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[Ghosts Of Gaming Past] A Review Of ‘Nocturne’
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 Martin Paytok, @Paytockmaster
Developed by Terminal Reality, a studio you may be familiar with as the developer of the solid Ghostbusters: The Video Game (I‘m talking about the well-done movie adaptation, not that Sanctum of Slime piece of crap) and not quite as good The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, action-adventure survival horror game Nocturne was released on October 31, 1999.
Back in the days, the game’s reception was disparate. The reviews were mixed and it was far away from being a commercial success, but there are people who consider it to be kind of a cult classic. A rare forgotten masterpiece, which hasn’t lost any of its shine as the time passed. So is it any good today, after fourteen years? I’d say yes.
Nocturne is set during the 1920’s and 30’s with you taking control of The Stranger, an agent of a secret organization known as Spookhouse, which was established by president Theodore Roosevelt to fight any kind of hostile supernatural creatures. It can be very easily compared to the B.P.R.D. institution from the Hellboy comics series.
The ultimate quest of both is to protect the human race against any dark and evil powers and to investigate and eliminate supernatural threats. This means you’ll be confronted with various critters, starting with classical enemies like werewolves, vampires (Bram Stoker style, not the modern day garbage) or zombies, and ending with Al Capone’s stitched together Frankenmobs, H.P. Lovecraft‘s stories inspired bug-like things and even the Elder God.
There are over forty types of enemies with different weaknesses in this game and each one is tougher and more deadly than the last, so if you decide to give it a shot, you should be warned. Silver bullets are important in Nocturne. It’s easier to kill a vampire or werewolf with silver than it is with lead. I admit, it’s easier to kill them with fire, but Stranger’s Colts 1911 are too bad-ass to be left unused in the holsters under his coat. Smashing undead cows in the head with a shovel is fun too.
The main anti-hero is quite a hard man himself. It makes sense, seeing as he’s been inspired by 1930’s pulp magazine serials protagonist The Shadow. The Stranger is as mysterious as the demons he’s hunting are and it almost looks like he‘s just appeared out of nowhere with his fedora, goggles, trench coat and a pair of pistols, and decided to embark on a crusade against all inhuman creatures. Why does he hate monsters (even the ones among the fellow operatives) so much? Only one character in the game seems to know, but that sonuvabitch won’t tell anybody.
The Stranger is a really dark and interesting hero, but he’s not the only one in Spookehouse that’s worth mentioning. Scat Dazzle is an immortal jazz man and voodoo priest possessed by the mighty Loa of death named Baron Samedi, Hiram Mottra, a psychic who can’t really read thoughts but looks like a 19th century traveler so it’s OK, a boxer named Sammy “Haystack” Kayo who breaks ribs with his magical fists and Moloch, a demon rejected by Heaven and Hell. Every one of them deserves their own game.
Scientist, technician, medic, paranormal researcher, inventor, investigator and a field agent all in one person, the doctor Elsphet Holliday supplies The Stranger with weapons and devices, and she appears in a leading role of Nocturne’s Curse of the Blair Witch inspired spin-off Blair Witch Vol. 1: Rustin Parr. A major part of Spookhouse reappears in this title – old martial arts master Khen Rigzin, head of the organization colonel Hapscomb, his friend general Biggs, even The Stranger himself as a supporting character, but most importantly half-vampire Svetlana Lupescu.
Why most importantly? Simply because she’s another member of the crew who became a heroine of a different game, or more likely a game series, although she was renamed to Rayne, because Svetlana obviously wasn’t adequately cool. BloodRayne was initially meant to be Nocturne 2, but Terminal Reality did some major changes when their inner circle began to collapse and weren’t able to find a publisher because the franchise wasn’t sufficiently profitable. Anyway, there is no doubt that Rayne is Svetlana. You can also notice some references to Nocturne – a couple of similar enemies, the artifact Heart of Belial is actually the Yathfoe-Gyoule stone, and… one of the chapters takes place at the Gaustadt castle, which finally leads us back to reviewing the game from the heading. You can’t, however, deny the fascinating connection between all these franchises.
The story is divided into four chapters, but I’m going to stop here. Instead of one consistent story-line, there are four acts, or episodes whatever you want to call them), with separate narrations, connected to each other only chronologically and by involving Spookhouse operatives and playable in any order from the very beginning. All of them are great and distinct, which is fantastic for the elimination of stereotyped gameplay. It also helps the game build a functional pulp structure with noir elements.
Each act is set in another place in the world. The Stranger has to fight a bloodsucker count behind the walls of a German castle, he battles zombies and ancient gods in Texas and undead mobsters in Chicago. While the first two chapters are more or less horrific experiences with all the thrill and tension every horror game has to have, the third one takes things in a different direction. Then everything concludes in a fourth episode, which is focused on solving puzzles and encounters with enemies from the previous three acts as you are all trapped together in the House at the Edge of Hell.
The controls are similar to a bunch of another games from the 1990’s, like the Alone in the Dark or Resident Evil, only with a slightly simplified inventory. You’ve got a slot with weapons in one and with items on the other side of the screen and you move around open locations, explore both interiors and exteriors, solve riddles, shoot monsters (when equipped with pistols, you can even target two creatures at once) and talk to NPCs. The world of Nocturne feels lively and its dark style makes the horror elements work even after all these years. It keeps you thrilled and makes you shiver. Also, it won’t allow you to see much on the screenshots. The graphics aren’t bad though, the game’s engine is capable of cloth animations, dynamic lighting and real-time shadows.
Nocturne is brutal –- blood-covered limbs and viscera are everywhere and flames burn enemies into lumps of coal. To be even more explicit, the developers weren’t worried about using uncensored sexual themes. Poorly-dressed vampire brides are only the tip of the iceberg. In one passage, The Stranger is seduced by a succubus, not mentioning that a visit to a whorehouse awaits in Chicago.
Unfortunately, the comparisons to Resident Evil extend to some clumsy tank controls. Thankfully, you can assign partial handling of the Stranger’s movement and aiming to the mouse, but I strongly recommend going only with keyboard. It’s not perfect, but it could be worse. So is the fixed camera, which is a mixed bag, as is the case with many games of this era. Maybe it can offer a cinematic experience, but it also can easily confuse you with an unexpected change of angle.
Completely astonishing are the sound design, and especially the incredibly well done voice-over work. Lynn Mathis with his harsh and cynical tone is fantastic as The Stranger as well as the dub actors of supporting characters. What’s not quite as awesome are the in-game cut-scenes, which are unnatural, awkward and buggy. It’s a shame that Terminal Reality didn’t use live-action scenes like in the amazing, almost surrealistic trailers and the game’s opening.
The Final Word: Nocturne is almost a gem from the survival horror genre’s past. It’s one of the top games of its kind from the late 1990’s and it deserves a much larger audience that it was able to find. If you want to play a terrifying game, or if you like pulp stories and noir fiction, and you don’t mind the blatant copying of Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecraft or Alfred Hitchcock, then definitely try this game.
Nocturne is available on PC (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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