It used to be that video game adaptations were limited to big budget franchises, with household names like Super Mario Bros. and Mortal Kombat getting blockbuster movies while more niche experiences like Dino Crisis and System Shock were mostly ignored by non-gamer audiences. Not only that, but corporate expectations and bloated production budgets meant that these big screen adaptations would often misunderstand what made these franchises popular in the first place.
Fortunately, it seems that the days of the “video game curse” are far behind us. Not only are recognizable franchises like Five Nights at Freddy’s receiving long-awaited adaptations, but even indie experiments like David Szymanski’s Iron Lung are being adapted into feature length horror movies (with this one in particular being written and directed by none other than Markiplier). And with the indie gaming scene going through a creative revolution, we thought that this might be the perfect time to highlight six other indie horror games that Hollywood should adapt after Iron Lung.
To be featured on this list, a game must have been developed by a relatively small studio with little to no marketing push by big-name publishers, so we’ll be avoiding popular titles like Alan Wake or The Evil Within. With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own indie darlings if you think we missed a particularly good one.
Now, onto the list…
6. Dusk (2018)
There’s nothing more cathartic than diving into a good old boomer shooter when you’re in the mood for first-person mayhem, though it’s pretty clear that most of these gameplay-first experiences aren’t particularly suited for big screen adaptations. A rare exception would be New Blood Interactive’s darkly atmospheric action-horror title Dusk, which pits players against low-poly Lovecraftian cultists and eldritch abominations.
Sure, the plot itself isn’t anything to write home about, with the game describing the chaos that ensues when the inhabitants of a fictional Pennsylvanian town unearth cursed ruins, but I’d still love it if some insane filmmaking team could adapt this high-octane experience into a Hardcore-Henry-inspired first-person romp featuring a bad-ass protagonist and practical monster effects.
5. Cry of Fear (2013)
Originally a Half-Life mod, Team Psykskallar’s Cry of Fear became popular enough to warrant an independent release as gamers began to sing the praises of this unexpectedly deep horror experience. Featuring innovative gameplay and a surprising amount of atmosphere in its terror-laced urban environments, what really makes the title ripe for an adaptation is its mind-bending narrative that harkens back to the days of Silent Hill 2.
Even audiences who had never even heard of the game would likely flock to theaters to watch a moody urban thriller with more than a little influence from surreal horror classics like Jacob’s Ladder and Donnie Darko – though I’d appreciate it if the hypothetical film could maintain the game’s somber tone and unusual Swedish setting.
4. Bendy and the Ink Machine (2017)
It might be that ever-evolving cultural sensibilities end up giving a darker edge to things that were once deemed innocent, but you’ve got to admit that there’s something naturally unnerving about old-timey cartoons. This is precisely why Bendy and the Ink Machine would work so well as a movie, with its unique subject matter and aesthetic allowing for a cinematic adaptation unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
Hell, you could even pitch this hypothetical film as “what if Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a horror movie?”, with a potential adaptation combining live-action elements with animation in appropriately uncanny ways. It could even feature cameos from other public domain cartoon characters for added realism.
3. Lone Survivor (2012)
It actually took me an embarrassing amount of time finally finish Superflat Games’ Lone Survivor. Not necessarily because it’s a difficult game (though it can be), but because the oppressive atmosphere and gameplay made it hard for me to enjoy the experience for extended periods. That might sound like a strange endorsement of a video game, but it’s precisely the title’s decidedly unfriendly qualities that could make it into a big screen classic.
Telling the story of a nameless protagonist on the verge of losing his mind after a mysterious infection has turned the city’s population into homicidal monsters, the low-stakes apocalypse presented by the game would probably hit even harder now that we’ve survived the isolation of a real-world pandemic. Plus, the pixelated graphics allow plenty of room for interpretation when it comes to bringing the title’s fleshy monsters to life.
2. Bloodwash (2021)
A trip to the laundromat can be unpleasant even in the best circumstances, so imagine what it would feel like to find yourself trapped there late at night while a womb-ripping prowler is on the loose! Naturally, this is the premise of Black-Eyed Priest and Henry Hoare’s short but sweet Bloodwash, a retro homage to Giallo cinema with a lot more up its sleeve than you might initially realize.
While the game is a perfectly paced masterclass in creating anticipation (it shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours to beat the entire thing), I think the story could easily be condensed into an 80-minute thrill ride that will entertain any genre fan that likes their scares accompanied by a generous helping of vintage grime. Hell, you could even get a retro cinema specialist like Joe Begos to shoot the project on film for added effect.
1. The Penumbra Series (2007-2008)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent may have put Frictional Games on the map as an indie force to be reckoned with, but their current status as masters of horror couldn’t have been achieved without Penumbra. An episodic puzzle adventure that sees a physicist venturing into a mysterious underground facility hidden in the icy wilderness of northern Greenland, the game soon introduces players to horribly mutated monsters and an ancient conspiracy that could change the world as we know it.
While the game mostly relies on epistolary storytelling and hallucinatory voices to get its narrative across, it’s the Lovecraftian origins of the facility that would translate really well into a motion picture. A hypothetical feature film could see the main character slowly uncovering what went wrong here while succumbing to the otherworldly madness himself.