Video gamemoviesused to have quite a bad reputation, and considering the painful missed opportunities of many earlier entries in the genre, it’s easy to see why. Between the success of films likeThe Super Mario Bros. Movie,Five Night’s at Freddy’s, andtheSonic the Hedgehogtrilogy, it’s safe to say that the supposed “video game curse” once said to plague movie adaptations has been definitively lifted. But there are still plenty of examples of terrible video game movies that could’ve been so much more.
Some video game movies were destined to be failures from the very beginning, with concepts that would have been next to impossible to make work. For instance, theinfamous live-actionSuper Mario Bros.from 1993was a terrible idea from the start, as attempting to portray a world as dreamy and bizarre as Mario’s with real people wasn’t a smart play. But plenty of other bad video game movies could have been so much better than they actually turned out if only the source material was better respected.
10Alone In The Dark
Butchered a chance at recognition
ConsideringAlone in the Darkis the progenitor of the survival horror genre, with famous games likeSilent HillandtheResident Evilseriespractically owing their existence to it, it’s surprising that it isn’t a more talked-about title in video game pop culture. On the cutting edge of elements like fixed cameras from multiple third-person perspectives and weight-based inventory management, the series eventually soft-rebooted withAlone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.This game was then, in turn, adapted by the infamous Uwe Boll, whose name will come up often in the conversation of bad video game movies.
Alone in the Darkisn’t just one of the worst video game adaptations, but one of the worst movies ever made in general. For one, the movie, more-or-less, completely started from scratch story-wise compared to the game it’s supposedly based on, taking place in a museum rather than a manor on an isolated jungle island. The goofy creature SFX, horrible performances, and utter lack of imagination putAlone in the Darkon a rare level of bad compared to the beloved game it could’ve taken more inspiration from.
9Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
Whitewashed and bland
The reboot of the 90s platformer seriesPrince of PersiawithPrince of Persia: The Sands of Timeis one of the most successful brand makeovers in video game history. The move to 3-D for the Arabian-inspired sword-and-sandal series came with a new mechanic centered around the titular Sands of Time, allowing players to rewind time itself for a few seconds upon making a mistake. Sadly, this re-branding was ruined by the mediocre film adaptation in 2010, which failed on a multitude of levels.
For one, casting Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular prince rather than an actor of actual Iranian descent whitewashed the story. Moreover, Gyllenhaal’s heart clearly wasn’t in the project, sleepwalking his way through a variety of CGI spectacles that would’ve been elevated with a proper casting choice.Prince of Persia: The Sands of Timewas meant to be the start of aPirates of the Caribbean-esque swashbuckling trilogy, but because of this fundamental miscast, the film was bound to slip through the sands of time unnoticed.
8Max Payne
A terrible blow to Mark Wahlberg’s career
TheMax Paynemovie is a sort of pop-culture ouroboros, a movie based on a game that was itself heavily inspired by a movie. TheMax Paynegames took the “bullet time” slow-motion style of action firefights popularized byThe Matrixand made it a central gameplay mechanic, allowing players to dramatically and slowly fling themselves through the air while firing dual-wielded pistols. All the carnage is set against the backdrop of a simple but effective revenge story, laying down some good bones for a solid action flick.
Mark Wahlberg’sMax Paynein 2008 had the chance to beJohn Wickbefore the firstJohn Wickever came out, combining slick and stylish gunfights with soapy revenge drama. While the film did get across some of the former, the latter was obscured by bizarre story decisions such as moving the game’s opening scene to take place in the middle of the film. Worst of all, Wahlberg’s wooden performance slaughtered any aspirations the film had for being taken seriously, earning him his secondRazzie nomination for worst actorof the year alongsideThe Happening.
7Borderlands
Valued star power over game accuracy
Despite its over-the-top violence, basic first-person shooter gameplay and childish sense of humor, theBorderlandsseries could have actually made for an interesting movie. The sci-fi premise of an abandoned mining planet left to become a post-apocalyptic wasteland only to attract attention again once valuable alien technology is discovered might’ve made for an interesting dark comedy. Sadly, theBorderlandsfilm has some of the most flagrant disrespect for its source material of any video game adaptation ever.
For one, the film totally mixed and matched the timeline of the series into a wholly different order with no regard to the pre-established lore, flipping around characters, organizations, and relationships however it saw fit. Casting the 5'5" jokester Kevin Hart as the quiet, courageous super soldier Roland was also a horrific mistake, and Jack Black didn’t even attempt to mime Claptrap’s iconic chipper robot voice. Essentially an entirely new story, theBorderlandsmovie has nothing in common with the games save for a few proper nouns.
6House Of The Dead
Butchered an iconic first-person shooter series
Creating agood zombie moviebased off ofHouse of the Deadshouldn’t have been hard, yet Uwe Boll struggled with the concept all the same. The originalHouse of the Deadis perhaps the single most iconic light-gun arcade shooters of all time, credited with re-popularizing zombies in video games along with zombies in pop culture in general thanks to its success. Despite the simple fun of the first-person shooter, the game has a surprisingly elaborate plot regarding a mad scientist who crafts a variety of horrific undead creatures in addition to simple zombies.
Sadly, Uwe Boll once again threw out a pre-existing story to focus on his own bland ideas instead, following a group of friends who go to a rave only to find that all the attendees have been killed or zombified. With such a lean budget, Boll wasn’t able to approach any of the creative monster designs Sega put forth in the original game. All that’s left is a generic zombie movie with unintentionally-funny scares, cheap shock value, and generic characters.
5Assassin’s Creed
Missed a golden opportunity for a franchise
TheAssassin’s Creedgames seem as perfect for a film adaptation as any video game series could be. Ubisoft’s stealth-action touchstone is a series of period pieces, with almost every game taking place in a new era of history, describing the centuries-old feud between the Knights of the Templar and the Assassin Brotherhood. The early games used the framing device of the Animus machine, a device that allowed users to experience the memories of their distant ancestors.
Interestingly enough, theAssassin’s Creedmovie adaptation opted to tell another story set in the same universe rather than simply re-hash the events of the first game, though this decision may have been to the film’s detriment. Far too much time was dedicated to the modern day storyline, which was dropped from the main games for a reason, easily being the least interesting thing about the series as a whole. It’s too bad thatAssassin’s Creedfumbled the chance at putting together a series of period piece action movies that explored a new chapter in history with each film.
4Rampage
Missed a chance to bring the original’s humor to life
Another venerated arcade classic,Rampageis an irreverent game series that hands players control of giant animalistic monsters, encouraging them to bring as much destruction as possible to a series of buildings. The original arcade cabinet didn’t have much plot to speak of, but later additions to the series came up with fun ideas from the monsters fending off an alien invasion and continuing their rampage into space to a soda company whose products transform unwitting consumers into giant animals at an unprecedented rate. 2018’sRampageincluded none of these.
Rather than having humans morph into the classic monsters,Rampageinstead simply had normal animals mutate into the beasts. The film carried over none of the games' charming dark humor, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson put in as generic a performance as ever as primatologist David Okoye. Making afun kaiju moviefeaturing transforming humans might have been a novel idea, butRampagesquandered it in favor of a weirdly melodramatic disaster film.
3Doom
Yet another video game dud from The Rock
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson seems to have a talent for spoiling what could have been fun video game adaptations. The originalDoomis one of the most influential Western video games of all time, responsible for popularizing the first-person shooter genre alongsideWolfenstein 3D.The original game puts players in the boots of a lone space marine deployed to Mars as punishment only to find himself up against a legion of demonic invaders.
Doommight not be the most story-rich game, with programmer John Romero famously stating “Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It’s expected to be there, but it’s not that important.” in a book describing the game’s development. However, the film still missed the mark on the atmosphere and violence of the game, despite the creative first-person segments. Between its lifeless performances and an overall sense of disinterest from all those involved,Doomwould be a very different movie if it came out today.
2Far Cry
One of the worst flops from Uwe Boll ever
Yet another of Uwe Boll’s disastrous video game adaptations,Far Cryis seldom even remembered to have a film adaptation by even the most die-hard fans. While each title in theFar Cryseries tells a new story of some lone hero braving danger and bad guys in a remote wilderness setting, the first game tells the tale of an American special forces commando who goes on a one-man mission to a mysterious island in order to stop the plans of a mad scientist. Surprisingly for Boll, his film adaptation followed these events somewhat closely.
However, that is where the praise for 2008’sFar Crybegins and ends. The boring action and lack of intrigue compared to the game ensured thatFar Crywas a massive financial failure, making under $800,000 at the box office against a budget of $30 million. Because of this, it’s a shame that aFar Cryanthology film series was never able to manifest in a similar way that the games have progressed.
1Silent Hill: Revelation
Made a joke out of iconic horror characters
Silent Hilland especiallySilent Hill 2are some of the most revered names in the horror video game genre, proving the capability of the medium as a genuine tool for storytelling as well as a way to deliver bone-chilling scares in a way no movie can. The franchise received two film adaptations, with both being undwhelming to say the least, butSilent Hill: Revelationis a particular sore spot. The film’s first major mistake was to build on the previous movie without directly adapting a specific game in the series.
While the games are better known for slowly cultivating a sense of psychological dread,Silent Hill: Revelationsettled for cheap jump scares and grimy snuff film aesthetics that were an obvious attempt to mimic the success of films likeSaw. Even more insulting was the use of series staple Pyramid Head, an iconic villain who was made into a joke by the movie’s poor direction. Hopefully,the upcomingReturn to Silent Hill, which aims to directly adaptSilent Hill 2, can do the video game justice with a propermovieadaptation.
