Ten Video Games That Deserve a Film Adaptation

Why does Resident Evil have such a stranglehold on zombie game adapted movies? The series is on to number four already (despite the quality of the movies themselves), with House of the Dead as the only other video game to make it to the big screen?  What's going on here?

It makes no sense, considering the amount of video games out there just waiting to be turned into hugely profitable movies. Therefore, enjoy our list of zombie games that deserve a film adaptation.

10. Cold Fear

Before anyone can comment with "That's already going to be a movie," I READ ABOUT IT TOO, WISEGUY. But that news was a long time ago and there's been precious little since. Sure, Cold Fear has an IMDB page that I could look it up, but it's on IMDB PRO and I'm saving that 14-day free trial until I have no choice but to cash it in.

The story of the game is perfect for a movie: Tom Hansen (Thomas Jane, perhaps?), a member of the U.S. Coast Guard member investigates a Russian ship filled with... guess what? That's right, cargo. Cargo filled with a parasite that turns humans into zombies. Hansen has to survive the zombies while also solving the mystery that is the cargo. Perfect Act Two scenario. The movie should end with the ship hitting land, cargo slips out... boom! Cold Fear 2!

9. Shellshock 2: Blood Trails

8. Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green

I know what you're going to ask: "but isn't that a video game based on a movie!" My answer? EXACTLY. Hollywood needs some "out-of-the-box" thinking, and this is it! Seriously, if Bruno Mattei was still alive, Anchor Bay would have released the DVD already.

Finally, an entire movie based on the adventures of Jack, a simple farmer who must make his way back into the city of the living dead and clear out a high-rise building with the ridiculous title of Fiddler's Green (what is it, a home for masturbaters?). Cast Bruce Campbell as Jack, and you're on a one-way ticket to awesome.

7. Dead Island

Beat them to the punch! Make the movie first! Dead Island has been "in development" for years now, heading to almost, but not quite, Posession-like status as a game that simply will never come out.

The story is easy enough. A couple crash land on an island filled with the undead. There are other humans on the islands too, so survival includes outlasting the zombies and humans.

With the game details still largely unknown, writing the script would have few restrictions. All that's known for sure is an island, zombies, and organized groups of human beings. The rest is up the  writer to create and audiences to enjoy.

6. Zombie Hooker Nightmare

A movie based on a free-Flash game? First time ever, right? But for the zombie genre, this is a great fit. The game is about hookers trying to make a living despite the zombie apocalypse, while the movie could pit hookers as the heroes, and mankind's last defense. It could even be animated! The possibilities are limitless!

2008 saw a rise in stripper and zombie movies, and Zombie Hooker Nightmare would take that sub-genre to the next level with massive amounts of T&A and zombie-killing. When it comes to nudity and sexual situations, strippers can only provide so much.  After all, they aren't, say it with me now,  hookers! Zombie Hooker Nightmare could potentially take zombie boobage to a place Zombie Strippers could only dream of.

5. Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Here's a great opportunity to add to the zombie comedy genre. Following two teenagers as they try to save their neighborhood from zombies and Jason-like killers with chainsaws seems like a naturally comedic situation. Like Fido, this could be a zombie film for the whole family!

Previews only need a shot of Zeke and Julie bouncing over a hedge into a swimming pool to get old Sega and SNES fans in line to buy tickets.

4. Dead Rising

This is pick so simple, it's frustrating as to why it hasn't been made into a movie yet. Perhaps the lawsuit Capcom endured over the intellectual property of a mall location filled with zombies that Dead Rising stole borrowed by from both versions of Dawn of the Dead may have something to do with the lack of a movie version. Capcom did survive the lawsuit, but probably didn't want to tempt fate by making a movie about zombies based in a mall.

Lucky for Capcom, there's Dead Rising 2 set in the Las Vegas-esque town of Fortune City. Dropping the smaller location of its predecessor and indeed many aspects of the original game, Dead Rising 2 looks to set the game apart from the Romero comparisons, setting itself up for a film adaptation.

That is, until the producers of Resident Evil: Extinction sue because of the use of a "Vegas" location.

3. Plants Vs. Zombies

The greatest apocalyptic novel of all time, I Am Legend, had protagonist Robert Neville tend to his  garden of garlic bulbs daily to help ward off the vampires of the night. Plants Vs. Zombies follows a similar vein (if you will), and a film version, which would likely pit a lonely botanist against the living dead, could be a quirky and hilarious movie, considering the aspect of plants doing the dirty work steers towards the ridiculous.

Only stumbling block: loads of CGI would be required, meaning a big budget that usually isn't afforded to zombie movies.

2. Call of Duty: World at War Nazi Zombies

UPDATE: Before anyone writes another comment "alerting" us that a Nazi zombie movie has been made, let us say: we know. Read our review of Dead Snow here plus a whole article about Nazi zombies that includes all the other Nazi zombies made thus far. But, there's always room for another Nazi zombie movie, right? Now, read on...

The "Nazi Zombie" levels of Call of Duty: World at War have been enormously popular for good reason: it's all about survival. Trapped in one location, players must survive onslaught after onslaught, upgrading weapons and abilities as they go. The third version of "nazi Zombies," Shi No Numa, explanded the location and introduced Hellhounds, evil dogs similar to Resident Evil. Really, there's far more to be done here.

In a movie version, not unlike the hit summer blockbuster Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, soldiers fighting in World War II would suddenly find themselves at the mercy of a new opponent: Nazi zombies. All hell breaks loose, they store up in an asylum or a rickety old house and fight them off.  End credits, movie studio collects a huge check.

1. Left 4 Dead

Duh. Obvious choice. This game is begging to get into movie theaters. First, the game (L4D 1, that is) has four unique characters: Bill - the crotchety old vet, Francis - biker who hates everything, Louis - the fuck-up, and Zoey - the... girl. Bit of a blank slate there. Then you have the zombies, both the regular, angry ones and the unique ones. Introduce the Hunters, Smokers, etc. over time, and you have a movie filled with surprises.

What you don't know is how they all came together, what life was like before the zombies took over. Tell that story, basically how the survivors ended up together, and you have part one of a new zombie trilogy. (Hey Hollywood, I'm ready to write it when you're ready to hire me.)