News
Which Horror Games Lived Up to the Hype?
Welcome to 2016; I’m glad you could make it.
With each new year comes fresh expectations. New games will release, more will be announced, and if we’re lucky, we may finally hear from a few of our old favorites, like Dead Space, Alan Wake and Condemned.
All this talk about what we’re anticipating this year got me thinking about the impact that hype can have – and often does have — on some games. Hype isn’t a bad thing, most of the time. So in the interest of starting 2016 on a positive note, I’d love it if you could tell me:
Which horror games actually surpassed your expectations?
I hope you won’t mind if I go first. Until Dawn, I choose you.
This game was so much better than it had any right to be. Prior to its release, Supermassive Games had spent much of their seven years of existence working on the LittleBigPlanet franchise. They weren’t exactly known for delivering nail-biting gaming experiences.
That made the surprise success of this acclaimed supernatural thriller all the sweeter, as it proved there’s an audience for stab ‘em ups outside of film. And the timing couldn’t be better, as we prepare for the long-awaited return of Friday the 13th, as well as the arrival of its competitor, Last Year.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
You must be logged in to post a comment.