Big news coming from an exclusive with IGN this morning-not one, but TWO games based on John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN are currently being developed by Boss Games (Evil Dead: The Game). One of those which is still in early development is being created in Unreal Engine 5 with oversight from the master of horror himself, John Carpenter. Both games are being released in association with Compass International Pictures and Further Front.
According to the announcement, both games will allow players to “relive moments from the film and play as classic characters from one of the most iconic and important horror films of all time.”
Boss Team Games CEO Steve Harris added, “Everyone at Boss Team Games are huge fans of horror, and Halloween obviously holds a special place in the hearts of all horror fans. Getting to work with iconic characters like Michael Myers and build on John Carpenter’s original vision is literally a dream come true. Everyone at Boss Team is thrilled and honored to be working with Malek Akkad and John Carpenter to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience that fans of the movie and video games will love.”
John Carpenter adds, “As a huge gamer myself, I’m thrilled to help bring Michael Myers to life again in this game, and my hope is to scare you silly,” said Carpenter, who is “intimately involved” with the project.”
Over the last few years, popular horror films and franchises have been getting the video game treatment with enthusiasm from fans, but it’s certainly not a new thing; and this isn’t Myers’ first rodeo with being thrown into the gaming world.
Back in 1983, Myers would become immortalized in his very first video game released by the Atari 2600 titled simply, HALLOWEEN. However, Myers never passed the 8-bit stage until the PC fan-regulated game TERRORDROME hit the web, and then Myers making his way into DEAD BY DAYLIGHT. So while the likes of Jason, Leatherface, and even the Killer Klowns from Outer Space have gotten their own games in the last few years, it’s been long overdue for Myers to rise out of 8bit hell to finally get his updated gamer dues.
Hopefully, however, they’ll give a nod to the original 1983 Wizard game and if decapitated by Myers, you’ll be falling around the screen like a headless chicken. Because that was hilarious.
No release dates have been announced as of yet, so stay tuned as more details emerge!
Horror movie sequels, prequels, and remakes are a dime a dozen and in 2024, have become an overly saturated part of the genre. Sometimes it’s good, Sometimes, not so much. And sometimes the film even surpasses its predecessor in terms of quality. Recently, a local magazine in my hometown, Vegas Insider, ran a data analysis on a supercomputer on the extension films on approximately 361 horror movies including, Alien, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Jaws, Scream, Saw, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser just to name a few. And because it is Vegas after all, they were assigned points by the supercomputer based on their worldwide box office reported gross, user reviews score, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic score as well as the estimated return on investment. In the points analysis, 1 point was given to the sequel/prequel/remake/revival which had a higher performance than the first movie in the given franchises in the following categories: Rotten Tomatoes score, IMDb rating, Metacritic score, reported worldwide gross and an estimated ROI.
So who made it out on top? Let’s take a look!
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
The most successful franchise continuation when the estimated return on investment is considered is Paranormal Activity 2 (2010). On a budget of 3 million dollars, it grossed 177.5 million dollars, thus an ROI of, 5817%.
The top 5 of the most successful ROI franchise continuations are:
2. Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) ROI 4040%, Paranormal Activity universe
3. Annabelle (2014) ROI 3862%, The Conjuring universe
4. Saw II (2005) ROI 3593%, Saw universe
5. Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) ROI 3138%, Insidious franchise
USER RATING
When looking strictly at the highest-rated continuations of horror franchises, the movie with the highest IMDb user rating is Aliens (1986), which has a user rating of 8.4/10, only 0.1 point lower score than the 1979 Alien.
The rest of the top 5 of the highest-rated horror continuations are:
2. Dawn of the Dead (1978) – 7.8 rating, George Romero’s Dead series
3. Evil Dead II (1987) – 7.7 rating, Evil Dead series
4. The Fly (1986) 7.6 rating – remake of The Fly
5. Army of Darkness (1992) 7.4 rating, Evil Dead Series
CRITIC REVIEWS
The top 5 horror continuations with the highest Rotten Tomatoes score are:
Creep 2 (2017) – 100% score, sequel of Creep (2014)
Slumber Party Massacre (2021) – 100% score, remake of the 1982 version
Aliens (1986) – 98% score, sequel of Alien (1979)
Prey (2022) – 94% score, prequel of Predator (1987)
The Fly (1986) – 93% score, remake of the 1958 version
On Metacritic, the top 5 horror continuations with the highest score are:
Aliens (1986) – 84 score, sequel of Alien (1979)
The Fly (1986) – 81 score, remake of the 1958 version
28 Weeks Later (2007) – 78 score, sequel of 28 Days Later (2002)
Pearl (2022) – 76 score, prequel of X (2022)
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) – 76 score, second movie in the Cloverfield franchise
WORLDWIDE GROSS
Even though the budget and gross of the 1990 TV Mini-Series “IT” is not known, as it was a television event, it can be safe to say that the 2017 remake of “IT” surpassed the success of the first adaptation, grossing over 704 million dollars and becoming the highest-grossing horror movie of all time. It is also the highest-grossing horror remake ever.
When only the total worldwide gross is considered, the remaining highest-grossing franchise continuations that make up the top 4 are:
It Chapter 2 (2019, gross: 473 million dollars, IT franchise),
Prometheus (2012, gross: 403 million dollars, Alien franchise)
The Nun (2018, gross: 366 million dollars, Conjuring universe).
However, when looking strictly at the difference in total worldwide gross of a franchise’s first movie and its continuations where box office numbers are known (since it was not known for 1990’s It), the most successful franchise continuation is the 2012 prequel to the legendary Alien – Prometheus (2012).
Alien (1979) was a box office success of its own, grossing 108.5 million dollars on a budget of 11 million dollars, however, Prometheus reportedly grossed over 403 million dollars, thus grossing 294.5 million more than the first movie in the Alien franchise. Its worldwide gross of over 400 million also makes it the most successful horror prequel ever made.
OVERALL POINTS
According to the results of a points-based system, which was assigning 1 point to the movies that performed better than the first movie in their respective horror franchises, the supercomputer determined that the most successful horror sequels / prequels / remakes / reboots / spin-offs ever are:
DRUMROLL PLEASE!
Evil Dead II (1987) and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)!
When it comes to Evil Dead 2, it performed better than The Evil Dead (1981) in 4 areas: total worldwide gross, Metacritic score, Rotten Tomatoes score, and IMDb rating score, thus gaining 4 points in total.
Hail to the king, baby. I’m not going to argue with that!
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) also outperformed Cloverfield (2008) on 4 metrics, thus gaining 4 points: Metacritic score, Rotten Tomatoes score, IMDb ratings score, and Estimated return on investment.
Well, that didn’t take very long! It’s been public knowledge for some time that in January 2024, Mickey Mouse’s first short, “STEAMBOAT WILLIE” and his likeness would enter the public domain; opening the beloved mouse up for a shitload of fuckery to be had with us, the public. Not even 24 hours into 2024, the first horror movie starring the creepy, early version of the mouse has been announced with a trailer attached!
Magnificent.
The horror comedy thriller MICKEY’S MOUSE TRAP directed by Jamie Bailey stars Sophie McIntosh, Callum Sywyk, Allegra Nocita, Ben Harris, Damir Kovic, Mackenzie Mills, Nick Biskupek and Simon Phillips. Bailey states, ““We just wanted to have fun with it all.I mean, it’s Steamboat Willie’s Mickey Mouse murdering people. It’s ridiculous. We ran with it and had fun doing it and I think it shows”
The film’s basic plot: It’s Alex’s 21st Birthday, but she’s stuck at the amusement arcade on a late shift so her friends decide to surprise her, but a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse decides to play a game of his own with them which she must survive.
The film itself is still awaiting a confirmed release date – but is expected in March 2024. In the meantime, enjoy this wild as fuck trailer!
