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‘Alan Wake 2’ Isn’t Among Remedy’s Next Two Games
The weeks leading up to E3 have left us with an impressive list of big names that could be could soon be entering our lives in a very big way. Multiple reports and rumors shared by industry insiders have hinted at potentially imminent reveals of Resident Evil 7, The Evil Within 2, State of Decay 2 and Dead Rising 4, with a few having already been corroborated by more than one source.
There’s no guarantee that all of these sequels will actually make it to E3, but a list like that does make you feel like anything is possible. Or, almost anything.
Remedy Entertainment recently confirmed in an interview with Polygon that neither of the two projects the Finnish developer has in-development will have anything to do with Alan Wake. The article goes on to mention the “casual conversations” Remedy is having about the series’ future, as well as a drastic change to their business model that should get it in our hands much more quickly, once it enters production.
AAA games development on a scale like Quantum Break has gotten prohibitively expensive for companies like Remedy. In order to continue focusing on these grand single-player experiences, the 130-person studio has been split into two teams. Amnesia creator Frictional Games split for similar reasons in March, following dismal sales of their existential undersea horror game SOMA.
Alan Wake 2 isn’t going to happen anytime soon, and that may be for the best. We wouldn’t want the trial and error that comes with adopting a new business model to have a negative impact on the series’ future. This way, they can iron out the kinks before they dive back into that ocean. We’ve waited six years already, what’s a few more?
Let’s start with the good news. Lockbox looks far better than its misleading marketing materials suggest, a supernatural horror movie so darkly lit and color graded that you’ll have to squint your way through jump scares. It’s also anchored by reliable genre performers. That’s also about where the good news ends with this rote adaptation of Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop.”
The empathetic Carla Gugino gives her all as Ellen, a saint of a woman with boundless patience who takes on life’s hard luck with a kind smile. After giving up her career as a fashion designer to become caretaker for a dying mother, she’s then forced to reinvent herself once more when her caretaker role ends. That catches us up to the events of Lockbox, where Ellen is asked to take in a cousin she hasn’t seen in quite some time who’s dealing with severe PTSD.
Just as Ellen finally establishes a real connection with Winthrop (Lou Taylor Pucci), it’s interrupted by the arrival of peculiar neighbor Vahna (Katharine Isabelle), who spells clear trouble. When Vahna shows up dead, it sets in motion a supernatural battle of possession.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
Director Daniel Stamm (The Last Exorcism, Prey for the Devil) and screenwriter Justin Yoffe approach Lockbox in the broadest of brushstrokes, dooming it from the start with clunky storytelling and woefully underdeveloped themes of heady topics like PTSD. Winthrop is a character that comes loaded with emotional baggage and trauma that’s piled on throughout his tragic life, but much like its title, his interiority and history are treated like a tightly guarded secret meant to prolong the supernatural mystery.
The problem here, though, is that Lockbox is too sparse to sustain mystery at all, and it instead robs Winthrop of characterization. It winds up trapping the talented Pucci without anywhere to go, toggling between wounded animal and mentally disoriented.
From there, Lockbox bounds through plot developments without any sense of stakes or purpose, peppered by a smattering of haphazard paint-by-numbers jump scares. The only unwavering constant is Ellen’s resolute faith, and Stamm seems to leave it entirely to Gugino to guide confused audiences through this inconsequential story right up until its supernatural climax.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
To give more credit, Lockbox at least injects an unconventional exorcism here; just don’t expect much in the way of explanation. When the film finally reveals the meaning behind its title, it dangles a fascinating carrot it has zero interest in delivering. More than a severe lack of fleshing out its characters beyond plot drivers or devices, this faith-based flick also seems terrified to offer any worldbuilding whatsoever.
Yoffe’s script stretches the short story beyond its means instead of fleshing it out, and Stamm fills out the gaps with cheap CGI scares and overwrought performances; Isabelle’s Vahna is beyond cartoonish in her villainy. It’s also pretty nonsensical, treating only Ellen’s faith with the utmost sincerity and largely squandering its typically reliable talent. So much so that the final imagery, pure sunkissed saccharine sentimentality, leaves you with the feeling that this horror movie might be better suited as an entry in Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Lockbox releases in select theaters on July 3, 2026.
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