Editorials
The Biggest Horror Headlines of Gamescom 2014
If you’ve visited Bloody Disgusting with any sort of regularity this week, you’ve probably noticed how ridiculously good this year’s Gamescom has been for fans of the horror genre. It’s been a steady stream of reveals and re-reveals of multiple new horror games, as well as new details on the games we already knew about. Every flavor of horror was represented, from the post-apocalyptic to the supernatural, the nightmarish to teen slasher horror, and everything in-between.
With Gamescom’s biggest news expended, we’re left with our jaws on the floor, some new games to look forward to and a more positive outlook for the future of our favorite genre. Read on for a recap of one of the most exciting weeks the horror genre has seen in some time.
Silent Hills
The big reveal this year was obviously Silent Hills. It came out of nowhere and I feel like I haven’t stopped talking about it since. The game is being led by Metal Gear designer Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, The Strain) and will star Norman Reedus, who many of us know as Daryl from The Walking Dead.
The game will be powered by Kojima’s FOX Engine — the same engine that powers Metal Gear Solid V — and is currently only confirmed for the PS4.
Release: TBA
Platforms: PS4 confirmed, others TBA
Until Dawn
The other major horror game to take up headlines is the teen slasher Until Dawn, which has been completely rebooted and reworked by developer Supermassive Games in the two years following its initial reveal. The last few years have treated it kindly, as the game looks significantly better, it has a more interesting story, some impressive voice talent behind it (including Hayden Panettiere), and an ambitious developer that really wants to scare us. It’s also now a PS4 exclusive.
Release: TBA 2015
Platforms: PS4
Dead Island 2
Until last week, we had only seen a CGI trailer for Dead Island 2, a sequel that’s now in the hands of Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager. Deep Silver fixed that with the reveal of actual in-game footage (above) that highlighted the myriad ways we can look forward to slaying the undead hordes when the game ships next year. They’re giving us dual-wielding. Finally.
Release: Spring 2015
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Dying Light
With Dead Island in the hands of a new developer, Techland is free to work on whatever they like, starting with the similarly themed open-world horror game Dying Light, which takes some of the best aspects of Dead Island and injects it with some freerunning and a tweaked multiplayer. There’s still weapon crafting, character progression, and four-player co-op, but now other players are able to join co-op games as a monster. And unlike Dead Island, this game changes into something substantially more terrifying when the sun goes down.
Release: February 2015
Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Overkill’s The Walking Dead
So far, if you’ve really wanted to play a Walking Dead game, your only real option is Telltale’s episodic series. Activision tried, and failed, to make a shooter out of it with the abysmal Survival Instinct, and now Payday 2 developer Overkill Software is looking to redeem the brand with their own take on the series. We don’t know much about it, other than it’s a co-op shooter that may be set in Washington D.C.. Robert Kirkman will be overseeing it, likely for quality control, so you can have confidence that this won’t be another sad cash grab like Survival Instinct was.
The Payday series is proof enough that Overkill is a supremely talented developer that’s more than capable of bringing us the Walking Dead game “fans have been waiting for.”
Release: TBA 2016
Platforms: TBA
Alien: Isolation
I’m already sold on the fact that Alien: Isolation is hands down the most genuine video game adaptation of a film franchise this industry has ever produced. Creative Assembly has shown a remarkable love for the films as well as an impressive eye for the little details that made the original Alien so memorable. The game’s latest trailer doesn’t show any gameplay, but it gets the message across: in Alien: Isolation, you will be hunted. Relentlessly.
You will also die. A lot.
Release: October 7, 2014
Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
The Evil Within
Releasing a week after Alien: Isolation is this year’s other major horror release, The Evil Within. From Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, this game marks his long-awaited return to survival horror. Gamescom gifted us with a bunch of Evil Within headlines, including the unveiling of a season pass that will unlock all three of the game’s planned single-player add-ons and the fact that even without the DLC, the game will have a meaty campaign that takes between 15-20 hours to finish.
Release: October 14, 2014
Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Bloodborne
I don’t mask my eagerness to get my hands on the PS4 exclusive Bloodborne very well. This is mostly because it just looks so insanely good, I don’t understand why the gamer collective doesn’t lose their minds when we’re gifted with gameplay footage like the video above. From Software carved out a sizable chunk of the fantasy RPG market with Dark Souls, and Bloodborne is their attempt to blend that winning formula with some even more horrific-looking enemies and environments. This game cannot come soon enough.
Release: TBA 2015
Platforms: PS4
The Order: 1886
The PS4 has a decent number of horror exclusives, and among them is Ready at Dawn’s The Order: 1886. The game is set in Victorian era London and follows a secret order of soldiers who have been outfitted with awesome steampunk weaponry which they use in their war with human “half-breeds”, or werewolves.
Release: February 2015
Platforms: PS4
DayZ
Dean Hall, the guy behind the original DayZ mod as well as its still in-development standalone dropped some news that I’m sure excited as many fans as it angered. PC will always be their priority, but the game will be soon coming to PS4 in a move that, according to Hall, will benefit both platforms.
Release: TBA
Platforms: PC, PS4
“Elevated Horror.” Of all the combinations in the English language, that one is the most insufferable.
It represents almost a decade of scary movies that, for the most part, took themselves too seriously. Horror responds to the moment, so its “why so serious” lean makes sense as we scuttle through the “worst of times” equation of Charles Dickens’ famous opening lines. But there’s still an opening and a need for a lighter approach; one that not only has fun with its audience but takes the piss out of a genre that is seemingly letting its newfound “respectability” go to its head.
Wes Craven believed devotees see horror films to let out their fears one primal scream at a time. At their core, these movies are roller coasters; they bring us as close to the edge as possible before pulling us back into a safety net of reality. The need for a bigger and badder coaster increases during times when the size of that net decreases.
There’s a thrill that comes from imagining being in a foot race with a madman, or outthinking the hordes of zombies on the other side of the door, plus the scavenger humans coming behind them. There’s even a rush that comes from imagining how one might deal with possession to see good triumph over evil in the end. It’s all about building tension and releasing it through catharsis. That cathartic release usually sounds like screams followed by laughter, which signals relief. Genre heavy hitters over the past 10 years offered very little of that respite when the credits rolled. Films like Hereditary, The Witch, Talk to Me, and even Smile (pick one) keep that tension going after the screen fades to black.
Hereditary
As the genre became obsessed with creating trauma metaphors, that lack of release made sense. Anyone with even a small sample size of traumatic experiences knows those emotions don’t magically resolve themselves in an allotted run time. But how much trauma can one take? Especially when there’s a mess going on outside that few of us can escape from. Movies offer that off-ramp, no matter how short.
Everything can’t be, nor should it be, “elevated.” Audiences need thoughtful explorations of life’s ills via monsters as much as they need murdering masked maniacs with kitchen knives. And no, it doesn’t have to go any deeper than that. Sometimes, a knife is just a knife, and it’s still worth our time and respect. As weird as it sounds, that simplicity is comforting not in spite of the trauma but because of it.
The worst of times should manifest more than just anguish. People need to laugh just as much as they need to think seriously about this moment in time. Even the Scream franchise forgot the meta rock upon which it built its church when the latest foray sacrificed the subtle comedy for serious drama. Scary Movie returned at the perfect moment. It provides the necessary laughs, but it’s not a cure-all.
This isn’t a call for Scary Movie imitators but a return to a mainstream landscape where Killer Klowns from Outer Space sat with The Serpent and the Rainbow, nestled neatly with the latest Nightmare on Elm Street, which took nothing away from The Vanishing.
They Live
Even They Live, John Carpenter’s horror sci-fi satire sandwich, kept its tongue firmly in cheek while discussing serious ideas still relevant in 2026. Yes, a film about aliens taking over the world through subliminal messaging only visible through coded sunglasses is, in fact, a tad silly. Carpenter understood that mainstream horror can’t become so self-important that it never looks itself in the mirror and laughs at that inherent silliness.
The thing is, horror historically excels at poking fun at itself. Most of the Scream franchise, The Cabin in the Woods, or The Blackening show adoration without kowtowing. They recognize tropes and trappings but invert them for an audience already in on the joke, but one that also finds solace in said conventions. This keeps the genre on its toes; once something gets parodied, it’s usually time to evolve. That breeds new ideas and fresh filmmakers, which not only strengthen the genre’s collective voice but also amplify it.
Get Out, as “elevated” as some critics want us to believe it is, is a cathartic, populist scary movie that spoke to an untapped audience rather than speaking down to them. Backrooms is one of the biggest horror hits in years, partially because it’s fine-tuned for modern-day teenagers instead of their parents. Movies like these tell everyone the genre is open for business; open for innovation and, yeah, open for new ways in which people can lovingly poke fun at with a wink and a nudge.
Horror needs dread as much as it needs laughter.
Catharsis is just as important as tension, and pulpy populism has the same merit as more high-brow material. Respectability shouldn’t come at the expense of an experience akin to walking through a haunted house. At a time when joy seems in short supply, horror should look to its past to map out its future, and make things just a tad brighter for audiences.
Backrooms
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