If you have ever been terrified of Animal Crossing’s K.K Slider, the singing dog that visits everyone’s island, then a new horror film with roots in the popular Nintendo Switch game might news you can use. It was recently announced that an Animal Crossing horror short is being made into a feature-length film (via Deadline). The original short Don’t Peek was produced during quarantine early on in 2020 and first posted to director Julian Terry's?YouTube last October.
A remarkably well-constructed little film,?Don't Peek?really gets under your skin with a creature that is as unsettling as it is unique in its design. The short is all set primarily in one room as a monster from within the game seeks to escape the confines of the virtual world and begins to haunt the player who can’t escape. The short was selected to debut on March 15, the first day of SXSW Online, and clearly caught the attention of those who see the untapped potential to build off the existing vision. According to Deadline, the short will now be adapted by Timur Bekmambetov?(Wanted, Ben-Hur) into a full-length horror feature.
When it comes to this new project, details are still unknown about who else will be involved or who will star in the movie. However, it is still early and there is certainly room for the film to become something at the very that is unique. All one needs to do is look at 2015’s Hardcore Henry, which Bekmambetov also produced. Why it is illustrative for this film’s potential is that Hardcore Henry was at least in part inspired by YouTube?videos as well. With Bekmambetov moving from one project with YouTube origins to another — and helping make the movie into a very memorable entry in the action genre — we should expect similarly interesting things to arise with his involvement in?Don't Peek.
We'll keep you posted on Don't Peek's transformation into a full-length horror movie. In the meantime, check out?the?Don't Peek?short below.