There truly is something about the Halloween season that alters the pop culture landscape, even if for a month, as audiences seek out scares. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” remake is shredding box-office competition, which includes the big-screen treatment of Sega’s “House of the Dead.” (Reviews have been merciless, as nobody seems to get the joke that this is the most unabashed video game movie to date, complete with awful dialogue, goofy action sequences and the inclusion of game footage.)
Video game publishers also are keyed into this phenomenon, as horror-theme games appear on store shelves. Strangely enough, Capcom does not have an original “Resident Evil” adventure ready to roll, leaving the path open for Konami to scoop up the Halloween dollars with “Castlevania: Lament of Innocence” (PlayStation 2, $49.99, rated Teen), the latest in its long-running Dracula-busting franchise, in stores this week.
More gothic than gross-out, “Castlevania” is about mood and atmosphere. There are no tidal waves of blood or grotesquely misshapen corpses hanging from the rafters. This 3-D actioner is a showdown between the knight Leon Belmont and the dark lord Dracula, set in the 11th Century.
The fight unfurls inside the vampire’s grand castle, an amazingly realized haunted house complete with all the trappings Bram Stoker’s creation deserves: candlelit hallways, gorgeous wrought-iron railings and stained-glass windows.
Immediately, most blueblood fans of the series will be squeamish — not because of potential fright, but because the game is not 2-D, like the classic NES platformers and the PSOne masterpiece “Symphony of the Night.” (The two 3-D “Castlevania” on the Nintendo 64 were, well, pitiful.)
No need to drive a stake in this before it wakes, as the game plays magnificently, with fluid control and smart camera movement and some very clever game mechanics.
Gamers who prefer chills and thrills over nuance can turn their attention to another Konami game, “Silent Hill 3,” which was released this summer for the PS2.
Earning its mature rating every 10 minutes, the freak-out is an exercise in classic horror: things go bump in the night, lighting effects keep monsters just out of sight until the last possible moment, and the environments and monsters prove somebody over at Konami has the ability to remember the details of all of their nightmares.
Tecmo is putting the finishing touches on “Fatal Frame 2,” the follow-up to its sleeper horror hit from two years ago.
“Fatal Frame” starred a young woman trapped in a haunted house, armed only with a supernatural camera that swallowed spirits with every flash. It was a very cool concept and it is hoped the sequel will expand on it while offering even more scares.
DreamWorks recently optioned the film rights to “Fatal Frame,” and if done correctly, it could be a “Ring”-size success.
