Possible Doom Movie Reboot in 3D

[geo]

So even if they reboot it might be worse :-)

Actually... what does everyone want to see for a Doom movie?

[imp1979]

Demons. Super-gore. Demons. Imps, hellknights, arachnotrons, barons of hell, spider masterminds, cyberdemons, cacodemons, lost souls, etc, all brought to life on the big screen. But somehow make it not corny. Come to think of it, that seems impossible.

[Megamur]

geo said:

So even if they reboot it might be worse :-)

Worse than a sequel to that train wreck? Unlikely.

Actually... what does everyone want to see for a Doom movie?

Much more emphasis on shotguns, actual demons from Hell, fireballs, Cacodemons, a Cyberdemon, more first-person stuff, more weirdness (like hallucinations or flesh growing out of walls), seeing the BFG being used properly and wasting a huge squadron of baddies with one shot (seriously, do a scene with a visible wave of tracer damage smashing through the enemy forces. It'd be awesome), fewer characters/more loneliness--etc., etc.

[elic]

geo said:

Actually... what does everyone want to see for a Doom movie?

Any scene from the Doom comic recreated on the big screen would make the film an instant win, regardless of how good the rest is.

[geo]

^^^ someone from Evil Dead might sue then. A lot of those lines were from that movie, but I guess if they never sued Duke, they won't sue Doom.

[Snakes]

Megamur said:

more first-person stuff

I have yet to see this pulled off well. It's either too slow (like in the Doom movie) or too shaky. No one can seem to find a good middle ground there.

If I could be sitting alone in a theater, have the screen go pitch black, and hear the laugh of an arch-vile, I think I'd be satisfied.

[geo]

I thought Quarantine was pulled off well in 1st person, but that's just my opinion. A lot of people hated that movie, except for my friend and I who saw it in the theater.

[Snakes]

geo said:

I thought Quarantine was pulled off well in 1st person, but that's just my opinion. A lot of people hated that movie, except for my friend and I who saw it in the theater.

I liked it better when it was REC... so okay, one has been right.

[geo]

I've heard of Rec and my local blockbuster has it... but I hear its in Spannish. Maybe it might be more terrifying if I don't know what's going on :-) OMG Zombies!

[Technician]

geo said:

but I hear its in Spannish.

God da... if it's in Blockbusters it has subs.

[geo]

Sub titles yes. Dubs no.

I rented Pan's Labarynth years after it came out on DVD. I remember one of the employees saying he thought I'd like it. When I rented it, I tried to return it for the English copy... but alas, its only in a different language.

[DoomUK]

Coincidentally I started watching [REC] with the English dubbed audio track enabled until about 15 minutes in. It turned a horror movie into a comedy.

If you can't handle subtitles, don't watch non-English movies.

[Alfonzo]

Snakes said:

If I could be sitting alone in a theater, have the screen go pitch black, and hear the laugh of an arch-vile, I think I'd be satisfied.

Yes! Brilliant! I can picture it now...

A sudden blackout. The Arch-vile laughs once. After about 6 or so seconds, and in complete silence, we see the glow of a distant flame illuminating a far away wall. The screams of the unfortunate victim only become audible as he rounds the corner, ravaged in blinding fire and flailing his arms wildly.
Then, in quick, fluid succession, the screaming stops, DSFLAMST is played in 32-bit sound, the fire is consumed, and the air surrounding the man explodes. His body chars instantly with the detonation, and is sent sprawling to one side at roughly 90° from the direction he was running in, remaining intact until it hits the far wall, at which point it collapses into a bale of ash and is rushed away in the draught. Much like a snowball after the moment of impact.

And then... In a cherry toppingly awesome aftershot, the Arch-vile is seen cracking its knuckles and slinking down the stairwell.

Perfect.

[Clonehunter]

st.alfonzo said:

And then... In a cherry toppingly awesome aftershot, the Arch-vile is seen cracking its knuckles and slinking down the stairwell.

Perfect.

That would be the most corny movie ever.

[Alfonzo]

what does everyone want to see for a Doom movie?

That would be the most corny movie ever.

Cha-ching! I imagine my perfect Doom film to be both gruesomely sadistic and laugh out loud corny, because the two complement each other rather well in film. Doom always had a massive element of humour about it from the cheesy Cacodemon grins right down to the Revenant punching sounds, and any film that misses this element of the game out is missing the mark entirely. At least that's how I see it anyway!

[lupinx-Kassman]

st.alfonzo said:

Cha-ching! I imagine my perfect Doom film to be both gruesomely sadistic and laugh out loud corny, because the two complement each other rather well in film. Doom always had a massive element of humour about it from the cheesy Cacodemon grins right down to the Revenant punching sounds, and any film that misses this element of the game out is missing the mark entirely. At least that's how I see it anyway!

A doom movie that felt like a spiritual sequel to the second evil dead movies probably would seriously rock...to me and a select few anyway. Somehow I doubt it would make much money though.

[Lorenzo]

st.alfonzo said:

Doom always had a massive element of humour

To say the true, I never found any humor in DooM...

[Mithran Denizen]

I thought the bunny at the end of Inferno was pretty funny, and even moreso with the cheesy E4 ending. The zombie noises also seem pretty campy. And then the comic came along...

[Antroid]

Lorenzo said:

To say the true, I never found any humor in DooM...

Same here. I suppose revenant's punching sounds are goofy, as may be a few other details, but i personally never found anything in doom funny.
Doom 3, even though i really like it, was funnier because of Betruger's constant cheesy taunts.
For the movie, I think there should be an appropriate feeling of despair, madness (in the environment mostly! who wouldn't like some doom-style abstract creepy hell locations?), and, well, doom. Maybe it's just because that's how i felt playing it as a kid when i sucked.

[Marnetmar]

Lorenzo said:

To say the true, I never found any humor in DooM...

Romero's head.

[SYS]

geo said:

^^^ someone from Evil Dead might sue then. A lot of those lines were from that movie, but I guess if they never sued Duke, they won't sue Doom.

Duke was also inspired by "They Live." I say inspired because they rephrased it:

[printz]

Lorenzo said:

To say the true, I never found any humor in DooM...

Not even infighting?

[elic]

Yeah, when I think Doom, humor never really comes to mind.

Marnetmar said:

Romero's head.

That's more of an Easter Egg, so it doesn't really count.

[Alfonzo]

Perhaps "massive element of humour" was a bit of an overstatement, but if we're talking about Doom reboots and the sort of audience it might attract, then the distance in time between any upcoming film and the 10th of December 1993 means that to most people - never mind those in the community - Doom has become something sacred; swathed in nostalgia and memories both scary and sweet. The film, therefore, should really do its best to set itself apart from something that might be considered standard issue in action or horror, to really capitalize on that nostalgia and make it feel unique.

Of course, this isn't to say that the film must be funny to succeed. Having some element of humour certainly would help, I feel, but the most striking characteristics in Doom are the ones that set it apart from other games: demons enhanced through biological engineering, for one, are mostly unheard of. And in space no less!

What I think we really need, the silliness of my previous scene aside, is a film which has:

• An almost laughably simple plot which is established quickly and not worked upon too greatly for most of the film, so as to focus on the action and the action alone. Without going into detail, Taken is an example of a film that does this well.
• Demons and technology as an overriding theme.
• A mostly steady cam that is used to tie together moments of a more vivacious nature. I feel that the perspective could swing between semi-first person in being more hectic and disorienting and shots of the action itself in a more controlled and visibly accessible manner, allowing the audience to both assess the situation clearly and get that big adrenaline kick while rooting for the Doomguy. Having these rather different visual approaches wrapped around the same scene would allow for some interesting shots that might otherwise seem incoherent or out of place.
• The original game sounds used liberally.
• Fewer protagonists and more demons. It wouldn't have to be 1 vs. All of the Hell, of course, but the sense of being overwhelmed and, well, Doomed, should be prevalent throughout. Moreover, there should be very little characterization beyond what is deemed necessary for the task of slaughtering insurmountable hordes of monsters. The only aspect of character we should be depending on is the steadfast will to destroy, and not, for instance, the ability to distinguish between right or wrong.
• Specific gameplay elements used for greater hilarity and awesomeness. For example: Strafing left, right, then centre back as the Doomguy evades the Mancubus's fireballs, then rushing up with blinding speed and unloading both barrels into his double chin for the killing blow.
• Blinding speed.
• Remixes from the original soundtrack.
• Zombies with guns. Not zombies that shamble uselessly toward the protagonist or run like gazelles. Just zombies that have appalling accuracy and are at the very least equipped with Sig-cow rifles!
• Symbolism which is presented and perhaps indicative, but not explored.
• A scenic round of devastation and cityscape featuring the intermission music from Doom II: d_dm2int.
• "You are here." *Shotgun cocking sound*
• "oremor nhoj em llik tsum uoy emag eht niw ot" sounded in the most distorted and terrifying way imaginable.
• The Doomguy starting off in Hell with only 50 bullets and his pistol, an object which should aim to be in the running for the best supporting role for an inanimate object in a film ever, second only to Wilson the Volleyball and that tape recorder from 1408.
• "RIP AND TEAR YOUR GUTS!" A berserk scene.
• A Doomguy that is subject frequently to pain, but alludes to the audience a sense of immortality because of his determination and speed. Towards he end of the film I imagine that he becomes so engrossed in his battle against Hell and so out of touch with reality that the sorts of punishments he becomes subjected to should by any normal means leave him dead on the floor, a point at which the film really builds upon its more stylistc points; using Hell as a sort of psychotropic drug and his rage as the formula for his almost superhuman state. Think Crank.
• Doomguy being the only one left at the end. Not because everyone has been killed off necessarily, but because he alone made the decision to make the descent and deal with the problem.
• Liberal use of silence.
• Using light as well as darkness as a means to create fear. I'm reminded of the Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth, who's ghastly form is made all the more horrifying in the lightning of his den. Arch-viles, Mabcubi, and Revenants in particular have the sort of ghastly figure and texture about them that might be complemented by such a use of lightning.
• Point blank BFG Cyberdemon crotch shot (TM).

Who would I like to direct such a Doom film? Michael Dougherty, Christopher Smith or Edgar Wright.

[Antroid]

The main character also has to collect tons of helmets and put them all on, and drink from lots of blue bottles, right?
Anyway, i actually would enjoy it a lot if some gameplay elements were used, but of course in a not so blatant way - perhaps only one blue bottle somewhere, or some powerup? Invulnerability or a RadSuit would be nice. Or a color-coded keycard?
And, even better, some level design elements adapted for the movie, as i said earlier.

[imp1979]

I don't want the movie to feel like a video game. Not at all. I want it to be on PAR with aliens but with Demons. Simple as that. Replace the xenomorphs or whatever there name is with imps and various other demons. Towards the end things could get wacky and you start introducing the more radical demons like arachnotrons and revenants.

[Lorenzo]

printz said:

Not even infighting?

Infighting is not humor. Infighting is art.

L.

[geo]

Doom had humor... in the comic stolen straight from Evil Dead. Maybe the true humor of Doom the video game was the fact that the doomguy is really an psychopath escaped from space prison.

Now I'm gonna read St. Alfonzo's post. It looks good.

[Alfonzo]

imp1979 said:

I don't want the movie to feel like a video game. Not at all.

Absolutely agreed! But I think there's a distinction to be made between a film feeling like a videogame to watch and a film which uses aspects of a videogame to create a stylized and intelligent action or horror film. Would you not think it a tremendous waste for a film to take the title of a leading videogame franchise and then ignore all of the elements in gameplay and design that made the game so great? I think it would be better if those elements were somehow transposed into the medium of film, in a bold way, and not coming in second place behind action and horror cliches taken from the success of films before them.

Essentially, the video game genre and the action / horror film genre should be distinct, with the video game genre functioning as a heavily stylized approach to the sort of genre that the game in turn denotes. At the moment, unfortunately, that's something we're seeing very little of when it comes to adaptations.

There are plenty of film ideas yet to take the form of yet another Aliens clone, but there's only one Doom. Use it.

[Clonehunter]

st.alfonzo said:

Who would I like to direct such a Doom film? Michael Dougherty, Christopher Smith or Edgar Wright.

Wright, *******ly.

A smaller cast would be nice too, or at least for the films majority. However, I hate movie endings that are all "Sole Survivor". Mainly because it would kill a good sequel, as I think a good sequel to any movie would return members of the original cast, and not just one of them though to kill off later in the movie (Final Destination and Final Destination 2).

More action would be good, but a good story and something moving is also needed. Perhaps elements from I Am Legend and the whole "You are Alone" thing, or the whole you are "Doomed", now break down, move the audiance, and make yourself a hero.

EDIT: What the fuck? What is that censorship crap up there? Spelling error? It said d-e-f-i-n-a-t-l-y.