The Last of Us Part 2: Did Naughty Dog go too far with their latest trailer?

The Last of Us Part 2: Did Naughty Dog go too far with their latest trailer? by Martin Benn

What happens when horror movie directors take a chance on making video games? It seems like there are both good and bad results, historically.

The intersection of the film industry and the video game world has made for some of the most horrific things we have seen in our gaming lives. From Hollywood’s brutally butchered adaptations of bonafide classics like Doom and Super Mario Bros to the cash grab gaming nightmares of Batman Begins we often have nothing good to write about movies and gaming. It does seem like a good video game movie, or a good movie-based game, is very rare. Even rarer is a good movie director that tries to make a video game. This has actually happened a few times, and today we look through the spooky tale of the horror directors who wanted to try their hand in a different entertainment medium.

John Carpenter / F.E.A.R.3

First off the list is the father of the slasher genre itself, John Carpenter. Though films like Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre predate Carpenter’s most well know film Halloween, it was that film that created many of the tropes now used in the structure of the slasher genre. Carpenter was not a one-trick pony; he created some of the most amazing genre films ever including The Thing and Escape From New York. The music he created for the latter went on to influence artists like Trent Reznor and Perturbator, with both of them going on to make music for well-regarded games and films alike.

So when John Carpenter joined on to help work on the cinematics and the story of F.E.A.R. 3, it should have been excellent. Despite John Carpenter being a big fan of the series and even going as far as appearing at E3 as the face of the game, F.E.A.R 3 did not seem to have that classic Carpenter feel. Many of the F.E.A.R franchise’s fans seem to feel part three was the worst of the games. Don’t get me wrong; certain elements like the “Fu**ing Run” multiplayer mode was inspired by Carpenter’s Prince Of Darkness. Overall, Carpenter seemed more like a spokesperson rather than the creative visionary supposedly attached to the game.

James Gunn / Lollipop Chainsaw

Both F.E.A.R 3 and Lollipop Chainsaw were published by Warner Bros., so I wonder if they had some deal to put directors in touch with game developers. Most people may now know James Gunn for directing the huge success that is the Guardians Of The Galaxy series, but once upon a time, he was a director for schlock house Troma Entertainment, helming the film Tromeo and Juliet. He eventually wrote and directed the horror comedy film Slither; a movie about space slugs terrorizing a small town.

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Gunn worked very closely with Suda51 on Lollipop and crafted a very pulpy comedy horror game that I felt was an underrated gem of the Xbox 360/PS3 era. Everything from the comedy to the excellent music from Jimmy Urine made it feel like Lollipop was a true passion project. Though the content may not have appealed to everyone, it most certainly would appeal to fans of the early work of James Gunn. The game had some terrific boss battles, and though it could beat rather quickly, it had a feeling of an early 80’s punk album and that appealed to me.

Though Gunn is probably set after the success of the Guardians films, I would love to see him return to gaming sometime or, hell, at the very least, produce a movie directed by Suda51.

Clive Barker / Undying & Jericho

Clive Barker is a master auteur of horror who is responsible for the Hellraiser and Candyman franchises. His body of work is on par with some of the greatest the horror genre has ever seen. Barker has stuck to horror for much of his career and has taken his passion for this to many forms of media. He even once had a horror comic book imprint under Marvel Comics. It was only a matter of time until this horror legend was tapped to work on a video game.

In the late 90’s, Barker was asked by EA Los Angeles to help shape the narrative and design of their game Undying. Barker had a considerable voice in this game, and it was his call to change the main protagonist from a superhuman tattooed man to a more down-to-earth character that the player could relate to. An occult FPS with puzzle elements, Undying was critically acclaimed when it was released. In the end, Undying’s undoing was the proliferation of PC FPS’ in the early 2000s.

Barker did continue on the path of game creation, going on to write and design the game Jericho. An interesting note about that game is that Barker worked with MercurySteam; a team that went on to work with Hideo Kojima on Castlevania: Lord Of Shadows as well as recently developed the latest Metroid game.

I have to give credit to Clive; though he may not be a name synonymous with gaming, he left his mark and picked some very good teams to work with.

Dishonorable Mention: Guillermo Del Toro/ P.T. & Silent Hills

“F**K Konami”- Guillermo Del Toro

That is a direct quote from famed director Guillermo Del Toro. You may think that is a bit harsh, but when the collaboration of perhaps one of the greatest game creators and one of the most visually creative film directors of all time is flushed down the toilet, you have the right to be a bit pissed.

The ninth installment of the Silent Hill series was to be directed by both Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro. This collaboration was revealed in a cryptic and extremely creepy playable demo called P.T. The way this collaboration was announced is now part of gaming lore, and that demo went on to make several “Best of” lists the year it was released. Since the release of the demo, it went on to make several “Scariest moments in gaming” lists as well. We are talking about a demo, here! Imagine what the game would have been like in a completed state. Thanks, Konami!

Shortly after the hype for this game died down, Konami decided to push Kojima out of the company, try to take his name off the Metal Gear franchise, banned him from award shows, and then removed the P.T. demo from the PlayStation Store.

The Del Toro and Kojima collaboration will still happen in the upcoming title Death Stranding, but fans of the Silent Hill franchise still wonder about what could have been.