John Carpenter Still Wants To Direct A Dead Space Movie, Can’t Stop Playing Fallout 76

Halloween director John Carpenter is a big fan of video games, and with more and more games being adapted for the silver screen, he remains interested in directing a Dead Space movie.

Carpenter is known for his work in the horror/thriller space, so singling out Dead Space isn’t a big surprise. “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 said.

In 2013, Carpenter first mentioned that Dead Space would make a “great movie” and that he would like to direct it, so clearly he’s been thinking about this for a long time.

“You have these people coming onto an abandoned, shut down spaceship, and they have to start it up and something’s on board. It’s just great stuff,” he said at the time. “I would love to make Dead Space, I’ll tell you that right now,” adding that the game “is ready-made” for a film adaptation.

In the AV Club interview, Carpenter said he enjoyed all the Dead Space games, even Dead Space 3. This game was criticized, by some, for leaning too far into the action category, but Carpenter said he enjoyed this game, the one “nobody else liked.”

The next Dead Space game is a remake of the first one, coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in January 2023.

Also in the interview, Carpenter discussed some of his favorite video games right now, singling out Bethesda’s Fallout 76 in particular. Asked to quantify how much he’s playing this game, Carpenter said he doesn’t know, but feels his time commitment to the game so far is “sick.”

“Whatever it is, is really sick. I’m addicted to it. It’s too many hours, okay? That’s what it is,” he said.

Carpenter spoke at length about his favorite video games in the AV Club interview. He hasn’t directed a movie in years, but the characters he created, including Michael Myers, live on today.