawns a brand new reboot trilogy this year, with first film The Strangers: Chapter 1 kicking things off in theaters on May 17.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is expected to follow in Fall 2024.
Madelaine Petsch is the lead of the new reboot trilogy, playing a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
IN A VIOLENT NATURE – MAY 31
Slasher fans who have been hungry for a new Friday the 13th movie won’t want to miss In a Violent Nature, which plays out like a Friday movie… entirely from Jason’s perspective!
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31.
In the film, “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.”
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but the approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”
THE WATCHERS – JUNE 14
M. Night Shyamalan returns with the new thriller Trap this coming August, but the road to that film’s release will be paved by the feature debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Ishana Night directed The Watchers, in theaters from WB/New Line on June 14.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Which Spring 2024 horror movies are YOU most looking forward to?
4 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Late Night with the Devil’ at Home
‘Ready or Not’: Radio Silence Filmmakers Tease the “Absolute Banger” of a Sequel That’s Taking Shape
‘Sting’ Review – Throwback Creature Feature Entertains With an Impressive Practical Monster
“We Built Every Creature” – ‘Alien: Romulus’ Goes Heavy on the Old School Practical Effects!
‘Terrifier 3’: Filming Has Wrapped on Damien Leone’s Christmas Slasher Sequel!
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