A Beautiful Monster
Finding Comfort In Fear
In the lead up to the launch of Striking Distance’s ‘The Callisto Protocol,’ Studio head and lead developer Glen Schofield alongside his partners released a docuseries exploring various aspects of the psychology of fear. The docuseries featured various “experts” in the field including writers, filmmakers, actors, makeup artists and others from popular horror film and television series. These were dubbed “Icons of Horror.” This included greats such as Robert Kirkman of Walking Dead fame, Sean Cunningham who directed Friday The 13th amongst others as well as a psychologist. For reference, Ridley Scott’s 1979’s ‘Alien’ was part of the inspiration behind Schofield’s last great opus, ‘Dead Space 2008.’ The inclusion of industry heavy weights in the production was meant to imbue his latest work with gravitas. A passionate fan and an artist assuring avid fans of his prior works that his senses hadn’t dulled over the years. While meant to be a marketing ploy, it was also great fan service as would be gamers and future consumers were being convinced that the project was helmed by master craftsmen.
Experiencing horror first hand is very different from watching it through the crafted view of a director’s lens.
In the docuseries various aspects of the psychology of fear were explored: Brutality, atmosphere and tension, helplessness and humanity. All the right ingredients for making a great piece of horror. Unfortunately, having all the right ingredients and even great chefs doesn’t guarantee a great meal. The video game launched to lacklustre critic and fan reviews with one of the chief complaints being that it was not scary. While it succeeded in aspects of brutality and atmosphere, it utterly failed in building tension, creating a sense of helplessness and capturing the humanity of the lead protagonist’s unfortunate situation. The title initially sold 2 million copies within the first few months of sales. However, this was a far cry from the estimated 5 million copies it needed to sell to recoup its claimed 160 million dollar budget. While it is reported that the title eventually recouped its high production cost, the title was its own ISG Ishimura, a vessel condemned for death. Curiously, the Dead Space Remake, a critical and fan darling, launched in the same month but also did more or less similar numbers at first. Both of these titles did not set the world on fire commercially with only one of them being a critical success. This was not due to the quality of work put in or lack thereof. I suspect they failed because the market for horror video games outside the Resident Evil franchise is capped at very low single digits. Alan Wake II, both critically and fan acclaimed sold approximately just over 2 million. Only after being on sale for just over a year did it break even at an estimated budget of 80 million dollars.
Video games add an extra dimension to the medium of art: Interactivity and immersion. Something nigh on impossible for their counterparts in the film and television industry. In addition, costs of making video games are astronomical compared to the indie-like budgets of most horror films. These also benefit from being more accessible to global audiences with a very low barrier of entry. Horror films also tend to be exceedingly profitable regardless of the quality of product on offer.
While we are not fighting demonic apparitions or malformed creatures on distant moons, we are often at war with ourselves.
The latest outing in the Conjuring Universe, ‘The Conjuring 4: Last Rites,’ is an abomination and an embarrassment to what came before it. While the films have been hit and miss since the first two, this barely gets a passing grade leave alone attending class. In spite of its mediocre quality it is the most financially successful of the lot. The only film considered worse by critics and fans alike in the franchise is ‘The Curse Of La Llorona’ which was coincidently helmed by the same director, Michael Chaves. It fails as a work of art but more importantly it fails as a horror film. Director Chaves completely abandoned the path set forth by his predecessor, James Wan and chose to borrow heavily from other films in different sub-genres within the medium. The end result was this copy-paste Frankenstein mess that lacks an identity. There is no tension, only brutality. There is no humanity in many of the characters, just caricatures. No sense of helplessness, just magic formulae that have to be cracked to conjure away the latest demonic manifestation. A total failure of a film yet it was a run away box office success. The first two Conjuring films weren’t just good horror films. They were good films. Period. They pushed the genre forward and helped ground it. Akin to what Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman Begins’ did for Super Hero films. These were deep studies not only on the psychology of fear but on the nature of humanity. James Wan not only mastered the tension and atmosphere, he completely eschewed brutality from his works and was able to imbue so much humanity to his characters. The sense of helplessness, tension and atmosphere come from great camera work, great sound design and great direction. Humanity is purely down to good writing and great acting. All of which were available in spades in these first two films. It is worth mentioning that ‘Annabelle Creation,’ helmed by director David F. Sandberg also ranks highly. It does seem however that the worse these films have become the more financially successful they have been.
There is no humanity in many of the characters, just caricatures. No sense of helplessness, just magic formulae that have to be cracked to conjure away the latest demonic manifestation.
In stark contrast to the abominable film series, the ‘Resident Evil’ Video game franchise has largely been successful both commercially and critically. After the very successful release of ‘Resident Evil 7,’ in an interview with Axios, one of the series producers claims they had to tone down the horror for the sequel so the game would be approachable for more gamers. With its storied history and strong home market, this is one of the few horror franchises to regularly sell well with each release. Other titles have attempted and failed. Managing budgets and tempering expectations can however chart a path to success for other games in the genre. The newly released ‘Cronos The New Dawn’ recently broached the half a million copies sold mark and is deemed to have been commercially successful. A far cry from the Callisto Protocol’s many millions and counting. Horror games add a very unique dimension to storytelling in that they necessitate player engagement. Perhaps this is why many shy away from these titles. Experiencing horror first hand is very different from watching it through the crafted view of a director’s lens. Freedom given to the player is the developer’s greatest tool because the players are actively involved in the story telling. Unfortunately this comes with caveats as tension is hard to build without a tightly controlled setup. Any missteps and the tension is punctured ruining the moment. Video games have the added complexity of having to sustain this tension not over a few minutes of screen time but tens, even dozens of hours of gameplay. Techland’s ‘Dying Light’ has been lauded for being relentless in its oppressive atmosphere especially during the nighttime. So much so that the sequel was toned down as many players simply chose to not venture out at nigh. However, this was later patched back in due to player complaints.
The greatest aspect of any well told story is bringing out our Humanity. Well crafted horror films and games provide this in spades by simply holding up a mirror to our faces. While we are not fighting demonic apparitions or malformed creatures on distant moons, we are often at war with ourselves. We identify with well written characters because their weakness is our own. This gives us an unusual comfort in that we are able to find familiarity in the unfamiliar. A sense of vulnerability and desperation yet a desire to survive in spite of insurmountable odds. In horror, discovering the nesting place where all the monsters reside. An idyllic abode of tenuous rest because in the darkness we find ourselves. This is the comfort we find in fear and through its lens see beauty in the monsters it harbours.
Image credits in order of appearance: Image par Gordon Johnson de Pixabay;Image par OpenClipart-Vectors de Pixabay; Image par OpenClipart-Vectors de Pixabay