![dreadout lady in red dreadout lady in red](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HjWEN0IeZ9E/hqdefault.jpg)
Once Linda encounters her first paranormal adversary, Stamboel conjures psyche-snapping haunts defined by surreal qualities. It's never beholden to existing constructs, but always conscious of fan expectations.ĭreadOut progresses with stunted normality until Linda's cut-from-stereotype friends finish what a mysterious cult once started – connecting our world to the "Lady In Red's" domain. You'll recognize the rage-fueled "Lady in Red," swarming locusts, and jungle-dewy lands where evil resides, as DreadOut 's tone balances healthy recreation and inspired originality. Only a single eye fixates from pulled-aside linen, but the peeper eerily bulges while CG illumination highlights the mystical aspects of Stamboel's screenplay. My dedication to consoles means DreadOut has so far escaped my catalog, but after watching a lengthy demo playthrough, Stamboel honors the nightmare imagery that makes gamers recoil in fright – specifically, a "Pocong Warrior," aka cloth-wrapped mummy-lookin' corpse wielding his handheld sickle. Stamboel is smart about his adaptation's vision, commanding directorial freedoms while still contextualizing familiarity for gamer fanbases. DreadOut sparingly hops behind glowing smartphone screens, recalling how Doom 's FPS sequence high-scores because it's used sparingly. As the 2005 Doom adaptation understands, paying homage to video game stylization doesn't need to be a full-time gimmick. Otherwise, third-person viewpoints exploit supernatural levitation and force-pushing that would be lost behind a "found footage" barrier. Better yet, video game cinematography exists to emphasize action on screen when fanged apparitions lunge up close and personal towards petrified characters.
#DREADOUT LADY IN RED WINDOWS#
Instagram live-feed windows are employed here, as are first-person perspectives torn from gamer screenshots. Stamboel's cleverest accomplishment with DreadOut is coaxing an original story out of video game limitations, but still retaining the visual blueprints of survival horror. Can Linda rescue her friends, evade the "Woman In Red," and reseal the cursed gateway for good? Linda soon learns she's been summoned to the abandoned building for a reason, as she's the only one who can read glowing ritual scribbles and chase demons away with her mobile camera flash. Erik ( Jefri Nichol ), Jessica ( Marsha Aruan ), and others foolishly ignore the warnings of haunted pasts, unwittingly opening a swirling aquatic portal to an alternate realm. Honoring the Digital Happiness game's "schoolkids in peril" vibe, the film follows Linda ( Caitlin Halderman ) and her classmates as they investigate a police-taped apartment with the hope of capturing footage to boost their social media following.
#DREADOUT LADY IN RED MOVIE#
Oh, and best of all? The movie is a freaky and frantic blast of immersive horror. (Not to downplay how much DreadOut lends itself to video game and viral media culture.) Stamboel draws not only from his Macabre brother Timo Tjahjanto, referencing the gore in May The Devil Take You, but this film possesses Sam Raimi vibes à la Evil Dead and Army Of Darkness. In particular, DreadOut stands proud with Resident Evil and Silent Hill as adaptations programmed right (horror movies are just better, y'all). Kimo Stamboel, half of the infamous filmmaking "Mo Brothers" duo, proves that not all video game adaptations are buggy disasters. For comparison's sake, the DreadOut movie is like a stealth Fatal Frame adaptation given how Indonesia's survival horror video game, which gives the film its title, is often likened to Japan's popular ghosts-on-camera platformer.