“Unraveling the Darkness: The Rising Influence of ‘The Gorge’ in Horror Cinema”
By When you find yourself sitting down to experience Apple TV Plus’s new horror film The Gorge this Valentine’s Day, you might discover that it resembles a video game adaptation. This is because director Scott Derrickson claims his fresh genre-blurring film is partly inspired by some of the most remarkable video games.
“I enjoy those games, and I truly believe that gaming has raised the standard for gunplay action, especially when you’re focused on a single character or two characters; it’s hard to surpass that,” says Derrickson to GamesRadar+ when we inquired if the film’s resemblance to beloved games like Until Dawn and Silent Hill was deliberate.
The Gorge centers on two elite snipers (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy) assigned to monitor separate watchtowers overlooking a vast gorge. However, when night descends, the marksmen realize the true evil that lurks below. Right from the start, the film reminded us of shooter games like Overwatch, but as the secrets of the gorge were uncovered, the movie transitioned into action sequences reminiscent of dystopian titles like The Last of Us or Silent Hill.
However, despite his admiration for these games, Derrickson did not wish to create a purely action-driven mission film, so he opted to incorporate a significant element to infuse the film with some heart: love. “I think the challenge of the film was to avoid letting it devolve into just the straightforward, chaotic stimulation of gaming-type action. The challenge was to maintain that kind of stimulation and energy and really make use of it,” the director elaborates, “But then to also genuinely keep the romance alive.”
Fans of The Black Phone and Sinister may be surprised to discover that The Gorge at its heart is truly a love story, which is, of course, intertwined with the horror, action, and sci-fi genres. This makes The Gorge one of the most distinctive narratives so far this year. At a time when the horror genre is inundated with remakes, prequels, and sequels, Derrickson believes it is essential that films like this are created.
“I don’t want to keep seeing