The Scariest Thing In Hell

Sometimes, panic inducing terrifying can be the unseen nightmares that lurk in the shadows…


Other times, it can just be realizing you’re stuck
with an empty roll of toiler paper in a public bathroom

As I continue to deconstruct Doom: The Dark Ages, in all of it’s meaty glory, I march on myself within the game’s glorious battlefields, fighting hell unending, discovering new insights everyday. I thought for sure I’d have more time today to really dig in deeper to the metaphysics of hell itself, piggybacking off of my last post, but that more thorough theoretical posit will have to wait until tomorrow. Since I am currently short on time, I figure I would just briefly muse upon the notion of how often media properties seem to up the ante as time goes on, in some ways quite understandably so. One must continue to raise the bar, you see, and with a bigger crowd comes more people to please, and this increase in demographics, usually in combination with budget, and the need to big or go home usually has the story reach new scales of impossible standards, with endgame standards being ridiculously demanding.


The Russo Brothers probably got an endless amount
of emails from Disney reminding them they couldn’t afford
to just assemble half of Hollywood everyday for the MCU finale

Another strange happening I find that parallels this same notion in a similar manner is the “despoopifying” of games and movies as any series continues, almost as if the scary gets scared away by crowds itself. Both in the video game realm as it is within cinema, you will see a lot of survival horror and movies of a haunting persuasion that go for suspense or macabre early on that tend to drop the premise in favor of bigger, more explosive set pieces and action extraordinaire. I think there is no end of examples in video games, with Resident Evil being an obvious go to, and I’d say even Silent Hill, maybe perhaps for more rocky behind the scenes then mindful intent, went way harder on the action than sheer atmosphere over time, for better or worse.


Definitely for the worse if sales are anything
to go by. When it rains, it pours

I think within the movie realm, the two most obvious examples to me would definitely be the Alien series, and as a worthy other to mention, The Evil Dead. Endless debates galore usually echo throughout the hallowed halls of cinema fandom as they debate which movie reigns supreme, Alien or Aliens, with most peoples tastes of either action or suspense usually signaling the obvious preference. Not that either are any less than masterclasses in their own respective genres, but most certainly different approaches with the same formula. I cite the latter of my cinematic series as the example in comparison to my citations of Doom, as The Evil Dead series has quite obviously had no shortage of influence over the demonically fueled slaughter-fests the series has been known for.


One would be hard pressed to find a groovier inspiration

Much like Evil Dead though, Doom kind of dropped the more tensely creepy tone early on (and sporadically returned to), trading in methodical isolation against undead hordes for more explosive action. That sense of creeping death atmosphere does tend to flare up from time to time, as we see in minor examples throughout the series. Whether or not it was an enhanced sense of claustrophobia the hallways induced the 3D environment put forth, or indeed a concerted effort to do a proper send up to the original of the series in terms of level layout and aesthetic, Doom 64 kind of resparked the notion Doom could be unsettlingly intimidating, and the game feels decidedly more distinct as a result. Doom 3 very obviously went full gusto with this idea as well, with the darkened corridors of the Mars base giving way to a tense environment and uncertain dread stalking you around every corner.


A hyper advanced Mars base with inter-dimensional
portal capabilities and yet not a single ream of ducttape
kicking around to affix a flashlight to a gun. Scary indeed.

All of this has sadly gone to the wayside, with 2016 only having hints of it, and Eternal straight up going full chaos mode, with Dark Ages maintaining a sense of epic bravado and grandiose presentation with mythical visual trappings following suit. Is the series so divorced from these old school notions of bump in the night sensibilities, that having a Doom that leans more heavily into it’s horror visuals and brooding sense of atmospheric tension feel too off base for the series at this point? Would fans reject the very notion of what Doom would become in this resurrected attempt at going for the gruesome facade or the chance at gripping tension, due to what they perceive as the very DNA of the series being too tampered with? I’m not entirely sure, but I’m guessing since the Doom series will likely go dormant for a time, and lie in wait after the success of this recent trilogy, the whole approach will likely get rejiggered once again, as they will likely have to reimagine just what Doom can be for a new generation.

After all, as the Doom series has proven time and time again, the scariest thing in hell at any given moment is Doomguy/The Slayer…why not really sell the idea with a gratifyingly horror-show design to back up the notion?

The eventual rebirth will leave us with horrifying results either way.

~Pashford