Night Trap (1992) (VG)

Director:

James W. Riley

Writers:

James W. Riley (concept) &
Rob Fulop (concept) ...

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Strange things have been occurring at the Martins' residence. Five teenagers have already disappeared while saying there...

Plot Keywords:

Video Game | Blood | Vampire | Title Based On Song | Controversial

Cast

Dana Plato	...	Kelli Medd
Tracy Matheson	...	Cindy
Debra Parks	...	Lisa
Allison Rhea	...	Ashley (as Alison Rhea)
Christy Ford	...	Megan
Joshua Godard	...	Danny (as Josh Goddard)
Jon Rashad Kamal	...	Victor Martin (as Jon R. Kamal)
Molly Starr	...	Sheila Martin
Suzy Cote	...	Sarah Martin
Andras Jones	...	Jeff Martin
Giovanni Lemm	...	Tony
William Bertrand	...	Eddie
J. Bill Jones	...	Lt. Simms
Arthur Burghardt	...	Collins
Heidi Von Brecht	...	Swanson

Also Known As:

Scene of the Crime (USA) (working title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:M (re-release) | UK:15

Company:

Digital Pictures

Trivia:

One of the first home video console games to incorporate live-action footage, Night Trap was controversial for its violent and risqué subject matter. This game was featured in the congressional hearings in the early 1990s on video game violence and the corruption of society, led by Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lt. Simms: I'm Commander Simms, of the Sega Control Attack Team. SCAT mission 230. Five teenage girls have disappeared, after spending the night at the old Lakeshore winery house of Mr and Mrs Victor Martin; and their children Jeff and Sarah. Right now another five girls are heading towards the Martins to spend the night. Your mission: to protect the girls from whatever happened to the last ones.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Angry Video Game Nerd: Sega CD (#2.8)" (2007)

Piece of history

I still remember the rage in the early 90's about violence in video games. You couldn't watch CNN for more than an hour without seeing clips of Night Trap and Mortal Kombat spliced in with some mad ramblings from US senators. It was the first of many arguments to come against what belonged in video games and what didn't. It eventually lead to a ratings system and while mature and outright morally bad games have come and went, Night Trap will forever be remembered as a partner in what created it all. Which in hindsight is pretty funny - the news and all. I didn't get to play Night Trap right away. The only things I knew about it is what the biased news told me and some naive misinformed senators spouted off. Needless to say I wrote it off as pure garbage having not even played it.

It wasn't until years later under the ownership of a brand new 3DO system did I get to experience the self-proclaimed redefining moment in video game history. Here we were in a time when FMV-based games were all the rage. Some people were tooting it as the future. Real actors, real sets, an overall sense of "real" and Night Trap had spawned it all. It had spawned an entirely new genre -- the FMV based game. To think if it hadn't been for some senators flapping their gums Night Trap would have failed and the genre would have never been born.

But what about Night Trap itself?

For me it was a fun, cheesy game that one can't look back on without a smile. Gaming wise it wasn't much. The story on display wasn't that great and it didn't carry nary a characteristic of any of the most popular and influential games of all time, but you had fun watching and playing it and most importantly it worked for what it was. It wasn't overly seriously, they played it for camp in parts and unlike what the television told you the "violence" was pretty tame. For it's time and place Night Trap was a ball and for those who experienced it you will never forget that feeling the game gave you.

Now time has moved on, the FMV video game genre is dead and Night Trap is old news, but no one has forgotten it. The world continues to debate what belongs in video games and video game producers continue to push the boundaries, but whatever comes our way in the future Night Trap has paved the way and has been forever immortalized.