Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • SFX
Total Film The smarter take on movies
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best Netflix Shows
Recommended reading
Terrifier The ARTcade Game in FGS Live from LA
Fighting Games Terrifier: The ARTcade Game announces a demo for its bloody, retro beat em up action and it's live now
The Doom Slayer shooting the Skull Crusher at a demon during the Doom: The Dark Ages trailer.
FPS Games Doom: The Dark Ages has a new official trailer, and at this point id Software and Bethesda are just holding me down and pouring Doom lore over my head
Crisol featuring in Future Games Show
FPS Games Crisol: Theater of Idols is a game so bloody you're literally loading your guns with the stuff
A screenshot shows a monster hanging upside down as sunlight shines from behind them.
Survival Horror Games New Cronos: The New Dawn trailer shows Bloober learned its lesson from Silent Hill 2 remake with nasty sci-fi combat that would make James Sunderland cry
Atari 400 Mini on woodgrain desk connected to Dough Spectrum Black OLED monitor and Pac-Man on screen.
Hardware This tiny Atari console is naturally great for Pac-Man, but I use it to play one of the most cursed retro games from the '80s
The cover of Edge Magazine showing Cronos: The New Dawn spread across all the way to the back cover
Horror Games Edge 410 goes hands-on with Cronos: The New Dawn, the new survival horror from Silent Hill 2 studio Bloober Team
A crop of the box art for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, showing Indiana Jones in front of the game's cast of characters mimicking the style of the movie posters - image sourced from Games Press
Games "Fate Of Atlantis felt like the movie we never got," says Indiana Jones and The Great Circle producer as devs reflect on the series' gaming legacy: "It really captured the spirit of the movies that came before it"
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

10 Inappropriate Movie Videogames

Features
By Sam Ashurst published 24 June 2009

Cruddy console pitches to rival Antichrist…

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Antichrist (2009)

Antichrist (2009)

So, the chaps behind the Hitman games are currently weaving Lars Von Trier’s intensely personal film about manic depression, child death and sexual violence into an action-adventure videogame.

It features Willem Dafoe wandering around a forest confronting everyone’s phobias.

It sounds rubbish. And it got us thinking about some other films that should never, ever be games...

Page 1 of 10
Page 1 of 10
Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

For: Quentin Tarantino’s return to form has a videogame structure, including talky cut-scenes and exciting stalk and slash confrontations.

And history provided it with the ultimate end of game boss. Hitler, obviously.

Against: It’s a little bit bad taste. Tarantino would love it.

Uses The Same Engine As: Wolfenstein 3D

Page 2 of 10
Page 2 of 10
Martyrs (2008)

Martyrs (2008)

For: Martyrs is an existential horror flick in the same spraying vein as Antichrist. It even has a religious title.

If Antichrist takes off, expect Martyrs to follow, probably using concept art like you can see on the left for character design.

Against: Martyrs is the most harrowing film ever made. It makes Hostel look like Postal. It’s a horror film you survive, not a survival horror template.

Uses The Same Engine As: Silent Hill

Page 3 of 10
Page 3 of 10
There Will Be Blood (2007)

There Will Be Blood (2007)

For: Sonic chases rings, Mario’s after mushrooms and Daniel Plainview craves oil – he’s a platform star waiting to happen!

Either that or we buff up Daniel Day Lewis and send him on a punch-em-up mission to take down his enemies.

Against:
As much as we’d like to see Plainview bombing around loop-the-loops grabbing oil puddles and karate kicking electric cars, it does sort of miss the point of PT Anderson’s source material.

Uses The Same Engine As: Final Fight 2 / Sonic The Hedgehog

Page 4 of 10
Page 4 of 10
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)

For: This dark abortion drama is as bleak as cinema gets.

So why not make a Sims style hospital game out of it, with kids racking up points for every foetus they destroy? Bonus points are awarded for operations conducted outside the premises.

Against: Because it’s a hideous idea and we’re a little bit ashamed of ourselves for even imagining it.

We’re pretty sure the chaps behind Antichrist are patenting the idea as we speak, though.

Uses The Same Engine As: Theme Hospital

Page 5 of 10
Page 5 of 10
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

For: It’s already a puzzle game in film form. So why not make it a puzzle game in puzzle game form?

It could be a kind of anti-Tetris, where you have to take apart memories, instead of fitting them together.

Against: Because once you’d won the game, you’d only want to go back and lose it, by putting everything back together again.

Then you’d want to win it again... Basically, you’d never need to buy another game and the publishers would go bust.

Uses The Same Engine As: Tetris

Page 6 of 10
Page 6 of 10
Crash (1996)

Crash (1996)

For: The stars of David Cronenberg’s Crash love smashing up cars. Teenagers love games that let you smash up cars. Brand synergy, anyone?

Against: The makers would probably have to leave out the fact that you’re controlling characters that can only get multiple orgasms by causing multiple pile-ups – and without that key detail, what’s the point?

Uses The Same Engine As: Demolition Derby

Page 7 of 10
Page 7 of 10
World Trade Center (2006)

World Trade Center (2006)

For: If Oliver Stone can profit from 9/11 by celebrating the brave firefighters and policemen who took part in rescue operations, why can’t videogame companies?

It's about time the War On Terror got a game. World War II cartridges sell by the bucket-load, and no-one complains that’s the war your grandad died in.

Against: Because it’s crass, cynical and sick. It will definitely happen one day.

Uses The Same Engine As: Pilot Wings 64

Page 8 of 10
Page 8 of 10
Bad Lieutenant (1992)

Bad Lieutenant (1992)

For: Nintendo would be able to use the Wii remote in a really nifty way, allowing gamers replicate the bit where Harvey Keitel masturbates by the car.

Extra points for church wanking, funeral wanking and birthday party wanking.

Against: See above.

Uses The Same Engine As: Mario Tennis

Page 9 of 10
Page 9 of 10
Taxi Driver (1976)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Believe it or not, this one was actually developed .

After all, what’s a better subject for a shoot ‘em up than one man’s mission to protect a 12-year old prostitute from a jive-talking pimp?

Thankfully, the developers decided that the story of a Vietnam vet’s descent into madness was best left in the videoshop, and canned it before it was released.

Page 10 of 10
Page 10 of 10
Sam Ashurst
Social Links Navigation

Sam Ashurst is a London-based film maker, journalist, and podcast host. He's the director of Frankenstein's Creature, A Little More Flesh + A Little More Flesh 2, and co-hosts the Arrow Podcast. His words have appeared on HuffPost, MSN, The Independent, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, and many more, as well as of course for us here at GamesRadar+.

See more Movies Features
Read more
Terrifier The ARTcade Game in FGS Live from LA
Terrifier: The ARTcade Game announces a demo for its bloody, retro beat em up action and it's live now
The Doom Slayer shooting the Skull Crusher at a demon during the Doom: The Dark Ages trailer.
Doom: The Dark Ages has a new official trailer, and at this point id Software and Bethesda are just holding me down and pouring Doom lore over my head
Crisol featuring in Future Games Show
Crisol: Theater of Idols is a game so bloody you're literally loading your guns with the stuff
A screenshot shows a monster hanging upside down as sunlight shines from behind them.
New Cronos: The New Dawn trailer shows Bloober learned its lesson from Silent Hill 2 remake with nasty sci-fi combat that would make James Sunderland cry
Atari 400 Mini on woodgrain desk connected to Dough Spectrum Black OLED monitor and Pac-Man on screen.
This tiny Atari console is naturally great for Pac-Man, but I use it to play one of the most cursed retro games from the '80s
The cover of Edge Magazine showing Cronos: The New Dawn spread across all the way to the back cover
Edge 410 goes hands-on with Cronos: The New Dawn, the new survival horror from Silent Hill 2 studio Bloober Team
Latest in Movies
María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer
James Gunn's Superman may be setting up The Authority movie with its enigmatic villain The Engineer
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
The Fantastic Four: First Steps gets a puzzling "first look" months after footage was initially released
Super Mario movie screenshot
Nintendo and Illumination are "working hard" on Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto saying the idea for the sequel is an "interesting" one
David Dastmalchian in Ant-Man
New Street Fighter movie continues to rival the '94 flop for unconventional casting choices, adds The Suicide Squad's Polka-Dot Man as eccentric big bad M. Bison
Amie Donald as M3GAN in sci-fi horror M3GAN 2.0
Blumhouse boss Jason Blum says M3GAN 2.0 flopped at the box office because they "overthought how powerful people's engagement was with her": "We all thought M3GAN was like Superman"
David Corenswet as Superman
Superman star David Corenswet isn't sure if his character "knows of" the "existence" of the DCU's Batman yet
Latest in Features
María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer
James Gunn's Superman may be setting up The Authority movie with its enigmatic villain The Engineer
Sam sits in a bike looking across at a city in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
70 hours in, Death Stranding 2 is one of few open world games that justifies having such a huge map
Nintendo Switch 2
I can't use the Switch 2's handheld mode, so I'm hoping a Lite is on the horizon
Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mister Miracle as the Justice Gang in Superman
The Justice Gang explained - The non-Justice League in James Gunn's Superman may be influenced by team of classic DC supervillains
Team Fortress 2 characters looking at a map
I have 464 games on my Steam wishlist, 23 games in my Steam Summer Sale shopping cart, and I can feel my already overstuffed library giving me the side-eye
Heavy Metal Death Can demo screenshot
I got a nicotine rush and set zombies on fire in this PS1-style survival horror demo, and it's basically Resident Evil on a submarine
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
    1
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  2. 2
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  3. 3
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  4. 4
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  5. 5
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...