Dead By Dawn 2015

Dead By Dawn, Edinburgh’s friendly local horror film festival was this weekend, hence the somewhat cryptic posts over the last three days.

So, looking at the new feature films for game-friendly plots and ideas...

I skipped out on Tusk.

When Animals Dream depicts life in a bleak small town and the fragile hopes of the young, which could make an intriguing backdrop for a game, and could add a lot to other genres as well - this coming-of-age story could be a psychological horror, a mystery or a low-key Requiem-style monster origin.

The Pool is a little influenced by the story of Jenny Greenteeth. In a lower key than Yellowbrickroad (shown here in 2011) it throws things that could almost be normal at a small isolated group and sees how long before they implode. Take the Weird Level down a step or so and it could be a comically disastrous family camping trip.

Cub, meanwhile, is The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The easiest thing to grab here might be some great modern-day Grimtooth’s Traps.

Amnesia could be an interesting setup for a one-shot. You wake up with no memory... who can you trust? Yourself?

Shrew’s Nest could show how little space you need for everything to go wrong...

Amigo Undead is a splatstick comedy zombie-vengeance story with a twist that might come in handy, resembling a famous source I won’t name because of spoilers.

Ava’s Possessions gets a lot of humour out of the idea of what happens after demonic possession - and some from how common it could be in an urban fantasy rather than straight horror setting. The almost total ordinariness of Spirit Possession Anonymous makes it feel like a good setup for a Buffy adventure.

Blood Punch hides a great horror-comedy version of a fantasy comedy classic (which again I won't name as it’s a big spoiler) behind a basically meaningless title.

Short films to follow...