Podcasts
Back to School With Red Candle Games’ Historical Horror ‘Detention’ [Safe Room Podcast]
Blending fictional horrors with historical atrocities is nothing short of an arduous task. If not handled with the care it is deserving of, one that could easily feel exploitative. But from the opening moments of Red Candle Games Detention, it’s clear that the studio has gone to great pains to impart personal pieces of its team’s personal history and culture into the game.
When games attempt to use real-world events and historical accuracy as a jumping-off point for their experience, some will lament these can often feel like a history lesson rather than a narrative experience.
Using myself as an example, I would say this would be an unequivocally false claim to lay against Detention. Despite not being familiar with Taiwan’s fight for independence or the atrocities that occurred before and during the White Terror period, the developer has crafted a world that shows its history rather than regurgitating it.
Putting the player into the shoes of a high school senior, Ray, and exploring the deserted but undoubtedly supernatural, haunting grounds that were once her school allows the player to get a sense of the period from the atmosphere crafted. Furthermore, the handling of scares and genre tropes that occur are seamlessly blended into the thematic narrative giving more credence to them than just,” that was scary.”
It makes for a moving and melancholic experience that I may have discovered late, but I am glad I experienced it all the same.
In this episode, we discuss Red Candle’s approach to horror and how it differs from most. We also touch upon the faithful film adaptation that stands out as one of the best video game adaptations around, even if it hasn’t been seen as widely as others.
Safe Room is a weekly horror video game discussion podcast, premiering on all major platforms every Monday. Feel free to browse our LinkTree for a complete list of services here.
Feel free to follow the show and hosts on Twitter:
Safe Room – @SafeRoomPod
Neil – @Nezzko
Jay – @NotFunnyJ
On the DL.
After spending June on explicitly queer texts like Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn (listen) and William Castle’s Homicidal (listen), it’s only appropriate that Horror Queers celebrate the American holiday with a blockbuster film with a not-so-secret gay connection.
In Independence Day, an unlikely group of people come together when the human race faces extinction from a threatening alien race. After spaceships destroy every major city, pilot Steven Hiller (Will Smith) must team up with secret tech genius David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), as well as the US President (Bill Pullman), to execute a daring plan to save the planet from annihilation.
Along for the ride are the two saviors’ romantic partners – WH Communications Director Constance (Margaret Colin) and stripper Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) – plus eccentric scientist Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner), who is at the center of the film’s most horrific set piece.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, and RSS.
Episode 393: Independence Day (1996)
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day…courtesy of gay German director Roland Emmerich.
As the summer blockbuster celebrates its 30th anniversary, we’re looking back on an alien disaster film that scared young Trace (thanks to that alien autopsy scene) and turned Will Smith into a star.
Plus: the death that upsets the most; bemoaning Vivica A. Fox’s career; pondering what could have been with the casting; why Smith’s bravado and the film’s patriotism doesn’t always work for Joe; and plenty of riffing on the atrocious sequel.
Cross out Independence Day!
Coming Up Next: We’re retreating to the country for some questionable therapy courtesy of Joe Dante’s 1981 classic, The Howling!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 503 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Forbidden Fruits, Saccharine, Evil Dead Burn, an audio commentary on the utterly ridiculous sequel Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf (1985), and the conclusion of our Requel Tier coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat.