Dead Space Is the ‘Only’ Game John Carpenter Would Make into a Movie

Horror legend John Carpenter has Dead Space at the top of the list of games he would adapt into a movie if he had the chance. He raised the idea in a recent interview with The AV Club.

Specifically, when asked about the possibility of adapting a video game, Carpenter said, “The only one I can think of, and I’ve mentioned it before, is Dead Space. That would make a real great movie. I could do that.” He has suggested it before — almost 10 years ago, in fact — and he went into more detail back then about the game’s atmospheric likeness to Alien and why it’s ideal adaptation material.

If this dream project were to somehow come to pass, it would be Carpenter’s first directorial effort since 2010’s The Ward, but a return to the genre that he left an indelible mark on with the original Halloween, The Thing, and The Fog. It also wouldn’t be the first film version of the series, as two animated movies came out in 2008 and 2011 at the height of the saga’s popularity. Of course, EA is currently in the process of reviving its long-dormant Dead Space franchise, with a remake of the original game set for launch on January 27, 2023.

The statement about directing a Dead Space movie came in the midst of a sprawling conversation about video games, in which John Carpenter also admitted he would be keen to write the soundtrack to a game (“But no one’s asked!”) and praised big-name games, including Borderlands, Fallout 76, and Horizon Forbidden West, for their freedom.