Lionsgate has snapped up the rights and is set to turn the pant-wettingly scary survival horror title Outlast into a film.
Being Halloween today (assuming you’re reading these words on the 31st October), it feels right to see at least one film announcement that fits the tone of the spookiest day on the calendar (unless you have a phobia about Christmas).
Lionsgate, then, has revealed that a film adaptation of Outlast is on the way. Per Bloody Disgusting's report, Canadian videogame developer Red Barrels – the team responsible for the survival horror series – is teaming up with the studio behind John Wick to try to emulate the scares that the game has been renowned for since its release over a decade ago.
Make no mistake, Outlast is a terrifying game, using a blend of first-person perspective and night vision lighting (for which there is never enough batteries) to limit the player’s sensory awareness in a way that is incredibly unnerving. Outside of the VR versions of the first-person Resident Evil games, there isn’t much to match it in terms of the fear factor the games create, but if the film can even come close then it will surely be a hit with horror fans.
The first game released in 2013, and followed a journalist as he foolishly left his desk (journalists: never leave your desks) to investigate a remote asylum – only to find that the patients had taken over.
JT Petty, one of the lead writers on the game series, is penning the screenplay, while Roy Thomas, veteran horror producer of horror flicks such as It and Barbarian is also on board. Lionsgate will no doubt already be thinking about the potential for sequels and spin-offs as the studio looks to shore up its existing franchises. The studio already has the Saw series of horror films, with Saw XI set to arrive next year.
Given that the Saw series has already hit double figures since the first film debuted in 2004, Lionsgate will be all too aware that it needs fresh and successful new horror titles to build new franchises. There are several Outlast games released (when you include additional downloadable content) and as such, the series already has that potential to be spun out across several films if the team behind the first film can create something that lands with horror fans.
We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it.