Let’s Play: The Eight Scariest Games in Horror Films
Be careful when you pick up that card, roll that die, or agree to hang out with rich people. Losing at horror’s scariest games will cost you your life – or worse.
Cube (1997)
This indie horror is centered on a maze filled with cryptic clues, enigmatic puzzles, and deadly traps. It was made for $250k and pulls off a lot thanks to its claustrophobic setting and tightly wound story. It’s anxiety-inducing, tense, and filled with twists. Will the prisoners figure out how to escape before losing their minds?
Without remembering how they got there, several strangers awaken in a prison of cubic cells, some of them booby-trapped. There’s onetime cop Quentin, scientist Holloway, young math genius Leaven, master of escapes Rennes, autistic savant Kazan, and architect Worth, who might have more information on the maze than he lets on. The prisoners must use their combined skills if they are to escape.
Ready or Not
Marrying into a new family can be daunting. Will they like you? Will you manage to not offend distant relatives at holiday dinners? Can you survive if they hunt you down and try to shoot you with a crossbow? Instead of a romantic honeymoon, this bride finds herself joining in a time-honored tradition with her new wealthy and rather eccentric extended family – a fun game of hide and seek with life-ending possibilities.
If you like your blood and violence mixed with dark comedy, this looks like is right up your alley. It’s got a wonderful dark sense of humor, and an equally great cast – Samara Weaving as the bride and Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Melanie Scrofano, and Kristian Bruun play her new family.
Saw (2004)
James Wan’s directorial debut changed the landscape of the horror genre for decades after and led to seven sequels. A serial killer devises sadistic puzzles and challenges for his victims to defeat. They can win the game if they’re willing to pay the price. Survivors escape at a great physical and mental cost; losers die horrifically. Every installment brings more gruesome kills. The original dropped us in a room with two men chained to pipes, a dead body, and various elements that could guide them to freedom.
Bodies Bodies Bodies
A group of well-off 20-somethings decides to ride a hurricane out in a remote family mansion. Bored of drinking and their phones, they resort to old-school party games to pass the time. Then the power goes out and the game goes horribly wrong.
The Game
David Fincher’s The Game is sandwiched between Se7en and Fight Club, so it’s often overlooked. Michael Douglas plays a banker that’s pushed out of his element and learns to be more careful about what he signs up for.
Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a successful banker who keeps mostly to himself. When his estranged brother Conrad (Sean Penn) returns on his birthday with an odd gift — participation in a personalized, real-life game — Nicholas reluctantly accepts. Initially harmless, the game grows increasingly personal, and Orton begins to fear for his life as he eludes agents from the mysterious game’s organizers. With no one left to trust and his money gone, Orton must find answers for himself.
Truth or Dare
Don’t play games in a haunted house, folks – it won’t end well. Eight friends decide to play the infamous party game without realizing they’ve invited a demonic presence to play with them – to control the game and force them to be honest.
Battle Royale (2000)
Survival of the fittest gets extra sadistic when teens are involved. A class of 14 and 15-year-olds are fitted with explosive collars and wake on a deserted island. They are given instructions, maps, food, and weapons. Their goal: kill their classmates in order to be the last one standing when the clock runs out. The survivor is allowed to leave – but there can only be one. This is most definitely not The Hunger Games.
Would You Rather
This take on the party game leans into gore. A woman looking to help her ill brother finds herself trapped in a mansion with seven others that are down on their luck. The mansion’s owner forces them to play a sadistic version of the game for money, and as the night goes on the dilemmas become increasingly deadly. It’s a simple premise that opens up some frightening possibilities.
Brainscan
One of the first horror movies built around a video game being more than a game. It’s very very 1990s. Very.
Horror films and computer games fascinate teenager Michael, and a CD-ROM that portrays murder from the killer’s point of view combines these interests. The first time Michael plays it, he kills a stranger and cuts off a foot, thinking the events take place in virtual reality. But the next day Michael finds a foot in his refrigerator, and cyber-ghoul Trickster emerges from the program and forces him to keep playing – and to continue committing violent crimes.
