A Twist in Dead By Daylight

Selecting the Trapper to Slaughter Survivors

Jasmine Sanchez Bulletin

By Jasmine Sanchez Staff Reporter

With the growing popularity of video games to film adaptations, more movie studios have been eyeing their next potential success.

Realizing the budding progress of the genre, many have attempted to accomplish the seamless transition from pixels to film. In recent years, the genre has achieved major wins.

Adaptations, such as HBO’s hit show “The Last of Us” (2023) and Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” franchise, have garnered the attention of the film industry. Bridging the prospect of more video games to film adaptations for the future.

On March 3, studios Atomic Monster and Blumhouse, announced they would be working with Behaviour Interactive, a Canadian video game development studio, to make a feature film for their hit multiplayer horror game “Dead by Daylight.” The game becoming a film leaves many questions unanswered.

“Dead by Daylight” provides a thrilling experience as maps and spawn-points are randomized. It consists of its own gallery of killers and survivors. Leaving nothing for gamers to grasp as they anticipate more information. The randomization of the game generates each experience to be new and exciting. However, it also leaves many unknowns for the development of a film, as there are many possibilities of the direction it may take.

The game itself doesn’t provide a set story mode for the movie to follow, instead it contains lore through Benedict Baker’s, an unseen character, journal. Each entry contains bits and pieces of information scattered throughout the game.

This makes it difficult to choose between which ones the film will feature. Looking through the gallery of killers, the film has to choose one of the more iconic original killers that was added into the game. One of the recognizable killers is referred to as “The Trapper,” or Evans MacMillian, and as his nickname suggests, he uses bear traps to capture his victims.

The movie might feature “The Trapper” because he is typically used as the face of the game. He was the first killer created and became sort of a mascot for the game. He can be found on the loading scene before moving to the skippable cutscene. A few years ago, the cut scene would feature “The Trapper” capturing two survivors. Hence giving more grounds for “The Trapper” to be included in the film.

The film’s story can be the tale of wealth and power that strays from the path of righteousness. A story of a boy suffering at the hands of the man he calls father. The complexity of the father-son relationship and Evan descending into madness can be the focus point of the film. The ending might be a bit ambiguous for audiences who haven’t played the game.