It’s common knowledge that John Carpenter, the maestro of spooky, enjoys playing video games. He was a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog back when it was published in 1992 and has since played a wide variety of games, both classic and cutting-edge, adored and loathed. Carpenter sat down with The A.V. Club to talk about his favourite games of the year, scoring Halloween Ends, and the franchise he’d like to see brought to the big screen that he hasn’t yet gotten the chance to Dead Space. To find out what happened to the mining ship USG Ishimura and, more especially, his girlfriend Nicole, a senior medical officer on board the ship, the protagonist of the first Dead Space, an FPS released in 2008 and set in the far future of 2508, explores the ship and its environs.
But when he and his crew crash-land on the ship, they find it infested with Necromorphs, twisted Cronenberg-style undead bent on infecting or killing anything that moves. Isaac must now navigate the ship, full of dangerous animals, in search of replacement components for the Kellion. Two sequels, a spinoff, a comic adaptation, and two animated films were all spawned from the original game’s terrible atmosphere, which blended aspects of cosmic horror and religion centred around the game’s nightmare Necromorphs.
In 2013, while the series was still relatively new in people’s imaginations, Carpenter initially voiced his interest in adapting the games into a live-action film for the big screen. He is still interested in seeing it transpire after giving it more thought. When asked if he would ever direct an adaptation of a video game, Carpenter said, “The only one I can think of, and I’ve said it before, is Dead Space.” “I can imagine that being a fantastic film. That’s something I’m capable of.” He also gushed over the remainder of the series, including the critically panned Dead Space 3 “Any of them, frankly, would have done nicely. My favourite is the most unpopular one, the action movie.”
Considering the success of his own alien horror film, The Thing, Carpenter would be an ideal choice to helm a film adaptation of Dead Space, despite the low likelihood of this happening. It’s impossible to see this show and not think about John Carpenter’s Necromorphs in all their incarnations. With Dead Space, he’d be operating in a similar sphere, building suspense from the expectation that something terrible is just around the corner. The film’s only chance of being made is if the new Dead Space game sparks renewed interest in the series. Meanwhile, on October 14, Halloween Ends will be released, concluding Carpenter’s iconic horror saga and depicting the ultimate confrontation between Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her nemesis Michael Myers.
In his leisure time, he has been playing Horizon: Forbidden West, a new release, and Fallout 76, an online role-playing game developed by Bethesda. The filmmaker has made gaming a regular pastime, especially given his diminished involvement in directing films of late. Those who missed out on the sci-fi horror original or who just want to explore the Ishimura may do so on January 27 of next year, when the remake of Dead Space launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.