Splatterhouse

Company: Namco Year: 1988 Resource: splatter

In a dark and stormy night, Rick and his girlfriend Jeniffer take refuge in the creepy West mansion, only to find himself dead and Jeniffer missing! Now, a mysterious sacrificial mask with amazing powers brings him back from the dead and in order to free himself from its curse, he must destroy the evil lurking deep within the mansion and save Jennifer in the process! Features some of the goriest graphics ever seen at its release date, awesome music & sound effects, lots of the typical toys seen in horror flicks (knives, etc) as well as lots of challenge!

Splatterhouse was banned in most arcades in the US due to its violent nature as well as some questionable bosses such as the chapel boss (The inverted cross). Splatterhouse was the first game to get a parental advisory disclaimer.

Influences

Friday the 13th movies

The third boss wears a bag for a mask just like Jason Voorhees did on the first three movies and Rick's mask resembles the well-know hockey mask that Jason wears in the later movies of the series until the Jason X movie in which he gets a totally different new look.

Evil Dead movies

Many concepts were borrowed from these particular movies such as:

• House deep within the woods where a famed scientist unleashes some very evil demonic power;
• The fight between Rick and his evil twins;
• The evil severed hands that even taunt him;
• The possessed room with flying furniture;
• The necromancer's zombies that just won't die;
• Rick's quest to rescue Jennifer, only to find her possessed and turned into a cackling demon hungry for his blood!

The Exorcist

When fighting against demon Jennifer, she recovers her sanity for a few brief moments and begs for your help just before turning into a demon once again, something quite similar is seen in this horror classic.

The H-man

The sludge monsters seen in the sewer levels seem somewhat similar to the liquid people seen in this old Japanese horror flick.

Poltergeist

The possessed room may also have been inspired by this movie.

Parasite

The leeches seen at the end of the first stage as well as in many other later levels are cleary based on the creatures seen in this pseudo 3-D movie.

Rejuvenator

The big headed monsters whose heads fly off and attack before dying are very reminiscent of the gruesome brain-eating monster seen in this film.

Re-Animator

Dr. West is largely believed to be Herbert West who was featured prominently in H.P. Lovecraft's story Herbert West—Reanimator, who was subsequently featured in the Re-Animator film series. (arcade-history)