D.J. Caruso to Direct Dead Space Game Adaptation

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on July 27, 2009

Eagle Eye director D.J. Caruso may have been developing an adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn’s Y: The Last Man, but according to new reports it looks like he’ll be taking on EA’s Dead Space first.

According to Variety, Caruso has signed on to direct the adaptation that will be produced by EA and Temple Hill partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, two guys who served as producers on Twilight and have been working on the Len Wiseman-directed Gears of War adaptation.

Dead Space is set in the 26th century in deep space, where and engineer who responds to a distress signal from a mining ship finds the vessel infested with monstrous creatures called Necromorphs. The creatures are human corpses, reanimated by an alien virus.

So let me get this straight — it’s zombies in space. Sounds a little like a mix between Event Horizon and the upcoming Pandorum — or hundreds of other “we found this empty spacecraft, lets check it out” movies that I’ve seen throughout the years. Having never played Dead Space, it’s hard to say what might be different here. All we can hope for is some wicked action and somewhat compelling characters.

Fingers crossed for a solid video game adaptation, as D.J. Caruso isn’t a terrible director. His work on Disturbia was solid, as was his delivery of the action sequences in Eagle Eye. I would prefer to see him tackle Y: The Last Man, but I guess this will do.

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chille

I can't stand Caruso. At least he won't be doing a Blade Runner sequel like he once suggested.

Ben Goldman

Dead Space is one of the best horror games ever made and, unlike most games, could make for a very compelling horror flick due to the obscene amounts of disturbing gore, uber-realistic sci-fi setting and cool story twists.

I'm pretty excited about this.

Jeff

They're having Caruso direct the Dead Space movie? This is going to suck. Hopefully he won't pull out that terrible lead actor he used in Eagle Eye and Disturbia.

My prediction on major deviations from the game;

1. It won't be scary.

2. There will be a group of survivors he finds, among them an attractive female, and only Isaac and that female will be the ones to survive (the female presumably being Nicole).

3. It won't be nearly as gorey or as intense.

4. He won't go down to Aegis VII to destroy the hivemind.

5. Isaac and Nicole will live happily ever after and everyone will hate this movie to their core, except for those individuals who like movies like The Cell or I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Basically it will be a crash and burn. The script may be alright, but Caruso is more suited to directing Home Alone type films.

The thing about tossing game adaptations to the film industry, is that they always deliver some botched and warped, down-sized vision of that which was originally delivered by the developer. We saw it with Doom, and if Caruso's work is any evidence, we'll see it with this.

Now, if they had Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead 2004) and the guy whose directing Pandorum working together on this with a good script, you would see an excellent adaptation of Dead Space.

Jay

Who does that Jeff guy think he is? I think this to be made into a movie will be one of the biggest undertakings for any horror movie. Dead space puts any zombie movie you can think of to shame. Your 5 points are laughable and clearly not thought out because 1. Of course its going to be scary why would they make it if it isn't going to be scary? The game scared millions of people so i doubt their gonna tone it down for a movie. 2. Nicole is dead and why would he find a group of survivors hiding somewhere from something that basicly was only on the planet and the ship? 3. You can't MAKE this franchise into a movie without gore, the way humans become necromorphs is a gory feat that no film maker has even attempted or even came close to making. 4. Of course he won't go down to Aegis 7 because it already happened in the game. 5. No ones going to live happily ever after and i doubt anyone will hate this movie. Clearly you didn't think at all before posting your comments you clearly just have an issue with this game. This movie is going to blow most people away becuase if you think of how grusome and disturbing Dead space was no filmmaker would dare do his homework on this film and do the things you THINK are going to happen.

D.J. Caruso to Direct Dead Space Game Adaptation

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