A Movie Based on the Video Game ‘Phasmophobia’ is Being Developed by Blumhouse
Ghost hunting movies aren’t rare, so a Phasmophobia film will have to do something special to stand out.
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On June 3rd, as part of The Business of Fear event held by Blumhouse, it was announced that a Phasmophobia movie is in the works.
According to a press release, The Business of Fear was an event with the goal of “examining the growing power of horror subgenres.” The paranormal was one of the “24 thriving subgenres” of horror identified by Blumhouse in a recent survey (The 2024 Genre Categorization Survey). If Blumhouse wants to adapt something paranormal, Phasmophobia is a logical and interesting choice.
Phasmophobia is a multiplayer game all about paranormal investigations. One to four players take roles as ghost hunters who are sent to a haunted location with the objective of documenting any paranormal activity and identifying the type of spirit they’ve encountered. As players investigate with an array of tools you might see on any ghost-hunting TV show (EMF detectors, spirit boxes, temperature gauges, etc.), the ghost will occasionally hunt and kill them.
There isn’t an overarching story in Phasmophobia. Players might learn something about each ghost they hunt, but the game isn’t interested in a larger narrative. That’s probably a good thing for a movie adaptation.
With no real story to adapt, Blumhouse’s Phasmophobia movie can make up whatever story they want. The important, and most difficult, thing is to try to recreate the nerve-racking ghost hunts that the game offers. Part of the effectiveness of the game comes from being placed into the creepy atmosphere of a first-person paranormal investigation. It will be interesting to see how (or if) a movie can emulate that experience in a way that doesn’t feel like the countless other ghost-hunt horror movies that have been made over the decades.
The Phasmophobia film is being produced by Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, in association with the games creators, Kinetic Games Limited. No release dates or further details are known at this time.
