The world of horror is filled with fantastic adaptations, whether from books, folklore, TV shows, or games. Movie makers seem to have a knack for taking existing stories and transmuting them from one medium to another, bringing our worst nightmares to real and chilling life in the process.
Take Children of the Corn, for instance, which is based upon a Stephen King story of the same name, or the Resident Evil franchise, which borrows from the titular video games. Both are examples of pop-culture content that’s been taken and transformed into something truly terrifying on screen.
So, we asked ourselves a question: which other games would make great horror movies? Here’s what we came up with.
The Suffering
Released in 2004, The Suffering is a game with a gritty backstory. Death Row prisoner Torque has been sentenced to die for a horrific crime he can’t remember committing: the murder of his ex-wife and children.
However, that’s not the scariest part. While waiting for his turn in the chair, the prison he’s been sent to is rocked by an earthquake, awakening the ghosts of some of its terrifying former inmates. This one would no doubt make for compelling but spine-chilling watching, with horror elements and psychological thriller undertones.
Slingo Stampede
On the surface, slingo might seem a cheerful and upbeat concept: slingo is a game combining elements of slots and bingo. But lots of titles following the slingo format follow the horror or thriller and have dark and interesting backstories. Slingo Stampede is one example. The aim of the game is to outwit the wild rhinos that roam the savannah. We can see this working as a horror film too.
Picture it like this: the main character is stranded in an unending grassland, with only wild animals to populate the barren landscape. They need to find their way back to civilisation before time runs out, but to do that, they have to survive the scorching sun, roving packs of lions, poachers, and angry herds of rhinos. With Beast currently proving a big hit in cinemas, we can see it being a success.
The Medium
We’re really feeling ghost stories at the minute, hence this addition to our list. Coming from the same team who created Silent Hill, The Medium seems like a natural candidate for the next big horror film. It’s set in post-communist Poland and stars Marianne, who has the power to commune with the dead.
Travelling to the place where a horrific massacre took place, she uncovers a malevolent spirit with the power to possess human hosts. Spine-chilling happenings ensue, which would ultimately translate well onto the big screen. We wouldn’t want to watch it with the lights turned off!
When it comes to recycling existing stories and transforming them for cinema audiences, there are numerous examples to prove how well it can work. Indeed, there’s something special about seeing characters and plots we’re already invested in brought to life before our eyes, so we’d love to see the same treatment given to these three great games.