Italian psychological horror game Martha Is Dead, set in World War II Tuscany, is to be adapted into a movie.
It’s generally the biggest videogame franchises that get adapted into movies – see Sonic The Hedgehog or last year’s unexpectedly huge The Super Mario Bros. Movie – so it’s refreshing to see something from the independent end of the industry get the large-screen treatment.
Italian developer LKA and publisher Wired Productions have announced that they’ve signed a deal with Swedish production company Studios Extraordinaires to make a feature-length adaptation of the former’s 2022 psychological horror, Martha Is Dead.
Set in Tuscany towards the end of World War II, the game is a first-person experience about atmosphere and discovery rather than bashing monsters over the head with a stick. Its protagonist is Guilia, a young photographer whose twin sister is found dead near her grandmother’s rural home. With camera in hand, Guilia attempts to find out who killed her sibling – an investigation that causes her to delve deeper into her own past and its traumatic after-effects.
Martha Is Dead will be directed by André Hedetoft and Andreas Troedsson, and it sounds like it’ll be quite an intimate production given that Hedetoft will also write the adapted screenplay while Troedsson will double as its cinematographer.
It’ll be intriguing to see how closely the film adapts the videogame’s events, particularly given the latter sparked a bit of controversy in 2022 for its graphic violence. It certainly sounds as though the directors will remain faithful to their source material, though, if a recent statement is anything to go by.
“Martha Is Dead is a narrative masterpiece, expertly weaving a spellbinding murder mystery from a young woman’s perspective in a way that’s never been done before,” the pair wrote. “We’re eager to bring this haunting tale to life, offering both fans and newcomers a cinematic tour-de-force, while staying true to the game’s soul-stirring essence.”
There’s no word on who’ll appear in the adaptation or when filming will get underway. We’ll bring you more as we hear it.
