Oddly enough, the 3D-animated short film we reported on last week was not made to promote video game, while this week’s live-action short was. Now, before you go thinking we’re just talking about a twelve-minute commercial, understand that Takashi Shimizu’s Nightcry works perfectly well on its own, as piece of short horror fiction, without any knowledge of the game its meant to promote. That said, the video game is a Kickstarter-funded collaboration between film director Shimizu, and game director Hifumi Kono.
You may remember Shimizu as the man behind the Japanese horror franchise (if you’re into such things) Ju-on, or its American remake (if you’re into such things) The Grudge – which Shimizu also directed. The collaboration between game and film director isn’t too odd, considering Kono’s survival-horror series, Clock Tower was heavily inspired by horror films (both Japanese and American).
The Nightcry film features many of Shimizu’s trademarks, including family issues, children in danger, deadly black hair (or hair-like substance), ominous liquid, and supernatural creatures making off-putting human noises. As for Kono, we can only assume he had something to do with the giant scissors.
Check out the film and decide if this is a sad marketing gimmick, or if all video games should have their own accompanying films made by famous directors.
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