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The Quarry is giving 80s slasher screams to 2022 teensIf you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a Supermassive jump scare
If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a Supermassive jump scare
When I saw the new Scream film earlier this year, the audience was a mix of zoomers sitting at the back giggling at how rubbish it was, and people my age and older fighting the urge to go, “No, see, it’s actually really cool and good how they say what the plot is and then that actuallyisthe plot!” There were just too many layers to peel off the metafictional onion for a generation who didn’t love the original Scream from 1996. Heck, Scream 5 even opens with a joke about how kids today only like ‘prestige’ horror like The Babadook.
I’m convinced that there’s a middle ground, where you can have a slasher horror that loves the tropes and knows how to work them, but still feels smart and fresh in 2022. And, preferably, stars pro-wrestler and part-time actor David Arquette. This week I played some ofThe Quarry.
Supermassive Games' interactive survival horrorUntil Dawncame close in 2015, though the latter half became a little too earnest and frantic for my money. It also did not star David Arquette. The studio’s more recent Dark Pictures Anthology, on the other hand, took itself a bit too seriously. The Quarry is Supermassive’s latest effort, and based on a recent hands on preview of its second chapter, it feels like the studio is taking another swing at their Until Dawn-style of slasher horror and starting afresh. Set in a summer camp at the end of the season, a group of young camp counsellors have to unexpectedly spend one more night there, and navigate their own complex interpersonal dramas while also possibly getting murdered. Also, it stars David Arquette (although sadly did not make an appearance in my hour-long preview build).
The Quarry | Official Announce Trailer | 2KWatch on YouTube
The Quarry | Official Announce Trailer | 2K
Since I only got to play one chapter of the game (which ends just after the teens start to separated and attacked), I was dropped in the middle of things, but yoinked out before it got properly juicy. If you’ve played Until Dawn or any ofThe Dark Picturesyou’ll know the basics of how it works: it’s a lot of cutscenes where you can choose what response a character makes in conversation, mixed with segments where you walk around an area finding clues and completing the next story objective. Sometimes, there is a QTE to avoid a hazard while you’re running somewhere.
Control switches between different members of the group frequently, which means you can actually decide that the character you don’t like totally deserves to die, and railroad them towards a horrible end. But the game has a few tricks of its own for you, too. Finding certain clues as one counsellor might allow them to put things together with someone else later, for example, and it looks like certain decisions could have wider ramifications than some of Supermassive’s previous game. “Do you help your wounded friend or make a break for it?” is an obvious example, but, “Do you say something mean to this guy right at the start?” is less so. After all, this is as much about the teen drama as actual horror here, and I get the feeling that both will be equally important things to consider as the story goes on. The QTEs also seem easier and more generous, too, which is no bad thing.
The Quarry has black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, too, so it’s like you’re watching a movie in widescreen.
The vibe in The Quarry is incredibly 80s slasher, not just because it’s set at a summer camp and counsellors are getting all hot and bothered over one another, but also in the way things are shot and teased. Early scene transitions are eased with non-diegetic pop and rock music. Sometimes it even lulled me into a false sense of security, because the pop music is what plays when people are safe, right? It’s established that someone’s lurking around in the ol' lookout, so you keep thinking when someone eventually goes up there they’re going to get absolutely mullered. As Emma the hot girl and Jacob the jock (her summer fling, natch) go swimming, the camera pans down to show a very macabre [redacted] in the lake, so then you spend the next ten minutes wondering which one of them is about to get pulled down, oh god oh man.
