(Originally published to Glitchwave on 10/13/2024)
[Image from igdb.com]
Deadly Premonition
Developer: Marvelous Entertainment
Publisher: UTV Ignition
Genre(s): Horror, Open-World
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3
Release Date: February 23, 2010
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Anyway, I could summarize the third-person shooter horror game Deadly Premonition with the jokey blurb because it perfectly encapsulates everything that it offers in a succinct little nutshell. However, the short sentence doesn’t detail Deadly Premonition’s strange legacy, namely how it gained its cult status. In the film world, there’s a myriad of shoddy movies whose relevance is preserved under an ironic phenomenon referred to as “so bad it's good.” Films with nonsensical stories, hammy actors, “endearing” special effects, and other immersion-killing mistakes that would’ve been left in the blooper reel by a more competent filmmaker are obviously not worthy of Oscar contention. Furthermore, they’re also certainly prime for critical scorn from an objective standpoint. Still, the appreciation of any piece of art or entertainment is entirely subjective, and viewers will still actively watch these types of films while fully understanding that they are absolute disasters. Whether it be laughing at the film for its unintentional hilarity or admiration for how it breaks the standards and practices of the filmmaking status quo, all of the flawed elements can still amount to a genuinely enjoyable experience. Take the astounding reputation of The Room as the perfect example of this sensation, still screening at theaters around the world so audiences can lovingly mock it. Can the same sensation be achieved in the medium of video games? Frankly, I’m a bit skeptical. It’s easy to appreciate nonsensical shlock from a viewer's removed perspective because the experience with any film involves the same inert process. With an interactive medium, the clumsy attributes will be actively defying the player throughout their playtime if they choose to persist with it. Given the intriguing reputation of Deadly Premonition, whose fan base adores its messiness, I thought I’d be a new member of the club. However, my skepticism has not dissipated entirely.
Deadly Premonition couldn't have possibly ripped off Twin Peaks more if it wanted to. Sure, not everything is a shot-for-shot recreation, but the line between the parallels that Deadly Premonition is trying to mask to discern itself is so thinly veiled that it's like wearing a mesh outfit to cover one’s naked body. For instance, the popular, beautiful prom queen whose murder serves as the plot catalyst and focal point of the entire plot is not found “dead…wrapped in plastic” over by the shore. Instead, she’s been hung up on a towering tree in a crucifixion position, totally topless with her long blonde hair tastefully covering her breasts and a grievous gash exposed on her torso. The discovery of her freshly deceased corpse devastates the town, which inspires the call for action to prevent future killings in what seems to be a string of similar murders. The severity of the situation invites out-of-towner FBI agent Dale Coo–I mean, Francis “York” Morgan, whose detective expertise is vital to solving the mystery of the case. After a detour through the town’s lakefront, York (his preferred title) meets his subsidiary crew of local sheriff George Woodman and junior deputy Emily Wyatt once dawn arrives. With this gang of law enforcers on the scene, cracking the case of whoever is behind all of the spree killings should be done by breakfast time. Good lord: where do I start with the comparisons? I’ve already covered the similarities with what event begins Deadly Premonition, but the uncanny instances just keep piling on afterward like a Chinese buffet. Is it a coincidence that the first glimpse of our suited protagonist is while he’s driving and mumbling a soliloquy on the situation at hand? Why do I even bother asking this question when I realize it’s entirely rhetorical? Did I mention that York here has access to his own Black Lodge, the otherworldly lounge pad whose iconography is arguably the most indelible image of Twin Peaks? York’s special space suspended between the realm of dreams and reality isn’t decked out with crimson red curtains and a black and white wave pattern as its flooring. Still, a bed of fallen, luridly orange leaves supporting the foundation of a circular living area that only the protagonist is privy to functions the same as Agent Cooper’s swanky and sophisticated waiting room. If the angelic versions of the twin boys Isaach and Isaiah that reside here spoke backward, I would’ve rolled my eyes back so far into my head that it would have rendered me blind. My only hope for Deadly Premonition’s sake is that David Lynch is so old and out of touch that he isn’t aware of the existence of video games. Otherwise, the passionate director will rain fury upon the developers for unabashedly stealing his material. One thing to take note of in comparing Deadly Premonition to its obvious source is that the macabre subject matter is presented much more graphically if the partial nudity and blood spilling out of victim Anna Graham is any indication. By the seventh console generation, censorship in gaming had evidently become less restrained than what was allowed on television in the early 1990s.
If you’re not familiar with the drug I referenced in my opening blurb, and bless you sweet, innocent angel if you’re not, what I was ultimately alluding to is that Deadly Premonition’s attributes resemble those of Twin Peaks in a warped and disoriented fashion. What better way to illustrate the game’s mirrored, bizarro realm relationship with Twin Peaks than by comparing the protagonists? Besides their vocation and exact purpose for driving out to the boonies, Agent Francis “York” Morgan shares several of the same eccentricities as Kyle Maclaughlan’s character from the show. However, York sheds much of Dale Cooper’s personability and charm in favor of cranking up his apparent autism to eleven. York is endlessly fascinated by everything, and he’ll monologue to himself about that particular point of interest tangent after tangent until someone snaps him back to reality. The player will grow weary of York rambling on and on about horror movies, punk rock music (uh oh. Are those two things a tell-tale sign of autism?), and the nostalgia of girls from a bygone era of his life, especially when he’s driving alone in a police vehicle. Actually, York’s enthusiastic words will always be shared with “Zach,” a “character” constantly addressed by York but never seen or heard by anyone. The inclusion of this illusory character would veer the game into the realm of the absurd if the other characters didn’t acknowledge that York seems to have an imaginary friend based on how many times he openly converses with the invisible figure. York believes that the shape of the swirl of milk inside his morning coffee gives him vital intimations on the case at hand, and the grizzliness revolving around the spree killings never wavers his smirk of confidence. In fact, each subsequent tragedy that occurs around town after Anna is treated as a new source of stimuli for York to mull over. Many of the townspeople express an open dislike for York because his social skills are downright abysmal. He’s so aloof that it's as if an alien has invaded the grounds of Greenvale, which is certainly not a source of relief for a town already on edge from the recent murders. George and Emily often admonish York for his unorthodox, borderline nonsensical detective tactics, and their chiding stems from both a disagreement in planning as well as a genuine concern for the man’s mental health. Still, by York’s own admission, one needs an abstract mind to understand the motivations of a psychopathic killer and calculate their next moves. If no one else in Greenvale is equipped to handle a case of such drastic proportions, they shouldn’t be questioning York’s methods. As for his merits as a protagonist, there’s something oddly endearing about York’s quirks that make him more tolerable for the player rather than the characters who interact with him. Dollar store Dale Cooper has a hilarious stoicism streak that combats wonderfully with the terrors the case presents, signifying that he’s the only man suited for this job and is exquisitely insane.
As amusing as York’s neurodivergence is, he also acts as a vehicle for the player to get acquainted with Greenvale’s fine folk. Similarly to the close-knit atmosphere of Twin Peaks, the cast of secondary characters in Deadly Premonition is a diverse community of eclectic characters. Firstly, there’s York’s ragtag partners of George and Emily. The sheriff 'round these parts is exactly what one would expect from a chief officer in a rural, woodland area. He’s a gruff, no-nonsense, broad-shouldered man who likes his beer cold and his football games loud. It’s fitting that his last name is Woodman, for he could easily become a lumberjack if leaving this case unsolved tanks his current career. By his side on duty is Ms. Emily Wyatt, the sweet and devoted policewoman who York soon develops a boyish crush on as they spend more time together. She’s also gorgeous, which is a commentary on how ironic it was that the podunk town of Twin Peaks had dozens of beautiful women as its residents. Rounding out the ensemble of dime pieces to affirm this as a spoof is the loose art museum curator Diane Ames and her sister Becky, gas station co-owner Gina, and cabaret nightclub singer Carol. There are also some older ladies who were allegedly just as radiant in their younger years such as the hotel manager Polly and “Roaming Sigourney,” whose defining characteristic is that she’s so attached to a pot that it’s as if it's superglued to her. See the reference, Twin Peaks fans? Plenty of male characters also live amongst these smoke shows, such as Wesley the gunsmith, rockabilly Keith Ingram, the belligerent Jack whose nickname is “The Raging Bull,” etc. Thomas is also a less integral officer in Greenvale’s police squad who can cook a biscuit that will blow your balls off. One must feel especially concerned for the two towheaded twin boys, Isaach and Isaiah, who are far too young to understand the epidemic plaguing their town. One would think witnessing the crime scene of a gruesome murder would traumatize them, but they naively perceive Anna as a “forest goddess” who has returned to her rightful throne in the arboreal realm. York will have a chance to formally meet with many of Greenvale’s finest at a community center gathering, but the players can choose to ingratiate themselves even further with each of them by engaging with their individual sidequests scattered around the map. Sure, several of these adjunct objectives amount to trivial tasks involving moving some supply boxes in the Ingram’s market and digging through the junkyard owned by the war veteran Lysander for a car part. Still, completing these minuscule missions allows the player to soak in the ongoings of the town whereas York hardly interacts with anyone outside of the police department while on the case. Making the extra effort to visit Greenvale’s civilians will sometimes even reward York with valuable goodies like enhanced firearms. However, the sidequests that lock these coveted items are often the excruciatingly tedious ones, like finding an entire human skeleton for Willie the Dog piece by piece. Doing these tasks is entirely of the player’s own volition for a reason.
Quirky characters withstanding, what particularly makes Deadly Premonition fried and discombobulated is its presentation. The voices are out of sync with each character’s mouth movements, the voice lines often don’t match what is written in the subtitles, character expressions are inappropriately exaggerated, and every character, especially Yorkie Boy, utter lines of dialogue that smack of an amateur (stoned) film school screenwriter that was committed to a psych ward after ingesting too much LSD. Deadly Premonition meets the criteria of a laughably bad movie, but the medium of gaming allows the wonky elements of its presentation to bleed into its gameplay. Glitches run rampant through Deadly Premonition like a multiplying virus. NPCs will drive through solid walls and phase out of them without a scratch like the T-1000, York’s tie will stop hanging off his neck and instead impale him right through his sternum, and the various police vehicles that York has access to will sometimes become as imperceptible as his compadre. York’s controls are also so robotic and stiff that he makes every Silent Hill protagonist look like a spry college athlete by comparison. One could argue that all the game needs is a can of coding duster to clean the clunky cobwebs, but the facets of Deadly Premonition’s gameplay that couldn't have been unintentional are equally as questionable. What is “agent honor,” and why should I concern myself with gathering the assorted medals that increase my “honor points?” What relevance does the sour smell of York’s worn suits have on the character or the case, and why did they feel the need to include a feature where York can grow a scraggly beard if he doesn’t shave while we’re on the subject of his personal hygiene? Why is driving confined to a first-person perspective? Why are the sound bites so dramatic? Why can he become hungry, or tired while we’re at it? I don’t want to dwell too long on every odd attribute the game presents because the list would span the length of an entire page but leave these few examples with the impression that Deadly Premonition is baffling, to say the least.
All of these moments had me grinning like the Cheshire Cat, and even instances where I had a befuddled look on my face still didn’t waver my general sense of joy. However, one aspect of Deadly Premonition did legitimately cause my smile to angle downwards to furious rage and discontent, and that’s the open-world format of the game’s map. One would need to have seen Twin Peaks to understand this statement, but the show was sort of an “open-world” series. Maybe it’s the third-person omniscient perspective in which its events unfold, but the way the show contains every minutia of the plot to the town and its denizen’s individual story arcs shares a commonality with how an open-world video game functions narratively. A game that essentially acts as an interactive version of the show would be remiss if it didn’t capitalize on this prospect that is already organically laid out for them. However, the way in which Deadly Premonition orchestrates its open-world format is yet another of its awkward attributes. Given the examples of York’s cleanliness deteriorating and his need for food, Deadly Premonition focuses on a realism imperative. How this initiative factors into its non-linear open world is that many of the sidequests and persons of interest aren’t available at all times of the day, most notably whenever the sun isn’t shining either due to rainfall or the nightly moonrise. Progressing the story might also be locked by a time constraint, which is a mechanic borrowed from open-world grandaddy Grand Theft Auto. It’s understandable from a realistic perspective why the townsfolk have hung their hats during these hours because that’s how a town in real life operates. However, from a gameplay perspective, roaming around with zilch to do while the clock ticks at a snail’s pace puts the player in a deep slump of profound boredom. Finding a place to rest or smoking a hearty cigar will allow time to pass automatically, but the time expended by lighting up is only a few hours and York’s metabolism is liable to cave if he slumbers for too long. Not to mention, traversing through Greenvale in general is a total slog. A marker will show the location of the current objective, but good luck finding your way anywhere else because the map is zoomed in like the interface of an elderly person’s smartphone. Also, expending a vehicle’s gas is a constant source of stress, for every police vehicle has the gas mileage of a fat guy giving someone a piggyback ride. This issue is compounded by the fact that there is only one gas station in town monopolizing what should be a common convenience. Why? Just…why?
Most of Deadly Premonition’s essential gameplay is spent indoors, and the various architectures of Greenvale are where the game’s horror factor is kicked into high gear. York insists on investigating each building alone while George and Emily stand guard outside, for he requires this solitude (minus Zach) for the place to transform into a terrifying otherworld of sorts similar to the “dungeons” in Silent Hill. In this schizophrenic nightmare realm, the interior will melt like it’s being digested, and red vines will sprout from several corners to block York from entering certain routes. The main objective here is to collect clues so York can undergo a process called “profiling” where he pieces together the evidence in order to formulate a relatively cohesive theory on what occurred and how it pertains to the case. Other obstructions in these areas besides the crimson walls of thorny vegetation are the occasional puzzles and the more frequent enemy placements. For some unexplained reason, the enemies in Deadly Premonition are pale, zombified ghouls with visages splattered by what looks like black ink. They are consistently sluggish no matter if they’re male or female, and their strange habit of doing the Exorcist spider walk leaves them vulnerable to York aiming his sights at them with deadly accuracy. Unless they are in packs and are also carrying firearms of their own, these groaning phantoms are hardly ever an issue. The Ringu girls that crawl along the walls don’t add a challenge but rather lather the combat in an extra layer of tedium. York’s primary pistol also has infinite ammunition, so combat in Deadly Premonition seems superfluous. Actually, enemies were added in the game as an afterthought to “spice up the gameplay for Westerners,” so it’s no wonder that it seems tacked on. The puzzles are also as equally incidental, as they’re so straightforward that a neanderthal could ace them. I enjoy the tense, spooky atmosphere of these sections and the well-illustrated reference to how Agent Cooper tended to piece together clues through extremely surreal tactics. However, they exhibit all of the game’s properties that were obviously close contenders for the cutting room floor.
Near the end of the investigation sections, the game likes to add a third element for York to contend with to disrupt his train of thought. Sometimes, the game will signal the presence of a shrouded figure who resembles the outfit and aura of the “Raincoat Killer” folklore legend that has been told around the town for generations. This ax-wielding maniac is a classic pursuer of the Nemesis variety in which all the player can possibly do in his presence is run like hell and hope they escape his sights. Again, I have to disclaim that Deadly Premonition’s tackling of this horror game trope is riddled with more holes than clothing eaten by moths. Whenever York is scurrying away from this hostile figure, the game doesn’t allow him to manually run and potentially exhaust York’s heart rate meter. No, the game catapults the player into a sequence where the player must violently swing the analog stick back and forth like they’re flicking the bean, which is often interrupted by having to open a door or push a wooden crate obstructing the path to survival. The alternate aspect of gameplay involving the Raincoat Killer is hiding from him in a locker or closet while he menacingly scours the room trying to find York while he does nothing but sit idly and hold his breath. He will never suss out York’s location if the player does this simple task. The hectic dilemma of these scenes with the Raincoat Killer is not the jarring dual screens of both York and the POV of the killer that slows the framerate to a glacial pace, but the absolutely swift reaction time required from the quicktime events to dodge his ax swings. While I mostly find this juggernaut of a character to be more annoying than frightening, he’s quite captivating from a villain design standpoint. That, and I greatly admire his craftsmanship, for lack of a better term. It sounds rather callous, but the elaborate death vices he puts his victims through are incredibly striking, albeit shocking and morbid. He’s truly living up to his Giallo-esque killer persona with these circuitous feats of sadism, and Dario Argento would be proud.
But the mystery that drives Deadly Premonition’s plot is not figuring out that the Raincoat Killer is the perpetrator, but WHO is behind the hooded garb and high beam eyes. For the chunkier early half of the game, York and company cycle through many red herrings. The hapless diner owner, Nick Cormack, is the first suspect detained for questioning, but his crime is merely sleeping around on his wife, Olivia. Thomas is then the first suspect with a credible lead, but he’s only an accessory to the true culprit. He’s also revealed to be a lunatic who fancies crossdressing as a form of self-expression (he’s not a lunatic BECAUSE he crossdresses, it’s just something that accentuates his flamboyant craziness). Once Thomas is subdued by Emily, she believes that the killer has been brought to justice. However, York knows that he’s just the crucial connection that leads them to the true culprit: George Woodman. If you’ve been paying attention up to this point, figuring out that the mustachioed man of rural masculinity hiding out right under our noses is the murderer should come as no surprise. His backstory he tells York over drinks about when his mother used to whip him like his name was Toby as a child matches a logical modus operandi for a killer that only targets women. His unrequited love for Emily, his access to the police files when Thomas is eliminated as a suspect, and his defensiveness whenever York suggests that the Raincoat Killer might not be a fabricated myth all point directly to George. When York confronts his former partner, he reveals his insidious true nature in a boss fight that is epically dripping with anime cheese. Even though his actions are reprehensible, how could George not be placed in the category of sympathetic antagonists with what we know about him? This is an attitude that York approaches George with, something that is equally felt by the player.
Homicidal misogyny is not the only oil that fuels George’s murderous fire. How he transformed into the hulking Akuma beast in his second phase as a boss was due to the power of the seeds. George subscribed to the rumors that killing those women in the ritualistic fashion of cutting out their tongues and feeding them seeds from a breed of tree that grows in town would grant him the gift of immortality. While George is still the man behind the raincoat, the conspiracy unravels even further. It’s here in its final act where Deadly Premonition adopts a JRPG arc like something from Persona, where there is something far bigger beyond the focal point that initially drove the narrative. Greenvale’s elderly, gas-mask-wearing aristocrat, Harry Stewart, tells York a tale from long ago when the town was victim to a military experiment where they released a gas that turned the townsfolk into feral savages that killed each other in the streets. The MVP of this chaotic scene was a man who racked up the most bodies was a man carrying an ax and wearing a red raincoat, and the original raincoat killer was born. In this scene, the camera pans over to a rotund military man who shares a striking resemblance to of Forrest Kaysen, the jolly, dopey man with the dog who always seems to be present during pressing moments of the case. He is actually an eldritch demon who spreads the noxious properties of the red trees, so his job title of “traveling sapling salesman” has tons of sinister connotations. Not only does he implore spiritually broken humans like George to consume the red seeds, but another aspect of spreading his seed, or so to speak, is implanting women with the seedling of a red tree that bursts from their bodies like a baby Xenomorph. Kaysen’s next victim of this visceral fate is Emily, so York’s confrontation with Kaysen at the community center becomes personal. In a three-act boss fight that becomes a chore as it progresses, York finally does away with the looming, hidden threat that has plagued Greenvale for decades. Kaysen’s role taps into the BOB parallel with Twin Peaks, a supernatural force pulling the strings behind the proverbial curtain. However, whereas BOB’s malevolence is never hidden from the audience, it’s almost insulting how the developers want us to be duped by this obvious agent of chaos. There’s no way that this stammering, sweaty fat man with this much main quest screen time isn’t involved with the dark ongoings of this town in some capacity. Never doubt the morning coffee!
…Oh, and the final portion of the game reveals that “Zach” is not a figment of York’s imagination. He’s the FBI agent’s true personality that was hidden from reality as a coping mechanism after the traumatic event of witnessing his father kill his mother and then blow his brains out as a child. More context behind the tragedy is unveiled when the full scene sees his mother with a tree growth protruding from her abdomen with Kaysen laughing maniacally from the side. Sorry, the final act of the game is kind of a clusterfuck and it’s difficult to talk about this twist with everything else happening concisely.
I’m at a loss for words with Deadly Premonition. This uncanny Twin Peaks homage with all of the television series' glorious garmonbozia on display is a frazzled, mind-boggling mess in regard to every aspect of the game. The plot is fucking bonkers, the presentation is incompetent, and the gameplay is often a dreadful slog both in its open world and enclosed areas. Yet, it showcases so many instances of genuine brilliance that I’m facing a crisis on how to judge this game. To what extent is Deadly Premonition taking the piss, and what is it taking the piss out of exactly? Is it taking the piss out of Twin Peaks, and why? Is it taking the piss out of Resident Evil 4 and other popular third-person shooter games with its irreverent use of enemies and quick-time events? Is its target of tongue-in-cheek scrutiny open-world games? I don’t fucking know! In the immortal words of Rich Evans of Red Letter Media fame, bad movies aren’t fun unless the person that made them tried, and one can scratch out the word movies and apply it to video games. Given the positives of Deadly Premonition, it’s clear that core developer Swery65 did not set out to create an interactive dumpster fire despite all of the game’s glaring flaws. Whether or not his intentions were to craft a parody game, the final product encapsulates that phenomenon of a “so bad, it’s good” film in an interactive medium to a masterful degree. Deadly Premonition exudes a creative flair and winsome nature that all other game developers don’t have the chutzpah to put into their creations. Deadly Premonition is not a good game by any stretch of the imagination. Still, I highly recommend it to anyone who plays video games.
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