The Backlog: Fatal Frame

DF writes: There was big trend in horror films about ten years ago where they were all about ghosts. Not just any ghosts, but Japanese ghost girls. The Japanese film Ring got the ball rolling, but soon American theaters were awash with knock-offs that used Japan’s unique interpretation of evil spirits. This quickly spread to video games and suddenly the zombies of survival horror games found themselves competing with ghosts for the attention of gamers who liked spooky tales. The zombies won that battle and have remained the go-to bad guys for horror games, but I recall being terrified of the first game to use this premise, Fatal Frame.

There were a few sequels in the years immediately following its release, but I never continued with the series, or even revisited the first game. Now with Spirit Camera, the “spiritual” successor of the Fatal Frame series arriving for 3DS, I decided to stay up late, turn down the lights and play the first couple of Fatal Frame titles.