._ , , . *|, * _ _ -+--+- _. _|* _ || | (_](_) | | (_] (_]|(/, * ._| , , ._ . . . . . _ . . _ _ -+--+- _. |,. . _.;_/*._ _ |*. , _ _| _ _ _| \_|(_)(_| (_](_) | | (_] | (_|(_.| \|[ )(_] || \/ (/, (_](_)(_)(_] ._| ._| ._| A N O V E L B Y M A R T I E " M U R D S " M O O D ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Chapter 4 Horsemen ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: (4/28/25 12:30 a.m.) "In Shaun of the Dead, It's not Shaun's fault that there's a zombie apocalypse -- he just has to get through the day." -Edgar Wright, in an interview with the BBC (2013) FADE IN: (4/12/22 2:46 a.m.) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. COLORADO PLAINS -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Mr. Nishio and Mrs. Vidal ride across the plains by horseback. Mrs. Vidal holds up a torch, occasionally illuminating the faces of the undead in the black night. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. MINESHAFT -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice carries Manco in her arms as she follows a light ahead. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. COLORADO PLAINS -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As clouds move out of the sky, the moon illuminates the plains. Mrs. Vidal takes in the undead Hell before them. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. MINESHAFT EXIT -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice makes it to the other end of the tunnel, moonlight spilling into the cavern. She lies the bloodied, unconscious body of Manco on the ground and begins tending to her wound. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. COLORADO PLAINS -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Away from much of the undead, the two have adopted a slower trot. Mr. Nishio searches the saddle bags and finds some stale bread wrapped in a bandana. He begins eating. MR. NISHIO: I keep calling you missus. I never thought to ask about your husband. Mrs. Vidal, her eyes tired, doesn't respond. MR. NISHIO (cont'd): It is going to be a long night of riding. Conversation will shorten it. MRS. VIDAL: I highly doubt that, Mr. Nishio. Mr. Nishio remains persistent. MR. NISHIO: How did you come to arrive in the plains with the people of Mater -- given their associations? Mrs. Vidal remains silent. MR. NISHIO (cont'd): A Black woman that could afford to live outside the Grove. Peculiar. Mrs. Vidal is perturbed at Mr. Nishio's presumptions. MRS. VIDAL: I hitched a ride out to the plains with some of Denver's elite. I nicked their pockets before arriving here. MR. NISHIO: You just happen to be traveling with, what, politicians, wealthy scum? MRS. VIDAL: I had a little girl with me. She was stuck in a crashed car with her dead daddy. And he was waking up. A bus stopped and let me board with her. MR. NISHIO: Hmph. So, what happened to the child? MRS. VIDAL: They said I was unsuitable to raise her. After that, took what I could from them and left for Mater. But I heard those folks from Denver were looking to fight over the property. So, I came here. And bought a place. MR. NISHIO: I would never let them take my child. MRS. VIDAL: Wasn't mine. And isn't your kid mi-- She stops herself from completing her terrible sentence. MRS. VIDAL (cont'd): I apologize, Mr. Nishio. It must be hard raising a child during all this. MR. NISHIO: Why would it be any different? MRS. VIDAL: Preacher says it's the end of days -- what with the Lazarus walking amongst us. Mr. Nishio scoffs, shakes his head. Clearly not a believer. MR. NISHIO: That is what they will say. I fought in France during the war. A village we stopped by was devastated. But a chapel withstood. The citizens were split, half thinking it was an ill omen that should be destroyed, the other half believing it was an inspiring sign of resiliency. MRS. VIDAL: And you? MR. NISHIO: Too busy recovering from the battle to care. However, our commander said to let it stand. Keep the people in support of the war that destroyed everything they held dear in life. Mr. Nishio laughs darkly. Vidal focuses on the night sky. MR. NISHIO (cont'd): The preacher will tell the story that benefits him. The Commodore, too. Lie about us and let the rest ignore they are getting the same raw deal. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. MINESHAFT EXIT -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Manco lies on the ground, her breathing labored. The sleeve of her coat is tied tight around the amputated appendage. Alice watches over her with sullen eyes. The revolver hangs from her hand, ready at a moment's notice. VOICES once again ring out in her head. VOICE 1 (O.S.): What have you done? VOICE 2 (O.S.): Wish they took you instead. Tortured by the chilling insults, Alice whispers responses. ALICE: I'm trying my best. VOICE 3 (O.S.): A waste. VOICE 4 (O.S.): Never did anything right. ALICE: Please, stop. Stop, I can't-- VOICE 5 (O.S.): Everything's your fault. ALICE: I know, I know, just please-- VOICE 6 (O.S.): Put a bullet in your head. VOICE 7 (O.S.): You are no one. ALICE: Shut up, shut up, shut up. She's suddenly struck with a severe pain in her stomach and falls over. As the pain subsides, rays of light touch down. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. COLORADO PLAINS -- DAY -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= In the foggy dawn, Alice carries Manco out and heads west. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. COLORADO PLAINS -- LATER -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= After a ways, Alice comes upon a dry riverbed. ALICE: Guess we'll follow it. Hope it leads to a town. Hope they don't shoot us. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. COLORADO PLAINS -- STILL LATER -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A static shock between Alice and Manco. She looks around her: the makings of a dust storm are swirling about. ALICE: Of course. Alice places Manco down and checks her pulse -- still alive. Quickly, Alice pulls the goggles out of her pocket and grabs her hat. She outfits Manco with both to ward her from dust. She then checks Manco's pockets. Out of one, she finds the faded picture of her mother, still unrecognizable to Alice. Alice places the photo back into Manco's pocket. She then checks others to find and retrieve her now-bloodied bandana. Alice ties the bandana across the girl's face and picks her back up -- just as the storm starts building around them. The dirt flies. Alice coughs after every inhale. Unable to continue, she drops prone and pulls Manco down with her. Alice can just barely see below the storm and breathe a little easier. She tries to crawl forward, but in the close distance, she observes undead legs marching toward them. Alice tries her best to avoid contact as the undead pass by. However, she's suddenly struck by an inexplicable hallucination: an OLDER WOMAN rocking an empty crib. Loud hissing. A DUSTY UNDEAD falls onto Alice. It lunges at her flesh, but she redirects the bite. Alice whips out her revolver and puts it down with a squeeze of the trigger. She pushes the body off and prepares for an onslaught. More legs march, but they're moving fast. Faster than the undead. More gunshots. Bodies begin dropping to the dirt. Those legs get closer and closer, until Alice and Manco are dragged up. ALICE (cont'd): Wait, wait don't take her away! She needs help! Don't kill her! Don't! Pulled further from the storm, Alice gets a glimpse of her captors. Faces shielded with hats and gas masks. NIMRODS. ALICE (cont'd): Are you Nimrods? Hey, listen! NIMROD 1: Someone muzzle the bitch, come on. Ahead, another Nimrod walks out from the opening path to a minor town. The man pulls out black bags for the prisoners. She notes the town's welcome sign as the Nimrod draws near. ON THE SIGN Welcome to the Town of Mancos, EST. 1894 ON ALICE The black bag is ripped over her head. OVER BLACK Alice is wrangled into a jail cell, still blinded by the head cover. Her breathing is noticeably labored and pained. ALICE: I need help, something's wrong. NIMROD 1: Who are you, what are you doing here? ALICE: Please, Jesus, it hurts, my insides! NIMROD 2: Just leave the bitch. Alice begins coughing and gagging. A body tumbles. NIMROD 1: Shit, she's shaking, shit! NIMROD 2: Is she bit? Check, goddammit! NIMROD 1: I don't know, I don't think so? NIMROD 2: Christ, get the doc. NIMROD 1: She can't be worth much at all. NIMROD 2: It ain't my investment. Get the doc! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. DENVER -- NIGHT (FLASHBACK) -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A trio of MAFIA MEMBERS carry an INJURED MEMBER through a dirty alley in the city of Denver. Among the group carrying the poor sod is a young man, STEPHEN. They arrive at a door. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. ABANDONED ROOM -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The three pull their injured friend onto a tattered bed. STEPHEN: Alice! You here!? Come out! Alice, 20 years younger, emerges from a backroom. Without a hint of panic, she saunters over to the Injured Member. ALICE: So, what caliber this time, boys? MAFIA MEMBER 1: Don't be so flippant, he's fighting. ALICE: Just assessing the damage. STEPHEN: It was a .45. ALICE: Isn't it always with you bootleggers. Be a dear and fetch the alcohol. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. ABANDONED ROOM -- LATER -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice smokes a cigarette as she observes the Injured Member, now patched up. Stephen joins her, drinking from a bottle. STEPHEN: You're quite the oddball, Alice. ALICE: That your idea of flattery, Stephen? I'd hate to be on your bad side. Stephen chuckles. Alice gives a wry smile. STEPHEN: Just wondering why a teenager is suturing up members of the mob. ALICE: You know you live in Denver, right? Stephen gives a knowing shrug. He'd like to hear more. ALICE (cont'd): I left Armenia with my mother during the war. Turns out America can be rather attractive after your father walks endlessly to his death. STEPHEN: Jesus. ALICE (jokingly): I know. Her glib attitude disarms Stephen. He nervously chortles. ALICE (cont'd): Mother really believed in this place. STEPHEN: How do you mean? ALICE: She goes to temperance meetings, goes to church, anything to feel American. So, why does no one in town hire her? STEPHEN: And you? ALICE: I read my Bible. I changed my name. I learned my craft. Something noble. But here I pull bullets out of crooks because I'm unsuited for a legitimate job in Denver. Or so I've been told. STEPHEN: So, I take it you're not the ritzy, theater-going type? ALICE: Well, she's threatening to piss away the money for a show. Talks about it every time I bring in the paper, Ma. STEPHEN: Could be worse. The supremacists are barred from enjoying a drink. Stephen passes the bottle to Alice, who accepts it. ALICE: You a crusader or do you just like the pay the mob's offering you? STEPHEN: Why not both? ALICE: Klan dies or the law changes, profits go-- Alice blows a puff of smoke into the air. Stephen smiles. STEPHEN: All through the war, they told us we'd be taken care of back home. Decade later, best I am is a hired gun. Luckily, this side is more fun. He receives the bottle and drinks. She looks him up and down. He's a handsome sort -- and he's not a hood wearer. ALICE: You want to come to the back with me? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. ALICE'S BATHROOM -- DAY -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice sits on her knees at the foot of a toilet. She chokes up bile into the bowl. Her MOTHER knocks on the closed door. MOTHER: Alice, darling, are you alright? ALICE: I'm alright, Ma. Guess breakfast just didn't sit well with me this morning. MOTHER: Let me know if you'd like me to call in sick for you at the hospital. ALICE: I'm alright but thank you. Terror fills her glassy eyes. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. DENVER STREETS -- DAY -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As snow falls, Alice walks the sidewalk, slick with ice. She slips and staggers forward, landing on her hands. Her breathing becomes labored as she presses herself up. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. ABANDONED ROOM -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice taps her foot nervously and takes deep drags off a cigarette as Stephen and another MAFIOSO enter the room. Stephen's limp arm makes it clear he's the one injured. STEPHEN: Evening, Alice. ALICE: What'd you do? STEPHEN: Oh, just a nick of the shoulder. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. ABANDONED ROOM -- LATER -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice is just about through suturing Stephen's wound. ALICE: I have to tell you something. STEPHEN: What, that you're pregnant? Her breathing just about stops. She steps away. STEPHEN (cont'd): Wait. Wait, are you, Alice? ALICE: Not for long. STEPHEN: Excuse me? ALICE: A friend of mine at the hospital knows a doctor, and I'm going to-- STEPHEN: You're what? Just going to end it? ALICE: I just thought you should know. STEPHEN: No, no, no, that's not how this is going to go, alright, that's not-- ALICE: Just shut up, Stephen. STEPHEN: Listen, I really like you-- ALICE: Oh, Jesus Christ. STEPHEN: Think of what your mother would say. I mean, with your dad dying, she'd want to live to see her grandkids-- A rage hits Alice. She presses her thumb into his shoulder. STEPHEN (cont'd): Ow, goddammit, Alice, stop, stop! ALICE: You mention my mother or what she'd want again, I will fucking end you. Alice removes her thumb and departs. Stephen is quite upset. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. DENVER STREETS -- DAY -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice stands at a lonely corner in Denver. Waiting. A car sidles up to the curb where Alice stands. She enters. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. COLORADO NEIGHBORHOOD -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Arriving in front of a lonesome house, Alice exits the car. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice sits eyes shut in a leather chair near a fireplace. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. ALICE'S ROOM -- DAY -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A ringing phone wakes Alice suddenly from her sleep. The ringing stops. Alice pushes herself up and leans against the headboard. She calms her breathing, loosens her body. She seems at peace. Her door opens. MOTHER (O.S.): What have you done? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. DENVER STREET -- DAY -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice is tossed from the entrance of an apartment building. The door slams in her face. She begins pounding the door. A scream rings out, catching the attention of the girl. Off in the distance, an UNDEAD HORDE stumbles down the street. (3/7/23 4:07 a.m.) CUT TO BLACK. ******************************************************************************* (4/28/25 12:24 a.m.) EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a transcript of a video edited by Martie "Murds" Mood. Title: How David Lynch Influenced 17 Games -- strummerdood Description: Free Palestine -- Freedom is a Constant Struggle (2015), a collection of essays by Angela Davis Visibility: Public Restrictions: - Date: Mar 19, 2015 Views: 31,738 Comments: 24 Like (vs. dislike): 718 (94.5%) BOARD: Click annotations to skip spoilers for...Deadly Premonition; Alan Wake; Killer7; Time Fuck; The Binding of Isaac; Hotline Miami; Braid; Metal Gear Solid; Metal Gear Solid 2; Mulholland Drive Hey, I'm strummerdood or Matt or whatever, I don't know. So, the term "cinematic" has become contentious in gaming. For many, it besmirches gaming's own accomplishments, like film is inherently better. But that doesn't mean games can't still learn from cinema. And in fact, many of gaming's landmark titles were influenced by a single director: Mr. David Lynch. David Lynch is best known for bringing surrealism and expressionism back to the mainstream, with films like The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive, as well as the groundbreaking television drama, Twin Peaks. The show takes place in an idyllic Northwest town following the suspicious death of a teenage girl. Underneath the small town glean hides a dark mystery with a tinge of the supernatural. BOARD: "They're like reality to me -- life is strange and full of dark corners." -Chelsea Wolfe on David Lynch films One of the earliest games inspired by David Lynch's Twin Peaks is none other than The Legend of Zelda, and the director's influence runs deep throughout the series. Link's Awakening's director, Takashi Tezuka, planned the world in the vein of Twin Peaks': a small town full of suspicious characters. Since then, the Zelda series has consistently followed this blueprint. Link's Awakening also heavily deals in dreams: a major fixture of Lynch's narratives. Link dreams up the town, its citizens possessing traits of his friends and enemies. More on that later, though. BOARD: "I was talking about fashioning Link's Awakening with a feel that was somewhat like Twin Peaks. At the time, Twin Peaks was rather popular. The drama was all about a small number of characters in a small town." -Takashi Tezuka, director "When I was reading Tanabe-sans comments in the strategy guide, I saw, 'Tezuka-san suggested we make all the characters suspicious types like in the then-popular Twin Peaks.'" -Eiji Aonuma This idea of small town mysteries re-emerged with Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake. The company had previously referenced Twin Peaks in Max Payne, which featured a television show with the conspicuous look of Twin Peaks' Red Room, albeit with more talking flamingos. Alan Wake's Northwestern town of Bright Falls was, of course, inspired by Twin Peaks. As was Access Games' Deadly Premonition, which may as well be a Japanese retelling of Twin Peaks. Both contain references on top of references to the show. It would take me forever to go through them all; they even have oddly specific references like planting evidence in a motorcycle gas tank. BOARD: Twin Peaks ; Alan Wake ; Deadly Premonition Cooper loves coffee ; Coffee thermoses and Damn Good Cup of Coffee achievement ; York loves coffee Smart Log Lady ; Smart Lamp Lady ; Pot Lady Double R Diner ; Triple D Diner ; A&G Diner FBI agent who loves coffee and trees ; FBI agent who hates coffee and trees ; FBI agent who loves coffee Lumber Mill ; Lumber Mill ; Lumber Mill Trust in Dreams ; Trust in Dreams; Trust in Dreams Otherworld (Red Room, Black Lodge) ; Otherworld (Divers Isle) ; Otherworld (Red & White Room) Man From Another Place ; Thomas Zane ; Isaach & Isaiah Ingram Talks to unseen Diane ; x ; Talks to unseen Zach Crossdresser in law enforcement ; x ; Crossdresser in law enforcement Sheriff has secret society ; Sheriff has secret society ; x Young popular girl involved in her own murder, found at lumber mill, haunts FBI agent after death, clue to serial killer found on body ; x ; Young popular girl involved in her own murder, found at lumber mill, haunts FBI agent after death, clue to serial killer found on body Most importantly, though, in both games there is a heavy emphasis on duality. See, Lynch can get away with being so abstract because his stories generally concern essential paradoxes: black and white, good and evil. For example, Blue Velvet juxtaposes the 50s, Reagan idealism of the daytime sequences with the stark, cruel underbelly of the nighttime scenes. The main character wavers between the intoxicating darkness and the warm light throughout the film. The dynamic shifts are often used to shock the viewer's senses. In the case of Alan Wake, there's a dichotomy between light and dark, especially in the gameplay as a flashlight helps defeat the dark Taken. The game also deals with the idea of fractured identities as you're working your way through a story you unknowingly wrote a week before. Wake even has a doppelganger, a major element of Twin Peaks: good and evil versions of characters existing in the otherworldly Black Lodge. Deadly Premonition also deals with dualities, subverting a Twin Peaks' reference -- speaking to the unseen Zach -- into a major plot point: that York has dissociative personality disorder, splitting after a traumatic childhood memory. Though not as obvious, this may be a nod to the Twin Peaks film, Fire Walk With Me, which was about a child of sexual abuse battling the demons around her. This idea of splitting and fracturing is reminiscent of Suda 51's Killer7. The developer referenced Lynch's Lost Highway in an earlier game called Moonlight Syndrome, but the duality concept weighs heavily in Killer7. A wheelchair-bound assassin splits his personality into seven physical entities. At the end of the game, the protagonist and antagonist are revealed to be immortal paradoxes who are destined to battle forever. Edmund McMillen similarly plays with the idea of split personalities. In The Binding of Isaac, the main character, Isaac, shifts between a clean, pure child and various manifestations of sin, concluding with his transformation into a demon. Isaac struggles with being an imperfect sinner, but he would be right at home in Twin Peaks or Blue Velvet: stories that show darkness exists in everyone, but that it's a part of being human. An earlier game by McMillen called Time Fuck was directly influenced by David Lynch. BOARD: "...the vibe is claustrophobic and inward thinking insanity. You should feel like something is amiss, something is wrong...I wanted the mood to be strange or unsettling, like a David Lynch movie." -Edmund McMillen The game uses the duality concept to create surrealistic unease, stuck in a box accompanied by the thoughts of your future self. Essentially, you're talking to yourself. What's disturbing is how distressed and defeated you sound. In the last level, upon seeing yourself trapped, you're told to give up and kill yourself, and you totally can! But if you finish the puzzle, you can escape. The box itself represents the limits we put on ourselves, the ending showing the only thing holding us back is the voices in our head. BOARD: Semiotics: The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. Heavily used in Lynch films. This harrowing surrealism of not being sure of your identity is further realized in the Metal Gear Solid franchise. Its developer, Hideo Kojima, once said he'd rather be David Lynch than Steven Spielberg. And like Twin Peaks, the games even feature a character who's possessed by his dismembered arm. In the first Metal Gear Solid, we find out Solid Snake is a clone, one with predominantly recessive genes, his brother, Liquid Snake, receiving the dominant. As with Twin Peaks, the dichotomy is shown in hair color, blonde vs. brunette. Metal Gear Solid 2 takes the concept to an extreme. Turns out the blonde-haired Raiden is in a simulation of the first game, being trained as a Solid Snake successor. When the facade disappears, some truly bizarre moments take place. COLONEL: I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61! That unsettling break in reality and the panic it sets in is known as the uncanny. It's explored heavily in gothic horror like H.P. Lovecraft and Dark Souls: something strange yet familiar. BOARD: Uncanny: (German: Das Unheimliche, "the opposite of what is familiar"); psychological concept of something that is strangely familiar It's also something evident in Kojima's upcoming take on Silent Hill. A psychological prison, the player gains familiarity with a short residential hallway. A feeling of dread arises when the world changes in unexpected ways. Hey, it even features an Eraserhead baby. That's, that's really messed up. Really not cool. Kojima is taking inspiration from -- what else? -- Twin Peaks. Also, consider the expressionist values of Lynch's work: seeing the world through the biased eyes of a character. This is an essential element of Mulholland Drive, where the majority of the film is the optimistic but imperfect dream of the main character. Similarly, the Silent Hill franchise takes a character's personal demons and makes them literal. BOARD: Expressionism: A style in which the artist or writer seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world Another game that embodies the strange yet familiar is Kentucky Route Zero. Its designer and writer Jake Elliott has named David Lynch as a huge inspiration. The tone of his films -- mixing the mundane with the supernatural -- is a major element of the game, in that you're traveling country roads coming upon odd occurrences. Also, this bar performance has to be an homage to Julee Cruise's performance in Twin Peaks. If not that, then the character Lula, who shares a name with the female lead of Lynch's Wild at Heart. Life is Strange is a game that wears its influences patently on its sleeve, including Twin Peaks. And in addition to taking place in the Northwest, evoking a similar small town mystery concept, and mixing the supernatural with the everyday, the game intends to take another lesson from David Lynch in subverting caricatures and tropes to help tell its story. The school is full of art dorks, skaters, jocks, and nerds, but the game's very aware of these stereotypes. Indeed, with its multiple references to The Catcher in the Rye, it could just as well be the biased perspective of the teenage lead, as it was with Holden Caulfield. BOARD: "David Lynch had a way with Twin Peaks to create strong characters, using stereotypes, but then evolving them outside the boundaries of those cliches, and this is something we are keen on doing in Life is Strange, using some established character types, and then completely putting them on unexpected paths." -Michel Koch, Dontnod co-director In Lynch's Mulholland Drive, we see a prototypical vision of the Hollywood dream. But the cracks soon show and we realize this is the overly-idealistic dream of a distraught starlet who is actually living a nightmare. With The Elephant Man, the severely deformed John Merrick counters society's stereotyping, becoming a wonderfully eloquent man instead of the monster the public sees him as. Gone Home is another game that plays with tropes, particularly in the gaming medium. Taking place in the 90s where emails and cell phones can't solve problems in a matter of seconds, the game references Twin Peaks. Gone Home embodies tropes to flip our expectations of the medium. Exploring life through the mundane, but hinting at satanic rituals in its big spooky mansion. It's a way for the developer to create tension in the comforting high school story and to also subvert its genre. Designer Steve Gaynor also said Blue Velvet informed the game's interior lighting. This talk of duality -- things not being what they seem, people and places in different lights like Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet -- it helps describe an oft-maligned game mechanic: backtracking. Hotline Miami's designer (Jonatan "Cactus" Soderstrom) -- uh, "Cactus," is a huge David Lynch fan, and he used 80s action movie and gaming tropes, as well as backtracking, to repulse players -- a bit more Lynchian than the previously mentioned games considering the visceral graphic nature of the director's work. Hotline is unabashed ultra-violent fun, but after the carnage, we're forced to spend a few unsettling moments retreading our steps through the bloody aftermath. Before each mission, we put on a mask and take on a new persona, like a Lynch character passing through red, velvet curtains into another realm of existence. Between levels, we explore our apartment and shops in the city. As the game goes on, shopkeepers are murdered and our apartment gets covered in blood. We assume we're being controlled by some type of pantheon, but the game ends by asking why we need an excuse for the violence. We enjoy it, as we did when playing old shallow kill fests like Smash TV. Resident Evil is iconic for its backtracking, so it should come as no surprise its director Shinji Mikami is a huge David Lynch fan, even naming one of his post-Capcom companies Straight Story, an ironic reference to Lynch's lone G-rated film. As you acclimate yourself to the mansion, small changes occur to throw you off, like the appearance of Crimson Heads and Hunters. Lynch's influence on Mikami was even more evident in his latest game, The Evil Within. I mean, I mean it's called "The Evil Within" for Christ's sake. But what he really took was the shifting, dreamlike narrative structure of Lynch's last film, Inland Empire. Like the dreams and nightmares of Inland Empire -- which cut erratically and without warning -- reality is never assured in The Evil Within. Memories literally manifest themselves and worlds are constantly breaking down and crashing into one another. Also, whether intentional or not, The Evil Within is very self-referential to Mikami's past, not unlike Inland Empire which incorporates characters from past movies like Mulholland Drive. Dreams are so integral to Lynch's work. They're the perfect expression of all his signatures in film: they're non-linear, they're strange yet familiar, they're abstract, and they're inescapable. Jonathan Blow identified Lynch's Mulholland Drive as major inspiration for Braid because of its dreamlike tone and use of interconnected patterns. In Braid, the player pieces together a non-linear puzzle, a fantastical realm of ideas. The style is evocative of Super Mario, Tim going between levels searching for his Princess. Until the very end when it's revealed the Princess is running from Tim, searching for a knight in shining armor. Braid also uses semiotics, the Princess representing a goal that, though not evil, would bring darkness to many people. BOARD: "It lays this network of associations and causes and effects in your mind, and you have to try to unravel the riddle of what's going on. It leads you to certain chains of deduction." -Jonathan Blow So, I've covered about 17 games directly influenced by a director whose last film was nine years ago. But he remains vital. This of course isn't the last you'll see a game described as Lynchian. A mystery adventure game called Virginia looks to bite even more off of Twin Peaks. Imagine how many more people will be inspired by Lynch when he returns to Twin Peaks on Showtime in 2016; 25 years after the series finale. BOARD: "Inspired by our collective love of 90s TV dramas like Twin Peaks, The X-Files, and The Outer Limits, we wanted to create a game which captured their mixture of the inexplicable, the absurd, and the mundane." -Variable State But why Lynch over other directors? Maybe because games can be more non-linear, allow us to walk around in a dream, experience the uncanny first hand. Maybe it's like Super Bunnyhop's point about Aliens influencing gaming; that we kind of dig 80s cynicism right now. We're a generation who pines for 50s optimism, but we're kinda realistic and see a lot of pessimism, a lot of darkness. But, regardless of the point, it's not going to be the last time David Lynch is used as an influence for a game. And uh, unlike calling a game cinematic, it might actually be a good thing.