How do you make a Doom film that kicks ass?

[Marnetmar]

I say the movie should be held on modern day Earth, focusing on a pizza boy and a girl who falls in love with a baron.

[Deleted_Account]

The reason that Space Marines are shipped to Offworld colonies is to fend of Space Pirates and Space Terrorists. It's a good thing we have Space Marines at the ready, who knew we'd be attacked by Space Demons. It's especially a good thing that in the 22nd century we have Space Shotguns and Space Chainsaws to fend those unholy bastards off.

I really wish the Doom movie was made a long time ago when the game was still relevant. We could have had Stanley Kubrick write and direct it. On the surface the film would be about Space Marines fighting Space Demons on Mars, but the deeper hidden meaning would really be about John Carmack and John Romero fighting off hordes of whiny fanboys who can't be pleased.

[scifista42]

Marnetmar said:
I say the movie should be held on modern day Earth, focusing on a pizza boy and a girl who falls in love with a baron.

Yes. ;)

[Deleted_Account]

I hope they make a sequel to the Doom movie. I want to see what happens with chromosome 24 next, did it leak out into the general population? Did the Rock really die when he went to hell back on Mars? What kind of demon was he going to mutate into?

[Clonehunter]

Ragnor said:

There can be only one solution. A full length movie adaption of the Doom Comic

With art direction from Rob Liefield and starring Sylvester Stallone. Directed by Uwe Boll.

[Boingo]

Directed by Uwe Boll!

[Touchdown]

They'd screw it up anyway. No point in another DOOM movie.

[Avoozl]

There's certain elements to Doom which just do not work well for movie standards.

[purist]

GoatLord said:

• Who is UAC, and should there be a backstory about their rise to power as a multinational corporation

No, but it should be heavily implied that they are a corporation that is morally dubious and reckless with maybe even some sinisterly motivated high ranking officers. Since a degree of sympathy with the employees under attack is needed the company should not been shown to be entirely evil, I don't think.

• How strong of a military presence there really needs to be on offworld colonies

I'd have the squad of 'marines' be private military or glorified security guards

• Why there would be so many military/research facilities on Mars's moons, and whether or not it would be more sensible to have it simply set on Mars, as in Doom 3

I'd still set it on the moons. It's convenient for the story to have things teleporting between the two and it's not that much more a leap of imagination considering the plot is far fetched to begin with.

• Who is DoomGuy, and how integral should his backstory and personality be to the film

I'd be tempted not to have a Doomguy. Just a squad of marines, each with their own character. Maybe elements of the Doomguy back story could be attributed to one of them - but then I'd kill him off early to keep people guessing :-)

• The use of archaic weapons, especially the double barreled shotgun

They could be made somewhat more futuristic. Since I'd make the squadron a security team it would make sense that they don't necessarily all pack lasers. Cell weapons could be something discovered in the Deimos labs or Phobos Armory.

• Whether or not DoomGuy should be an Arnold-esque lone hero, or if he should operate within a squadron of marines ala "Aliens"

I think in the Hell segment I'd thin it down to one person but it would be a team of characters up until then.

• Hell, demons, and whether or not they are hellish aliens with reality distorting technology, chess pieces crafted by a higher (but incredibly sadistic) intelligence, actual demons from "Hell," whatever that is, or something entirely different

I wouldn't explain but the monsters would look like Doom monsters and the Hell segment would look like Hell. There can also be indicators without being explicit like characters describing the invasion as being from Hell, or having a religious fanatic among the characters.

• How prominent "Hell" should be, whether or not its existence should be explained, and how it should look (fire and brimstone, H. R. Giger, Lovecraftian, Event Horizon, etc.)

Giger and Lovecraft would be relevant to the source. Giger would be good for the perversion of Deimos while I think Lovecraft would suit the Hell realm, which would be a 20 minute mindfuck with a Spiderdemon stalking through it.

• Whether or not there should be gratuitous action/gore with hordes of monsters, or if it should feature concentrated, intense and scattered fights, or a mix

I'd split it like this:

First half: Set during the Phobos anomaly. All Hell breaks loose while scientists try to close the anomaly and marines try to secure everyone somewhere safe until evacuation is possible. Would play out like a very gory disaster flick.

Next third: A select group of marines and scientists teleport to Deimos to evacuate the people based there. Most of the base is already dead and hellishly warped. There would be less action here but more tension and encounters more graphic. Would play out more like a survival horror.

Final section: One of the survivors would enter the Hellish realm to try to close it from the inside and showdown with the Spider Mastermind. This would be short and surreal but psychologically unnerving.

• Archaic, bulky computer tech, and whether or not it should be replaced by the sort of tech one would expect a century from now, such as brain/computer interfaces, nanobots, Blade Runner style replicants, "smart" buildings, etc.

Aesthetically I prefer bulky looking tech if there is a way for it to look feasible. I wouldn't consider it a major problem either way though.

• Whether or not the soundtrack would benefit from intense, plodding metal, dark ambient/orchestral, a mix, or something different

I quite like the Doom OST so would be happy to have something similar.

[Koko Ricky]

Great responses, guys. Some of the goofier suggestions would probably be extremely entertaining. As a film geek myself, I keep changing how my perception of a "perfect" Doom movie, although some of the posts in this thread have been surprisingly close to what I have in mind. I'm watching an "Event Horizon" Q&A video at the moment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXL_CM4DXZ8) and more and more, it seems evident that Paul W. S. Anderson would have been the ideal director, at least back when he was hungry.

Event Horizon does a fantastic job of setting up the surreal and unexplained horror element very slowly, but while providing teasing glimpses of extreme violence. There's so much tension in that film and it has a certain believability to it, even though it gets really fantastical. Doom ought to be like that, as a film. It should feel "real," with the portrayal of offworld colonies, futuristic marines and weaponry, and perhaps even some robotics, as Doom 3's robotic NPC was a really cool addition. I've also toyed with the idea of there being clones of the top marines, which is a subtle allusion to the infinite lives from the game, not to mention it would add that many more possessed humans to gun down.

Of course, it should also be surreal and insane, with the twisted hellish landscapes bleeding into our reality. Doom may not be much of a household name anymore, but it would probably do well in theaters. It would be a big, loud, violent haunted house film and there are many past examples of that formula working well.

[Deleted_Account]

Aliens + Evil Dead + Event Horizon = Doom movie

[Deleted_Account]

I was thinking about military presence on offworld colonies and I remembered this from Doom 3.

IPN News

[Luke Dacote]

I'm currently writing a screenplay for my own Doom movie (I'm an aspiring filmmaker). It's going to be a hardcore action-thriller, with gore a plenty but also a lot of suspense and horror. I'm basing it on the original game, the Doom comic, the Doom bible and the first two novels. The following is what I have in mind for my own personal Doom movie:

As of now I've named Doomguy, Flynn Taggart but this may change if I come up with a better one. His personality is very different from the books however. He's more of a John McClane (Die Hard), Dutch (Predator) and Ash Williams (Evil Dead) hybrid. He's Irish American and was brought up Catholic (this will tie in with the Hell aspect of the game). He's a little reserved and introverted but can also be a bit of a sardonic wiseass. I also plan to have his character change over the course of the film. He starts out normal but after fighting his way through Demons and psychological torment, he begins to lose his grip on reality and becomes the blood-thirsty, one-liner spewing Doomguy from the comics.

The movie for the most part is a lone survival movie, focused soley around Doomguy's journey from Phobos to Hell itself. The first act of the movie sets up the UAC base and why Doomguy is sent there. Hell will be the major setting during the second half of the movie. It will be revealed just as it is in the game with Doomguy realizing that the lost Deimos base floats above it. I plan to make Hell just as horrific as the name implies, adding a bit of a religious element but at the same time, keeping it very Doom-like. All the monsters from the original game will appear. I'd also like to include some Paul Verhoeven style satire to the movie but for now, I'm keeping the tone pretty serious.

There will be action but most of it will come in the second half. The first half will be building up the atmosphere and suspense. I want the feeling on isolation and helplessness that the games imply. All the weapons from the game will make their appearance though I plan to save the SSG for the sequel. I thought it was odd that in the games Doomguy is using an old-fashioned shotgun when it's supposed to be the future so in the movie, the shotgun will be a family heirloom that Doomguy keeps for sentimental reasons (The same for the double-barrel).

The film's score will be a nice mix of orchestra, synthesizers and heavy metal. Many of the iconic tunes will be included with some new stuff to create more of a foreboding mood.

I've written about 40 pages as of now with Doomguy still on Phobos. The tricky part is trying to make a simple run-and-gun FPS into an engaging storyline. Still I get a kick out of writing this script. It's my first swing at fan-fiction.

[Boingo]

Sorry for the necromancy, but does anybody else think Robert Patrick (aka T-1000) would make a good DooMguy?

[BaronOfStuff]

Nah. Henry Rollins.

[Xegethra]

Like some have said I'd try to keep it as close to the game as possible, but translating that might be difficult in some aspects. But some creative licence has to be taken.

The general idea of the game should be intact I think...a space marine on one of Mars's moons was sent to work for UAC after being told off for the assault of his commanding officer for ordering civilians to be killed (whether the film decides they were killed or not I'm not too bothered, it's just the Doomguy rebelling against the idea of it, if he manages to prevent it or not is another thing...either way his higher ups get mad at him for lashing out).

And so he is sentenced for several years to work on the UAC Mars moon base, working as security. It is a dreadful project, hard, dismal, depressing and pretty much nobody working there is doing so by free will...it is either a punishment working there or they have to work there because of their vital skills for the mission. That mission is to expand human knowledge of science and how to manipulate the world around them. It isn't a deliberately depressing place or mission, just is that way due to the circumstance of a new world not yet mastered by them, and the hard work of bringing about safe teleportation technology. They already over came the massive difficult task of setting up and surviving in space, now they have a mission to carry out.

I don't think UAC should be depicted as evil really, as much as I love a rebellion story against the system/company I don't think it works to well with Doom, when the plot is really about fighting off a hell invasion, UAC doesn't need that big of a presence. So I think UAC should be seen as a company just interested in science, and one day they are trying to discover teleportation to make sending goods and supplies longer distances easier, so there is no need for a courier or postman to do the job...just send a box through a portal with a sign sheet. Receive the box, sign the form and send that back through the portal...that is the intention of the technology...it is new and exciting, and as of yet they do not trust sending living creatures through it just incase it's a bit deathy...if your box of mail ordered stuff comes back mangled, you'd best fix that before sending people through. They are doing this in space as there is no risk of damaging anything on Earth otherwise, plus it would help in future military and scientific missions, be they on earth or not.

So they set up two teleportation booths to test the theory and ideas. All seems to be going fine when testing all of a sudden creates a portal to hell...the undead world. Demons flood out and DoomGuy has a job to stop it.

We all know what hell is, the idea is that it is a place you can go to after you die and live out eternity in torment. In the film it should be more or less the same deal. So for DoomGuy, in the game is the incentive to go there to try and stop the invasion. In the film, perhaps there could be another reason to go, not just to save humanity from premature death/slavery/eternal hell but maybe a group of his friends/scientists/UAC workers have been kidnapped by the demons and they become subject to slavery by them, I guess the demons use them to compare living slaves to damned soul slaves...either way it is someone to rescue and help DoomGuy. Of course he can't bring back anyone who has died, they are trapped there as part of their torment....but that doesn't mean that he couldn't try...he could be told later on they are bound to stay there because as they are dead and in hell, their chemistry has changed so bringing them back would just teleport them right into hell again. Demons of course can travel freely as they were born in this dimension, either by other demons or as fallen angels.

Hell is one of those things where artistic licence can be had, while it is generally thought of as the same by people, there are differences in how people see it form one another. For a Doom film, they could go any route.

If it should be a serious film or not....I think somewhere in the middle, seriousness where it is needed and humour where it is due....like those cheesy 80's action films. The style of the film for the base on Mars's moons should be somewhat futuristic, perhaps some cyberpunk, neon lit setting...mixing old and obsolete wiring and buttons and clunky mechanical equipment with high tech fancy pants computers and holographic stuff and all that. Hell could be depicted as fire and brimstone or a chance for artistic licence could be had again...some have mentioned Giger as a possible influence...this could work well, even though his art usually depicts a horrible, horrible dystopian earth future (which in turn always reminded me of Gary Numan and vise versa) that style could be used to represent hell, as his work does look rather hellish...it could be mixed with a little bit of cyberpunk hell with lots of funky hell tech going on...giant hell factories and foundries and things like that.

Or in contrast to that...hell could be seen as any distorted art form, anything unusual to this world but quite generally unpleasing. It could be seen as a stark, barren wasteland, foggy and dismal with horrible things moving around in the shadows.

As for the demons, I think they should stay true to the games. They'd work well as monsters for people to run away from or to fight against. There could even be varieties of them, like different types of imp for example.

And it should be mostly action....from the moment the first demon comes through the portal...it should literally be, all hell breaking loose. People running for their lives, getting slaughtered and captured, demons ripping and tearing everybody apart. The space marines fighting back, slaying demon after demon but they keep on coming through. DoomGuy with a bunch of his fellow space marines, decide to run to where they can help...as they run down a long corridor one after another the marines are being killed off as Doomguy is running at the front of them, shooting back once in a while and when the scene ends, he runs into a large room with a big window overlooking part of the base. Alone he looks through to see the base being ripped to shreds.

From then on it is a mix of survival horror, and all out balls to the wall action, each style where permitted. Demons range from weak hordes that get shredded by machine gun fire, to strong big bulky things that take more than just a handful of bullets to take down. And Doomguy has to do his best to find his way to the teleportation room and go to hell and stop the invasion.

As for music, the heaviest of heavy metal could work, to aggortech, all the way to that weird sci-fi synthesizer music from the 70's and also some abstract "nonsense" music might work in parts if it can portray a mood accurately, or it could even be the ambient stuff similar to the PSX game music.

It's not a complex idea...but for Doom, it really doesn't need to be. Complex films are good, but the world of Doom doesn't need it...it is action with guns, killing monsters, it's not a story designed to get into your mind, just one to entertain you for a little bit...so making it into a film could work if done with good enough effort.

[mrthejoshmon]

Arnold Schwarzenegger going around a UAC base kicking ass and taking names would easily be the best film I will ever see.

But then again I think every film ever made needs some good Arnold in it.

[cq75]

This is interesting...

I wonder what a Doom movie would be like that followed the mood of the game?

Backstory; rather short.

1. Doomguy is a marine living on Mars, on patrol as military police officer (MPs are standins for real cops since there aren't enough people on mars yet). He's a rather quiet character (as he would need to be to leave Earth to stay here), make the actor look as much like he mugshot as possible without being cartoony. Avoid long dialogue, this should be a film that shows rather than tells, Doom didn't have long, drawn out dialogue, neither should this.

Mars should be abstract like E1, as much as possible, avoid generic Aliens-like space stations, make large, grand structures that look alien but not overly so.

Introduce the player to Doomguy's character through background music and his actions, I don't really have many specific ideas on this part, but I think for example using intense rock or something similar in situations that would normally be slasher scenes in a horror movie would help convey how tough Doomguy is... it would have to be done carefully.


2. Suddenly the demons burst through, Doomguy fights alongside the other marines stationed there, in large fight scenes involving many marines and demons.

Doomguy is especially skillful and athletic with lots of matrix-like fight scenes, but without slowing down the action; emphasize doomguy as being almost superhuman in speed, accuracy, and reaction time without making it completely obvious (i.e., don't make him "The Flash").

3. The fights go on, less and less humans are involved and you start fighting more and more zombies that look familiar. Until suddenly, it becomes very clear that you're the last one alive, and he's literally fighting everybody in the base in zombie form, plus the demons. Doomguy's troubled with this, but he keeps going, following the story of Ultimate Doom.

4. The sets could convey more detail than the original maps on some of the "why" hell looked like it did in the game, perhaps parts of Hell are one big animal, explaining the SPINE textures.

Add more nightmarish scenarios, take advantage of situations that would never work in the game due to how hard they would be to play.

5. Make little nods to the game, like the first time Doomguy in the movie finds a BFG, make him grin like the mugshot; he doesn't have to run 70 miles per hour, but keep in mind that he can be agile in other ways, e.g. parkour

[roadworx]

Get Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Doomguy, and James Cameron to direct it.

[clamgor]

Make it an animated film. Animate it in the style of "Fantastic Planet".

[Boingo]

All that hand shading would be insane.

It would take longer than DuKe Nukem Forever to make.

It might even tke longer than one of my projects.

[geekmarine]

Well, if you really want a movie that's faithful to the source material, ya gotta go the Army of Darkness meets Aliens route. Aliens will influence the action - yeah, you gotta have other characters so that they can be gruesomely picked off one by one by the demons. You gotta have chaotic firefights, demons coming outta the goddamn walls, etc. But then you gotta have the protagonist be an Ash-Williams-type badass - you've gotta have him slaughtering hordes, you've gotta have him spitting out cheesy one-liners, but you also gotta include the slapstick. I mean let's face it, part of what makes the Evil Dead movies fun is the absurd amount of punishment the hero takes, and honestly, that's applicable to Doom as well. And I think it'd help to differentiate the lead from typical stoic badasses to have him constantly getting his ass kicked. Obviously he has to come out on top in the end, or at least meet with an ironic fate like defeating the demons but being trapped in Hell or something. But yeah, I think you gotta have the action of Aliens combined with the supernatural and slapstick elements of the Evil Dead movies.

[Waffenak]

Two words, super shotgun. BOOM Ka chunk klik

[joe-ilya]

mrthejoshmon said:

Arnold Schwarzenegger going around a UAC base kicking ass and taking names would easily be the best film I will ever see.

But then again I think every film ever made needs some good Arnold in it.

You want that :

To be as the doomguy? You sure?

[mrthejoshmon]

A little pro editing skills will fix that right up.

Besides, I doubt the Doomguy is going to be removing all of his clothing during an invasion (Unless we use the book logic, then deimos is gonna get real nasty).

[SYS]

I'd settle for a grimdark anime with obligatory Doom comic toxic waste reference.

[june gloom]

Marnetmar said:

Aliens with demons.

I don't know if you're joking or not but this is exactly what it should be. Given the game's stylistic and thematic origins it's literally the only proper thing to do. All it really requires is good writing, the rest takes care of itself.

[Velvetic]

@mrthejoshmon To be honest, for me Arnold Schwarzenegger can't act like a human, that's why the only film of his that i enjoy is Terminator 1 and 2.

[june gloom]

That's not it. He can't act like an American. He's an Austrian musclehead. There's a difference.

[Velvetic]

dethtoll said:

That's not it. He can't act like an American. He's an Austrian musclehead. There's a difference.

For me his acting is so robotic that it fits Terminator, but the cheesiness of his other films is something that i don't want on a GOOD movie based on Doom.