Breakthrough horror hit The Mortuary Assistant, which has made an impressive impact since bursting onto the PC gaming scene just over a month ago, has already been picked up for a film adaptation.
The film project, which will be live-action, according to Deadline, is being produced by DreadXP, which also produced the game, and its parent company, Epic Pictures Group. No timetable has been given regarding the release of the potential feature film, nor has there been any indication of casting at this point in time.
The Mortuary Assistant game, developed by DarkStone Digital, opens as protagonist Rebecca Owens receives a phone call from her new boss letting her know she landed the job she had been seeking in a mortuary parlor. However, her boss isn’t feeling well and has three fresh cadavers that need tending to, so she’s going to need to head in immediately and work her first night on the job all by herself. Since this is a horror game, the dead begin returning to life, and by night’s end, Rebecca will have uncovered the mysteries of the mortuary, dealt with demonic possession, and come face to face with the emotional damage of her past.
The film is being headed by director Jeremiah Kipp, who has a number of horror and thriller credits to his name, including Slapface, which took home the audience award at the Cinequest San Jose Film Festival in 2001. Other notable directorial credits attributed to Kipp include oceanic sci-fi thriller Black Wake, from 2018, and the 2014 medical horror short film Painkiller.
The game version of The Mortuary Assistant has generated very positive reviews on Steam, with 90 per cent of the more than 1,500 reviewers giving it a positive rating as of September 4.
As video games continue to build their presence in the mainstream of entertainment and plot becomes increasingly more a focused key element in games, film adaptations are once again on the rise. So far this year, Sony Pictures Uncharted and Paramount Pictures’ Sonic the Hedgehog 2 have each exceeded $401 million in box office sales per Box Office Mojo, with Warner Bros. 2001 Mortal Kombat film raking in more than $83 million. Sony is set to release a Grand Turismo movie, tentatively scheduled for August 2023, while the third Sonic The Hedgehog movie is expected to hit theaters at the end of 2024.
