By Anonymous on Oct 08, 2017 12:00 am Get a taste of Square Enix's arcade racing game Gravel with an exclusive look at its Cross Country, Wild Rush, Speed Cross, and Stadium modes.
Kazunori Yamauchi--recognized as the creator of Gran Turismo--is considered one of the most approachable game studio heads in the industry, provided you know how to get a hold of him. He was more than happy to meet with GameSpot at E3 2017, where he shared thoughts on what was learned from the spring beta of Gran Turismo Sport and he shared feelings on how the his series differentiates itself from Forza Motorsport.
More recently, we recently threw 10 questions at him about his personal history with driving. Given his well-known love of cars, we wanted to know all the cars he's owned and we also learned how his tastes and enthusiasm for sports cars has influenced his driving series, which happens to be celebrating its 20-year anniversary.
GameSpot: Would you be able to name every car you've owned?
Kazunori Yamauchi:
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Supra
Nissan 300ZX
Nissan GT-R (R32)
Mitsubishi FTO
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5
Honda S2000
Porsche 911 GT3 (996)
Mercedes Benz SL55 AMG
Ford GT
Nissan GT-R (R35)
Of these cars, which one was your favorite? Why?
Ford GT, because it's the most beautiful car.
Has Gran Turismo ever influenced your car-buying decisions? If so, how?
The R35 Nissan GT-R appeared in Gran Turismo starting from its concept model, and I was responsible for the design of the information system in the production car. It was a car which Gran Turismo helped to bring into the world, and it was a car I helped to create in part, so it was natural for me to buy the car.
Think of a car you own that's in a Gran Turismo game. How would you describe the handling of the car in the streets of Tokyo compared to a race track?
The Tokyo Expressway in Tokyo, is 14 miles per lap, and is a challenging course much like the Nürburgring, but as long as you are driving at the speed limit it is a unique winding road even on a global level, with beautiful scenery. Cars like the Porsche 911GT3 and the Nissan GT-R are cars which are difficult to understand their true worth unless you take it to the track, but when you are driving on the Shuto (Capital City) Expressway, it is possible to understand their level of handling performance even at a slow speed.
Is there a type of car that you wish you could put in Gran Turismo that has never appeared in the series?
'Work cars' like firetrucks, ambulances, crane cars and road rollers, I am half joking, but I'd like to include them in Gran Turismo one of these days.
Of the cars you have handled in real life that are in GT Sport, are there any nuanced driving tips that aren't covered in Gran Turismo Sport's tutorial?
The world of driving is very deep, and we can only touch upon the entrance to this world in a tutorial. It would take a long amount of time to talk about things that are not covered. But once you are at the entryway, I believe that people will be able to trail blaze their own way into the vast world of driving beyond it with their senses. I myself continue to make new discoveries regarding driving even now.
Do you remember what made you become a car enthusiast to begin with?
When I was 3 years old, I rode along in the car my father drove for work every day. I naturally started to take interest in the cars driving around town, and by the time I was 4 I was able to name all the cars on the road.
What's your dream car?
The most balanced car on earth is a racing car. The higher the performance of the racing car, the more control you have when you are driving, and the better it feels to you. It would be fantastic if a racing car like that was sold as a road legal production car as is.
When you've purchased a car, do you keep its factory specifications or do you like modding?
That would depend on the car. If it's a Mercedes or Porsche, I would keep it factory. If it's a GT-R or S2000, it's fun to tune and mod the cars. There are lots of high performance parts available too.
Going through all the cars you've owned, can you say in one or two sentences why you decided to buy that car in that time in your life?
Toyota Corolla – This was the first car in which I experienced understeer. I raised my cornering speed a bit at a time every day, and one day, the front tires started sliding and I experienced understeer.
Toyota Supra - This was the first car I practiced drifting in. When it snowed in the winter I would line up pylon cones in a parking lot, and practice slaloms and drifting.
Nissan 300ZX – This was a difficult car to drive. Just changing lanes on the highway while on the throttle would make the car oversteer and dance on the road.
Nissan GT-R (R32) – This was the car in which I first experienced what a high performance sports car is. I will never forget the first time I drove this car. It was like a combat fighter.
Mitsubishi FTO – It was front wheel drive, but had a naturally aspirated V6 engine that would run up to 8000RPM. When I look back on it now, I think it really had a lot to offer.
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5 – Acceleration, cornering, stability, at the time it was the most potent weapon of choice.
Honda S2000 – Sharp steering and a chassis balance that would make it oversteer immediately; it was a difficult to drive, but educational car.
Porsche 911 GT3 (996) – Incredible body rigidity and direct response, I think it is still the benchmark of sports cars today.
Mercedes Benz SL55 AMG – Not only is it fast, you can relax when you drive with its soft ride quality. And its movements are very precise.
Ford GT – Low ride height, beautiful exterior and interior. Fantastic to drive, and it just makes you happy looking at it.
Nissan GT-R(R35) – High performance, like a modern day weapon. I completed the Nürburgring 24 hour race in an almost fully stock production car, winning in its class.
It's no secret that the Nintendo Switch is in high demand. With an infamous history of missing the mark when it comes to supply meeting demand, Switch production is looking more optimistic as Nintendo has reportedly increased production to a massive two million units a month.
DigiTimes reports the increase is meant to finally help meet the high demand for the console in Asia as well as meet Nintendo's target production numbers. In just 2017, the company is aiming to reach 20 million units.
But even with the increase in production, Nintendo Switch consoles are still in short supply in Japan and won't be available in Taiwan until this December. The console is expected to launch in China in 2018, and with the recent support of Tencent, the move to get the console in the country could be very lucrative.
When it comes to video games portraying the atmosphere and tone of its film influences, Alien: Isolation is in a class of its own. Translating the Alien film series into a unique horror game focused on persistent terror as opposed to fleeting cheap thrills, this survival horror experience channels a sense of dread and slow-burn tension that forces players to respect the very thing that stalks them. Though its reception at launch was met with some polarizing responses--including from GameSpot's former reviews editor Kevin VanOrd--and along with modest sales, this comparatively unorthodox take on the Alien franchise became a favorite in the years since its release--even prompting fans to make an unofficial VR mod to amp up the scares.
On the third anniversary of its release and in time for Halloween, GameSpot is taking a look back at Creative Assembly's uncompromising horror game, and how it made players to learn to fear the Xenomorph once again.
Right from outset, Alien: Isolation sets the tone for what players can expect. Its eerie 1977-era 20th Century Fox fanfare opening is a throwback to the beginnings of the Alien franchise. Creative Assembly wears its reverence for the source material on its sleeves, reveling in the iconic 70s retro-futurism that defined the movies. In the game, the nostalgia of it is alluring, but Isolation does more than pay its source material lip-service, it builds on and presents a story of its own that both fits into and enhances the movies.
Ridley Scott's 1979 film is still regarded as one of the most influential and powerful horror films ever. Channeling elements of slasher films and science fiction, the crew of the Nostromo stumble upon a strange alien life-form of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, quickly spiraling out into a fight for survival. Despite their reliance on futuristic, yet run-down technology capable of interstellar space travel, the film was very much a humbling experience for its characters. For survival horror, this feeling of vulnerability and perilousness is an especially vital pillar of the genre--which Alien: Isolation ratchets up considerably throughout.
Initially developed as a third-person stealth action game with an in-depth cover system, the developers at Creative Assembly soon shifted to first-person to have a more intimate feel. Along with this, it introduced design tenants from the immersive-sim sub-genre--a la Dishonored and BioShock--and leaned on the tension and gameplay of classic survival horror games. Set 15 years after the Nostromo's destruction, Alien: Isolation brings Ellen Ripley's daughter Amanda to the Space Station Sevastopol to uncover clues behind her mother's disappearance. But of course, an alien organism is already onboard, unleashing a seemingly unstoppable creature focused entirely on picking off members of the space station one by one.
Unlike the bombast of movie's sequels, the game stays true to the first movie's subdued, disquieting feel. Aside from the flamethrower, firearms are the least useful of tools at the player's disposal, as the Alien is invulnerable to bullets, and is always lurking in the vents and tunnels of the station. Alien: Isolation is a re-examination of what horror and the fragility of character is in gaming, hammering the notion that you're trapped, and with no way out.
Video games as a medium have quite a history of boiling complex, highly-intelligent apex predators into a moving target for players to unload bullets into. This is especially true for how the Alien series has evolved in the gaming medium, with most of these games revolving around shooting swarms of Xenomorphs with smart-guns, pulse-rifles--and even with the Predator making an appearance. Because of this, the Alien creature became the quintessential video game cannon-fodder. However, Isolation was cold and cruel in showing players how futile this approach was, instead forcing players to relearn their relationship to the Xenomorph and, ultimately, respect it. While your goals and destination are mostly one-note, Isolation allows players to come up with their own solutions, either from sacrificing resources to craft new items, or by making a bold move to take advantage of nearby enemies as a distraction to make a quick getaway.
With a focus on staying on top of your resources, avoiding enemy encounters when possible, and a static save system that makes simply recording your progress a risk in itself--the main hook of Isolation's design is making players constantly aware of how vulnerable they are. Coming a year after the lackluster and uninspired action-horror game Aliens: Colonial Marines, the developers at Creative Assembly distinguished their Alien game with authenticity. Alien: Isolation, in many ways, relishes in subverting expectations; whether that's making players the prey instead of the predator, or giving players conditioned to expect a shooter something entirely different.
Though Isolation's lead character comes from one of the sequel's deleted scenes, Isolation benefits from extrapolating out what made the original movie memorable. In addition to Amanda, however, are an assortment of side-characters that can be played as in the Survival mode, offering their side of the story on the Sevastopol. As a ramshackle space station falling apart, populated with knock-off Working Joes androids that couldn't be sold off due to how creepy and off-putting they look, the setting feels like a haunted house floating in the cold depths of space. And to make matters worse--there's a high-intelligent, merciless killer lurking about.
Alien: Isolation saw its release in a particularly interesting year for horror gaming. The genre had gone through a rather surprising upswing with notable releases from independent developers like Five Nights at Freddy's, to some more larger scale releases like the enigmatic P.T--the teaser for the now dead Silent Hills. What these games have in common with Alien: Isolation was that they forced players into a position of disempowerment, either keeping them in a specific location, or tasking them with making to it one location from another, while avoiding the gaze of the antagonist.
With the survival horror genre, much of the experience is about humbling the player and getting them to feel the sense of uncertainty that looms throughout their trek. Alien: Isolation isn't about the big victories of taking down bosses over the course of several hours, but rather the smaller victories scattered throughout; slinking back into the shadows as the Xenomorph enters the room, narrowly avoiding certain death, or managing to grab an item of a desk in the same room as a Working Joe. Broadly speaking, Alien: Isolation spends 12-15 hours ratcheting up the tension when needed, and then gradually loosening it up. But in the midst of it all, the ever-present threat of the Xenomorph feels like the touch of fingertips on your neck, threatening to choke the life out of you at a moment's notice. Its delicate cycling of tension feels more like a constant chokehold.
While Creative Assembly and Sega may never make a game like Isolation again, it will be remembered for its bold, brave inventive realisation of the Alien franchise's potential. It understood what the property was capable of beyond the shooting galleries and recycling of cheesy one-liners. Alien: Isolation stands as a remarkable achievement for its re-examination and re-invigoration of the horror experience in gaming, and is likely one of the best things to happen to the Alien franchise in a long time.
While you can check our our Shadow of War review for thoughts on how it's turned out, we recently discussed the challenges of making a Lord of the Rings video game with Tony Elias, Monolith's lead narrative designer. In our chat, he touches on why it wouldn't be fun to do a straight adaptation of the books, the rationale behind Lady Shelob, and whether he would be interested in taking on the material in The Silmarillion.
GameSpot: What's your background with Tolkien lore and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and maybe something like Silmarillion?
Tony Elias: I was not one of those kids who read it when I was really young, like many of the people here. I kind of came to it later in life, so in my 20s I read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and got into it in that way. It's interesting; now I have kids, and so I have an eight-year-old boy, and we finished The Hobbit last year. We just worked our way through Fellowship [of the Ring], and so it's kind of fascinating to see him experience that for the first time. He's just become such a big fan.
He obviously can't play the game, but he's just really fascinated, like, "Wow, you're making a game in the Lord of the Rings universe!" It's really kind of funny to see him geek out over playing Lego Hobbit, and just learning about Mordor and Middle-earth in general.
Yeah, I think I first came to it when I was 12, and I obviously wasn't old enough to appreciate it. I think Tolkien was too descriptive for that age for me. I think maybe I had seen the Fellowship, and then assumed that the books would be more descriptive in the battles, which is what I was looking for at that age. Then I came back to it like six years ago, and I was like, "Oh, okay, I get it." It's super good, because--
It's interesting to see someone coming to it. It's kind of a little above his reading grade, and so there are long sections. You look at Fellowship for example, and after Gandalf gets there, it's a long time before they leave the Shire. It's like 100 pages, and you watch the movies for example, and it happens immediately.
It's kind of a good reminder of just what happens with adaptation, and that things exist differently. Every time you're recreating this story in a different medium, pacing changes, character emphasis changes, all of those things. Seeing it through, like going back to the books is always really useful, because it's just such a great touchstone for the themes that Tolkien was obsessed by, the subjects, that we really take to heart and try to retell again.
Speaking of adaptations, what was it like coming over to work on Shadow of War knowing that you would be able to work on a Tolkien video game?
You don't get that many opportunities in a lifetime to work in such a beloved world as Middle-earth, and the opportunity here is, not only is it Middle-earth, but the focus is Mordor. Not that much has been written about Mordor. You read Lord of the Rings, and there are a few conversations between orcs here and there, you go to Mordor, but the orcs are this kind of unknown population. That's where we really dive in, and we get to create this culture and civilization around the orcs. We put this undead man fighting this war, having to form alliances with orcs, and battle against them. It's their rightful gains, but it gives us the opportunity also to create new stories in this world that we really all love.
I think Tolkien died in '73? Ever since then, it's been Christopher Tolkien and the estate publishing his stuff posthumously. It must be exciting to contribute to that, but flip side of that coin, it must be pretty daunting. Maybe intimidating.
Oh, absolutely. I think whenever you have an IP or a book series that is so beloved by a fanbase, you have to take that on board and realize that there's this kind of a handle with care there. Thankfully, the people who have worked on this game, the developers, we love Tolkien's work. We want to realize it in a different medium, and with I guess a more contemporary sensibility. I think the danger of adaptation is being too conservative, and being overly reverent, because I think that, it's safe in some respects, but I think you walk a path in which you create something that is dull, and doesn't work in the medium that you're creating it for.
Our number one priority is to make the most fun, enjoyable game that really feels like it comes from Tolkien's world, that it is Middle-earth, that these characters and themes are really recognizable, but realizing this [is a] different medium. That's been the objective. We have a lot of conversations here, sometimes sort of arguments over like, "Well, is this appropriate? Would we do this?" Sometimes you make a decision where, we realize, okay, we've been debating this for 15 minutes. Maybe that's a good thing, because I think the films that I've most enjoyed, the games that I've most enjoyed are ones in which you walk out, and there's so much to talk about.
When you look at someone's intention or someone's motivation, and two people can have very different viewpoints about what they were trying to accomplish, it lives on beyond the experience rather than something that like, "Okay, I've experienced that, completely digested it, and never have to think about it again." I think that's probably a mark of failure in a lot of ways, and it's what we've tried to avoid. We really want to put in as much content as possible that will really excite and motivate conversation and debate.
I used to imagine what was going through Peter Jackson's mind when he sat down. You know, there have been animated films of The Hobbit and Fellowship, and then I think there was the Return of the King one as well, but I was always wondering what went through his mind. Like, "How do I adapt this to a movie?" I can only imagine what would go through Monolith's minds when you're saying, "Not only how do I adapt that into something entertaining but also fun." Because the movies can be entertaining, but I wouldn't necessarily call them fun. They're not like lighthearted or anything, not that Shadow of Mordor is, but … if you were to make a game that's super, super faithful to the books, it would be a boring game.
Yeah, I'm not sure how fun it would be. I think you have to ... I think there were some decisions made at the outset that really put us in a strong position for making something that is well-suited to [a] third-person open-world action game. It's set in Mordor, so you are a human in Mordor, so you're kind of a sort of stranger in a strange land, and you're fighting this war, and everyone hates you. Everyone is trying to kill you. It's just sort of a setup that is perfect for gameplay.
Also we have this death mechanic that allowed us to really work with the themes of deathlessness in Tolkien's work, but adapt it to a medium where death is usually a fail point. Oh, I died, I got to do that again. No, time moves forward here, and you get to chase down your enemy, and create a continuous story that would usually have ended.
Unlike Boromir or Faramir, when I think Talion, I actually think of like an anti-hero, because I think he's more on a revenge quest than a heroic kind of odyssey, right? I was telling Michael, before I played Shadow of Mordor, I was always wondering, I was like, "I wish they would have a character in a Lord of the Rings game that would actually be an antihero and use evil power against the evil people." Because that's the fun part, and then in Shadow of War of course, you're forging your own ring, and you're getting really powerful, and you're building an army, and there's that strategy aspect to it. I know you weren't on the writing process for Shadow of Mordor, but for Shadow of War, was that kind of a conscious thought: How do we make this even more fun and expansive, but also how do we fit into these themes with Talion, with the setting, with what you're doing throughout your time in this game?
Yeah, absolutely. I think Shadow of Mordor was very much a revenge story. Talion's family is killed at the beginning, it's a very immediate event, and he's seeking vengeance for that. Our dual protagonist is formed at the beginning of that game, with Celebrimbor and Talion. A lot of Celebrimbor's time is trying to rediscover who he was. We pick up in Shadow of War with the forging of a new ring. They have a very solid objective: they're going to forge a new ring of power, and build an army of orcs, and take this war to Sauron. The stakes have been really widened to all of Middle-arth at this point.
Although in some ways, I think Talion's story is one of four in a lot of ways. He finds himself in Mordor; Celebrimbor as well. He's already fought a war against Sauron, he knows what it takes, and you find Talion in this position of asking himself, and he's fighting these monsters, these orcs, he's having to deal with the Nazgul, dealing with Shelob, and asking himself, "How much of a monster do I have to become in order to defeat these enemies?" Which is kind of a struggle in their relationship as well. There's a lot of drama that comes out of that in the course of Shadow of War.
I think people's sense of who Shelob is is one of the great spiders, and we could have done just that, sure. ... We really wanted to explore this character.
It was great in Shadow of Mordor, when they were first announcing, you're kind of showing off the characters, and then when we heard that Celebrimbor was in it, we were like, "Oh, that's a huge deal." Because obviously, I think was it like 1,000 years before Elrond, the alliance, marched against Sauron? It was the 1,000 years before that when Celebrimbor fought Sauron?
In the first war, yeah, after he forged the rings. Yeah, he stole the rings.
Then I'm like, "Okay, that's cool, he's in this game." I don't know who Talion is, obviously, but Celebrimbor, that's a name people know. Now I'm curious, I don't know how much experience you would have, when you're kind of figuring out what to put into this story, what's going to be faithful to the books or the movies, what's going to be faithful to the Tolkien license--did you have any interactions with Middle-earth Enterprises or do you mainly go through Warner Bros. or on the writing team?
I think everything is reviewed by Warner Bros., but also Middle-earth Enterprises. Every line of dialogue goes through them, every story arc; the story outlines are reviewed, and we get feedback and respond to that. They've been a great partner to work with on this. I think there's always a bigger question when we want to use a famous character from the original IP, or sometimes we'll create … We don't actually have that many characters from Lord of the Rings, for example, but you may have Gollum, for example. You really want to honor people's sense of who that character is, but sometimes you'll create a character like Eltarial, this elven assassin. We have references for how she might be, but we have how an elf might be, and how she might speak, and what her bearing might be. We'll later talk about the art that goes into that, for example, but all of that is reviewed ultimately by Middle Earth Enterprises.
There was some feedback when people saw this Shelob, who is traditionally a giant spider, and now she's this woman. What went into the process for playing with artistic liberties in that sense? Stuff like that, that some people might not think is faithful.
Oh yeah. I think people's sense of who Shelob is is one of the great spiders, and we could have done just that, sure. We could have had Shelob appear in great spider form, but she would have had a much smaller role in the game, ultimately. We really wanted to explore this character. If you look back at Two Towers for example, I think one of the first descriptions of Shelob is an evil thing in spider form. It's an interesting way to describe this creature, a spider form. Not just a spider, or a great spider, and so it feels like it's chosen [that form] in a way.
Her mother was Ungoliant, who it's suggested is a Maiar, but this kind of primordial being, all powerful. Shelob is the daughter of Ungoliant. We kind of ran with that idea of a creature that could transform itself, depending on the context--we have done that in the first game with Sauron in fear form. Sauron has his war form and he has his fear form, and Shelob, you could think of the spider as Shelob's war form, and her fear form she uses when she counsels Talion. She can read the web of fate. We see her as this kind of dark oracle, a sort of dark Galadriel who can see the future and guide his path.
We thought there was a lot to explore there, and we could do that with a humanoid representation. We're not saying she is a woman; maybe she goes back between the two. It's very clear from the outset that this is a form that she takes when she communicates with Talion. It allowed us to do a lot more with the story, it allowed us to use her in a more meaningful way in the story.
It kind of reminds me of--when you say in spider form, I always think of It.
That's a really, yeah, I mean--spoilers--but it is an actually great contemporary reference. Because these are sort of archaic icons in a way, these creatures that inspire terror in humanity, these ancient, monstrous forms. Shelob is just that, it's just sort of if she had appeared in spider form and remained in spider form, and then she's going to guide Talion on his path in the future, what actions he might want to take with the siege of Minas Ithil. I think this is not something that could probably be dramatically supported over the long haul. People generally don't trust monsters when they appear in monstrous form. I think you have to give it more breadth, and explore what this character, the other dimensions of what this character could be, and that's what we were trying to do in Shadow of War.
Talking about It, I feel like one of the big themes of Shadow of Mordor and a lot of Tolkien stuff is fear, and how that plays into it. You mentioned the themes. What are the big touchstones in terms of themes that you felt between the books, the movies, and bringing them into video games? What are some of those major ones that you really wanted to hit with Shadow of War?
Speaking of the themes, I think the major theme that we explore in Shadow of War is probably the idea of deathlessness, because our character is kind of this undead human who can die and return over and over. Where's our ring of power? The promise of the rings is one of, it's not necessarily immortality; it's deathlessness. It's this kind of weird intermediate state between the two. There's the temptation of power in the rings that kind of speaks to the fall of so many characters before--Talion and Boromir and Gollum, characters like that.
I think we really wanted to explore the cost of deathlessness. Sure, it will allow you to accomplish certain goals, but at what cost? That was I think an important one, especially through Talion, through Gollum, but also through the Nazgul; we get to explore their back stories in Shadow of War ... little is said in the books about the identities of who these kings of men were. We get to explore that a little further. These were men corrupted by the power of the rings, and [who] became these kind of undead creatures, these monstrous lieutenants of Sauron.
I think another theme that, it's probably not spoken of a lot, but it was one of Tolkien's main subjects, was friendship or fellowship. This idea of camaraderie and bonds that are forged in war, or through adversity. You think of Lord of the Rings, but you think when we start our game with the siege of Minas Ithil, and Talion has been undead. For a while now, he's in a way losing his humanity, and I think he senses that. When he forms these friendships with characters like these Gondorian lieutenants, like Idril and Boromir, it's a way to reconnect with that lost humanity, but also he's forming these alliances in a way that he did when he was alive t the Black Gate with his fellow soldiers. Even in the first game, I think that was explored with characters like Ratbag, and we get to do that a little more in Shadow of War.
What's it like to know you can look back and say that you added to this universe that you kind of fell in love with through literature, and then it's the most iconic fantasy franchise? Game of Thrones is up there, but it's not Lord of the Rings, it's not Middle-earth, right? What is it like to know that you can look back and know that you added to that world?
Well, the experience of working on this game, and there are projects where you get to work on an IP like this, and it might not be the best version of it. I think we are so lucky at Monolith; we have put together a team of people who are incredibly talented and collaborative, who created this great game in Shadow of Mordor, and really wanted to expand the scale and depth of the game in Shadow of War. My experience coming in as a writer on this team was, it's something I'm always going to sort of cherish in a way. You know? Who knows how the game will do when it comes out, but the experience of having worked on it, and it's an honor, and it's humbling, and it's the sort of thing that you do this job for.
Do you wish that at some point in your life you could do something with the Silmarillion?
That would be fun. I think there's ... [I] don't want to go into the various license agreements and what we can work on, and what we can't work on, but yeah. To be able to work on everything that Tolkien wrote really expands the canvas. We have a pretty good chunk in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. There are so many characters and themes that are touched on in the appendices, and just those stories that there's no shortage of material for us to work in.
We're living in a golden age for horror on television, with cable and national networks taking a chance on content that in the past may have been deemed "too much" for audiences. Throughout the decades, we've seen some terrifying TV series air, and here are the 13 best, in no particular order.
Many episodes may have not aged exceptionally well, but the Nickelodeon series Are You Afraid of the Dark managed to scare a whole generation of kids during the '90s. The show followed the Midnight Society, who told each other scary stories by a campfire. As you can see above, some of the imagery from the series is hard to forget.
Tales From the Crypt (1989-1996)
Much like Are You Afraid of the Dark, Tales From the Crypt featured new horrifying stories every week, but because it aired on HBO, the series could get away with a whole lot more than the Nickelodeon show. The most memorable part of the series was the Cryptkeeper, who introduced each story in a ghoulish way.
True Blood (2008-2014)
HBO's True Blood mixed horror and romance with a bit of tongue-in-cheek quirkiness. The series followed a young woman who falls in love with a vampire and learns about his world. However, there's also a whole lot of death and gore to satisfy many horror fans. There's a whole season dedicated to werewolves as well.
Supernatural (2005- )
About to head into its 13th season, Supernatural is currently the CW's longest running series. The show follows two brothers who lost their mother to a supernatural force. The two join forces and hunt down monsters and other things that go bump in the night. If crazy monsters are your thing, then Supernatural is right up your alley.
Black Mirror (2011- )
Charlie Brooker's Channel 4 series--which now airs on Netflix--isn't about terrifying monsters or supernatural forces. It centers around technology that isn't too far off in the future and how it can change our lives for better or worse. Whether it's being hunted by a man in a black mask with a rifle (seen above) or being trapped inside a horror video game with no way out, Black Mirror plays to our deepest fears without the cheap jump scares.
Good luck sleeping tonight after seeing the picture of The Host from X-Files. While the Fox series primarily focused on government conspiracies, the show was filled with terrifying moments and monsters, like the 1996 episode "Home," which followed the inbred Peacock family and is by far the most disturbing episode of the series.
Stranger Things (2016- )
Season 1 of Stranger Things took the world by storm, following a group of kids during the '80s who are trying to find their missing friend, who is trapped in the Upside Down. With Season 2 coming to Netflix on October 27, fans can't wait to see what terrifying monsters the creators have in store for them next.
Showtime and Sky's series Penny Dreadful took well-known literary characters and presented them in a whole new, terrifying light. The series featured Dorian Grey, Dracula, Van Helsing, and more exploring the dark origins in Victorian England. Sadly, the series came to an abrupt end after Season 3, but luckily for you, every episode is currently on Netflix.
Channel Zero (2016- )
Syfy's Channel Zero was born out of creepypasta horror stories, and each season adapts one of the stories for television. The series has a dark tone that is frightening and unsettling. While Season 2 is currently adapting the story "No-End House," it's hard to forget the toothkid--seen above--that appeared in Season 1, "Candle Cove."
The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)
The first successful horror television series was CBS's The Twilight Zone, which originally ran for five seasons. Each episode featured a new story weaving fantasy, science-fiction, and horror together. The series had some iconic television moments, like a man seeing a monster on the wing of his plane.
Hannibal (2013-2015)
While Season 4 of the series isn't a sure thing yet, NBC's Hannibal took the lovable cannibal from Silence of the Lambs to give him a different type of origin story. Hannibal is a psychiatrist who manipulates the FBI--by working with them--so they don't find out he's actually a cannibalistic serial killer.
The Walking Dead (2010- )
AMC's The Walking Dead is one of the best revivals of the zombie genre. Based on the Skybound/Image comic series, the series follows Rick Grimes and his counterparts, as they traverse a world where zombies have destroyed mankind. The horror doesn't always come from the zombies though. It stems from mankind's struggle to survive in a wasteland, which usually leads to people committing horrific crimes.
American Horror Story (2011- )
Finally, there is FX's American Horror Story. Each season tells a different terrifying tale, featuring the same cast as brand-new characters. The series has covered ghosts, aliens, witches, and even freakshows in the past. Currently, the series title "Cult" is airing, which involves a whole lot of clowns.
Most horror franchises quickly run out of ideas, and there are very few that have made it past two or three parts without a major drop in quality. The Chucky series is the big exception. Cult of Chucky is the latest movie in the killer-doll franchise, which started back in 1988 with the cult smash Child's Play. Seven films later, creator Don Mancini is still finding new ways to keep the franchise fresh, with each movie changing settings, style, actors, and story, but all anchored by the iconic, foul-mouthed murderous doll at the center.
Mancini, who also directed episodes of TV's Hannibal and is a producer on the horror anthology show Channel Zero, has written every Chucky movie since 1988 and directed the last three. The 54-year-old filmmaker explained that changing the formula each time is the key to the franchise's ongoing success.
"I always want to do something different," he told GameSpot. "I don't want to make the same movie over and over again. I'm interested in what's going on with these characters and what would be an interesting new story to tell with them. So, that's how I proceed. I'm very inspired by the characters, and I'm also very inspired by the actors that are playing them."
"To me, sequels are unique opportunities," he continued. "Any good narrative is about subverting expectation. And I think that sequels provide a unique opportunity to do that, because people come with a lot of expectations based on what they have seen before. So, that gives me a unique opportunity to surprise them."
Brad Dourif (who played Grima Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings) has provided the voice of Chucky from the very first Child's Play. Since 1998, he has been joined in three movies by Jennifer Tilly, as Chucky's bride Tiffany, while Dourif's daughter Fiona stars in both Cult and 2013's Curse of Chucky. Mancini recognizes that the strength of his cast is a hugely important element.
"One of the cool things about having a franchise is that I am writing to specific actors," he explained. "We're are really lucky with Brad and Jennifer--both Oscar nominees. Fiona is amazing. Since we worked together the first time on Curse of Chucky, she's really starting to break out."
Mancini explained that he doesn't start writing a new Chucky movie until he knows that the key cast members are available. "They definitely have to be locked in," he said. "We have to know that this is going to work with these specific actors. But that is nine-tenths of the fun, because these are the same actors that have been doing these roles for many films and many decades."
As for Chucky himself, it's impressive that in an age of extensive, increasingly affordable digital effects, Mancini has resisted turning the doll into a CGI creation. The director admits that animatronics are a vital part of the character's appeal, and the one time he did go the digital route wasn't exactly popular with fans.
"On the last movie [Curse of Chucky], I did one CG shot of Chucky," he said. "It was something we had shot with the puppet, but it was the one shot that didn't work. Since it was a shot that was kind of in shadow, we thought we would get away with it. But the fans zeroed in on it, they spotted it, and they hated it. So, lessoned learned, never again."
"I also think it is important for the actors to have something tangible on set," he continued. "So, Chucky is on set. He is a character who is performing right there in the scene with Fiona, Jennifer, and all of them."
Cult of Chucky shifts the setting to a psychiatric hospital, where Fiona's character has been incarcerated after she is framed for murder by Chucky and Tiffany. Mancini explained that a decision was made to build a hospital set rather than film in a real one.
"We built all of that," he said. "I wouldn't have wanted to shoot in a real hospital, just because aesthetically, I wanted to push the stylization of it. The aesthetics of the movies are another thing I want to do differently every time. On Curse, we had done the gothic vibe with that house, but I didn't want to go that route with the asylum. I wanted to do something very modernist and minimalist."
Mancini went on to state that, with this new movie, his influences were more the surrealist horror of directors such as Brian De Palma, Dario Argento, and Mario Bava, rather than the slasher movies to which the Chucky movies are often compared.
"My interest in the horror genre, it's not gritty horror movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre," he said. "Those are great and have their indispensable place in the genre, but for me personally, that's not what motivates me creatively. I'm much more about finding the perverse beauty in horror."
Finally, Mancini revealed that Chucky very nearly had a different name. "In my original script [for Child's Play], Chucky was named Buddy," he said. "This was when I wrote it in the mid-'80s. But it turns out there was a doll on the market called My Buddy, that I was not familiar with that at the time. So, the name was originally Buddy, but I think Chucky is better. Because Chucky phonetically has the consonants with 'Ch' and 'K,' and Chucky sounds violent. Chucky to me sounds like the sound of a knife plunging into a pumpkin and pulling out. Or a body!"
Cult of Chucky is now available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Video on Demand.
In honor of Rick And Morty Season 3 Finale, we're giving away a Weaponized RickFunko Pop! One (1) winner will be chosen after the giveaway closes on Sunday, October 8th at 12:00PM PT.
Open to US residents only, void where prohibited.
Enter below (the additional entries are optional to increase your chances of winning):
By Anonymous on Oct 07, 2017 06:30 am From Alien to The Thing, there were a ton of films referenced in the first season of Stranger Things! Here are our top 6 favorite movie references from season one. (Brought to you by The Evil Within 2)
By Anonymous on Oct 07, 2017 06:30 am We finally unchain Joey from his desk, but he continues to play Cuphead, beating all the bosses in World 1 on Expert Mode with an S-Rank.
By Anonymous on Oct 07, 2017 06:30 am Check out this mission from Assassin's Creed: Origins that has us sneaking around and stealing boats! Also murder!
To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of The Witcher franchise, we've teamed up with J!NX to give away five (5) $100 Giftcards to use towards their new The Witcher 3 apparel and accessories collection! Scroll down to enter below.
Entry is open to US residents, void where prohibited. Competition ends on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 at 5:00PM PT. Five winners will be contacted via email.
J!NX has released an epic loot chest to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of The Witcher franchise. See their new collection:
Enter below (the additional entries are optional to increase your chances of winning):
By Anonymous on Oct 07, 2017 05:30 am Rise of the Tomb Raider is getting a ton of enhancements when the Xbox One X launches. Check out some of the best-looking tombs yet!
In case you haven't heard, Cuphead is a very difficult game. From dodging numerous projectiles to making challenging jumps, this throwback run-n-gun shooter puts players through its paces when guiding the titular character through the many challenges that come his way. Despite the overwhelming obstacles--and the ensuing frustration--Cuphead is a game that greatly rewards patience and perseverance. And when you're finally able to clear through a tough boss after dozens of tries, you'll get a feeling of satisfaction that not many games will be able to match.
We at GameSpot have spent many hours with the game, and we're ready to share the fruits of labor. With each of the bosses having their own unique strategies and quirks, simply getting through them on the normal setting can be difficult enough. But we've gone the extra mile and cleared through the entire game on the Expert mode with no damage sustained during each battle. Check back with us for updates on this guide, along with a complete no-damage run of the final boss.
Get a taste of Square Enix's arcade racing game Gravel with an exclusive look at its Cross Country, Wild Rush, Speed Cross, and Stadium modes.
From Alien to The Thing, there were a ton of films referenced in the first season of Stranger Things! Here are our top 6 favorite movie references from season one. (Brought to you by The Evil Within 2)
We finally unchain Joey from his desk, but he continues to play Cuphead, beating all the bosses in World 1 on Expert Mode with an S-Rank.
Check out this mission from Assassin's Creed: Origins that has us sneaking around and stealing boats! Also murder!
Rise of the Tomb Raider is getting a ton of enhancements when the Xbox One X launches. Check out some of the best-looking tombs yet!
It's not all fun and games in this PlayStation VR experience--we'll have to battle a real beast of a fish too!
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