Editorials
What Can You Tell Me About Voodoo? ‘Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers’ at 30
Before Alan Wake hit the scene, PC gamers had Gabriel Knight as their horror author caught in a psychological nightmare. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers hit the PC back in December 1993, and despite its eventual sales figures deeming it to be a disappointment, Sins of the Fathers still received praise from critics and fans, thanks in part to its voice cast and mature story. Publisher Sierra still stuck with it, and kicked off a series that remains highly regarded among fans of the adventure genre.
Gabriel Knight is a cocky New Orleans book store owner and author struggling with a case of writer’s block. Compounding the situation for Gabriel are his recurring nightmares. Currently looking for material by researching a series of killings across New Orleans, Gabriel’s research leads him to determine that that the police’s theory about mob-related killings is wrong. Rather, the killings are the work of a voodoo practitioner. At the same time, Gabriel learns more about his past, including the revelation that an ancestor of his actually fought a voodoo practitioner, whose death at the stake echoes similar elements in his nightmares. As Gabriel digs deeper, more people begin to turn up dead, with Knight having more connection to the voodoo murders than he initially thought.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers was created by writer Jane Jensen, who prior to Gabriel Knight, had worked her way up at Sierra On-Line by writing Police Quest III and EcoQuest. At the time, the majority of adventure titles from Sierra had a more fantastical and “lighter” side to them (as did a lot of adventure games at the time). Jensen brought a more “mature” tone to her storytelling, and after working with legendary veteran game designer Roberta Williams on King’s Quest VI (who would go on to create Phantasmagoria), Jensen was given the chance to direct her own title, which turned out to be Gabriel Knight.
Like many of Sierra’s adventure titles at the time, Gabriel Knight is a mouse-driven 2D game, with players moving around and interact with objects and characters. The dropdown interface features several buttons corresponding to the actions Gabriel can take in the game. Taking place over several chapters (divided up into “days”), you have to solve puzzles, gather clues and interrogate people. You have an inventory (to catalogue your items, naturally), as well as a recorder button that allows you to replay any conversations that you had with characters. The recorder is especially handy, since you’ll need to replay conversations with other characters in order to find clues, as well as give you an opportunity to soak in the writing and storytelling.
And really, it’s those areas where Gabriel Knight shines. Players are introduced to Gabriel Knight‘s more “adult” tone right away with the opening cinematic of Gabriel’s nightmare. A surreal dark sequence of events with a woman being burnt at the stake who suddenly shapeshifts into a jaguar, culminating in a vision of Knight himself being hung from a tree. Gabriel Knight isn’t outright horror, but is more a gothic mystery that teeters into horror on multiple occasions. If you mess up, Gabriel does meet a few gruesome ends, including having his heart torn out by zombies, stabbed in the throat or having his head bashed in. Jensen years later would say that the inspiration for Sins of the Fathers came from Alan Parker‘s 1987 film Angel Heart.
Gabriel Knight takes place of the course of ten days, with players actually spending the majority of the time soaking up the story as Gabriel makes his way around New Orleans, conducting his investigation and talking to people. This might sound tedious for non-adventure game types, but the quality of Jansen’s writing draws you in. In fact, when you’re in a dialogue screen with another character, you’re presented with an option to just ask the other character to tell you about themselves. It might seem superfluous, but it’s that extra layer of character-building that keeps you interested in the game, and also just builds the world of Gabriel Knight. You can see where that Recorder feature is necessary.
As a character, Gabriel Knight is multi-layered. Apart from his wit and being a bit of a womanizer, you learn about his loyalty towards his friends and family through their interactions. It’s especially apparent with Mosely, who is not only a detective with the New Orleans police, but also Gabriel’s childhood friend. Players can either decide to delve into the details of the murders with Mosely, or just reminisce about growing up. To further drive home the idea of their lifelong relationship as friends, the two often take playful shots at each other, which is just not something you see very often when it comes to video game narratives. That’s in addition to Gabriel’s investigation of his family history, which involves visiting his grandmother, who details the family history of coming to America. And as mentioned before, this backstory includes details that factor into the situation with the murders in New Orleans.
Bringing Jensen’s writing to life is the voice cast, which was at that moment in time where Hollywood was beginning to dabble in video games. Tim Curry is on board as the voice of Gabriel, and while Curry certainly brings out the acerbic tone for the character, his New Orleans accent is a bit suspect. He obviously has an easier time with the Gedde family’s British butler. In contrast as the voice of Mosely, Mark Hamill does a better accent than Curry. Leah Remini handles Grace with ease, foiling Gabriel’s flirting with the appropriate sarcastic quips, as well as bringing a confident yet caring tone to the character, which adds that much more to Grace’s evolving relationship with Gabriel. Michael Dorn (aka Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation) honestly doesn’t have to do much other than let his voice drive the imposing stature of Dr. John. Contrasting Curry’s accent is Virginia Capers, who lays on a thick New Orleans accent as the game’s narrator. It definitely adds a nice bit of immersion in the game’s locale.
Graphically, Sins of the Fathers borrows heavily from graphic novels, as well as from film noir with the stylish shadows and lighting with its pixel work. In particular, the dialogue window where Gabriel and other characters converse has a distinct rim lighting effect for the character portraits. According to John Shroades, Sins of the Father‘s background art director, graphic novels were used as the basis for the game’s “cut panel” format to bring out specific moments in the game’s storyline. Tying it all together is the score by Bob Holmes, whose music further immerses the player in the game’s atmosphere.
Sins of the Fathers falters a bit when it comes to certain areas. While the game won’t let you progress until you complete all of the events on that particular day, you can put yourself in a soft-locked situation if you miss performing certain actions with your evidence, or at a later point, fail to pick up certain items. Puzzles aren’t too difficult, and you can save wherever you’d like. However, you can get Gabriel killed if you mess up a sequence, and it’s again possible to soft-lock yourself near the end of the game if you save in the wrong spot.
As mentioned, Sins of the Fathers wasn’t the hit that Sierra had expected, but it still garnered acclaim from press and fans, earning excellent review scores and a couple Adventure Game of the Year awards. And on the game’s 20th anniversary, fans were treated to a full-on remake, sporting 3D-rendered characters against redrawn 2D backdrops, a remastered soundtrack by Bob Holmes, and new puzzles and gameplay.
Unfortunately, given the low budget for the remake, the quality of the 3D characters and their animations are suspect (to put it lightly). Worse still, the masters of the original voice cast were unable to be found, and the files that the development team did have were of poor quality. Unable to hire the original actors because of budget constraints, the cast had to be changed. The new cast did an excellent job, but obviously nothing can compare to the original performances.
With newer horror adventure titles like Telltale’s The Walking Dead or Heavy Rain, you can see the influences that Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers had on the genre: Expertly-crafted stories with characters that have deep backstories and personalities that keep you coming back. The adventure game genre obviously is nowhere near what it was in its heyday, but the titles that do come out can certainly trace back to what Sins of the Fathers initially brought gamers. It’s definitely still worth it to go back and experience not only one of Sierra’s finest games, but also one of the best horror adventure games ever.
Expectations can run high whenever a buzzworthy filmmaker makes the leap from indie to mainstream. And Radio Silence — Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Chad Villella and former member Justin Martinez — certainly had a lot to live up to after V/H/S. This production collective’s rousing contribution to the 2012 anthology film not only impressed audiences and critics, the same segment also caught the attention of 20th Century. This led to the studio recruiting the rising talent for a hush-hush found-footage project later titled Devil’s Due.
However, as soon as Radio Silence’s anticipated first film was released into the wild, the reactions were mostly negative. Devil’s Due was dismissed as a Rosemary’s Baby rehash but dressed in different clothes; almost all initial reviews were sure to make — as well as dwell on — that comparison. Of course, significant changes were made to Lindsay Devlin’s pre-existing script; directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett offered up more energy and action than what was originally found in the source material, which they called a “creepy mood piece.” Nevertheless, too many folks focused on the surface similarities to the 1968 pregnancy-horror classic and ignored much of everything else.
Almost exactly two years before Devil’s Due hit theaters in January of 2014, The Devil Inside came out. The divisive POV technique was already in the early stages of disappearing from the big screen and William Brent Bell’s film essentially sped up the process. And although The Devil Inside was a massive hit at the box office, it ended up doing more harm than good for the entire found-footage genre. Perhaps worse for Radio Silence’s debut was the strange timing of Devil’s Due; the better-received Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones was released earlier that same month. Despite only a superficial resemblance, the newer film might have come across as redundant and negligible to wary audiences.
Image: Allison Miller in Devil’s Due.
The trailers for Devil’s Due spelled everything out quite clearly: a couple unknowingly conceives a diabolical child, and before that momentous birth, the mother experiences horrifying symptoms. There is an unshakable sense of been-there-done-that to the film’s basic pitch, however, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett knew that from the beginning. To compensate for the lack of novelty, they focused on the execution. There was no point in hiding the obvious — in the original script, the revelation of a demonic pregnancy was delayed — and the film instead gives the game away early on. This proved to be a benefit, seeing as the directors could now play around with the characters’ unholy situation sooner and without being tied down by the act of surprise.
At the time, it made sense for Radio Silence’s first long feature to be shot in the same style that got them noticed in the first place, even if this kind of story does not require it. Still and all, the first-person slant makes Devil’s Due stand out. The urgency and terror of these expectant parents’ ordeal is more considerable now with a dose of verisimilitude in the presentation. The faux realism makes the wilder events of the film — namely those times the evil fetus fears its vessel is in danger — more effective as well. Obviously the set-pieces, such as Samantha pulling a Carrie White on three unlucky teens, are the work of movie magic, but these scenes hit harder after watching tedious but convincing stretches of ordinariness. Radio Silence found a solid balance between the normal and abnormal.
Another facet overlooked upon the film’s initial release was its performances. Booking legitimate actors is not always an option for found-footage auteurs, yet Devil’s Due was a big-studio production with resources. Putting trained actors in the roles of Samantha and Zach McCall, respectively Allison Miller and Zach Gilford, was desirable when needing the audience to care about these first-time parents. The leads managed to make their cursory characters both likable and vulnerable. Miller was particularly able to tap into Samantha’s distress and make it feel real, regardless of the supernatural origin. And with Gilford’s character stuck behind the camera for most of the time, the film often relied on Miller to deliver the story’s emotional element.
Image: Allison Miller in Devil’s Due.
Back then, Radio Silence went from making viral web clips to a full-length theatrical feature in a relatively short amount of time. The outcome very much reflected that tricky transition. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett indeed knew how to create these attention-grabbing scenes — mainly using practical effects — but they were still learning their way around a continuous narrative. The technical limitations of found footage hindered the story from time to time, such as this routine need to keep the camera on the main characters (or see things from their perspective) as opposed to cutting away to a subplot. There is also no explanation of who exactly compiled all this random footage into a film. Then again, that is an example of how the filmmakers strove for entertainment as opposed to maintaining every tradition of found footage. In the end, the directors drew from a place of comfort and familiarity as they, more or less, used 10/31/98 as the blueprint for Devil’s Due’s chaotic conclusion. That is not to say the film’s ending does not supply a satisfying jolt or two, but surely there were hopes for something different and atypical.
Like other big film studios at that time, 20th Century wanted a piece of the found-footage pie. What distinguished their endeavor from those of their peers, though, was the surprising hiring of Radio Silence. Needless to say, the gamble did not totally pay off, yet putting the right guys in charge was a bold decision. Radio Silence’s wings were not completely clipped here, and in spite of how things turned out, there are flashes of creativity in Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s unconventional approach to such a conventional concept.
Radio Silence has since bounced back after a shaky start; they participated in another anthology, Southbound, before making another go at commercial horror. The second time, as everyone knows, was far more fruitful. In hindsight, Devil’s Due is regarded as a hiccup in this collective’s body of work, and it is usually brought up to help emphasize their newfound success. Even so, this early film of theirs is not all bad or deserving of its unmentionable status. With some distance between then and now, plus a forgiving attitude, Devil’s Due can be seen as a fun, if not flawed first exposure to the abilities of Radio Silence. And, hopefully, somewhere down the line they can revisit the found-footage format.
Image: Allison Miller and Zach Gilford in Devil’s Due.
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