If you grew up feeding quarters into zombie cabinets at the arcade, this one is for you. Sega is moving forward with a new movie take on The House of the Dead, with Isabela Merced attached to star and executive produce, and Paul W.S. Anderson set to write and direct.
Anderson is a very on-brand choice here. For better and worse, he knows how to translate a video game’s momentum into something that moves like an action ride, and his work on Resident Evil shows he’s comfortable living in that intersection of horror, creature work, and big set pieces. The early pitch is that this one aims to feel immersive, with a story designed to play out in real time while still taking a fresh swing at the property.
Behind the scenes, the package is being positioned like a franchise starter, not a one-off. Anderson is producing with his longtime collaborator Jeremy Bolt, plus Sega’s Toru Nakahara and Story Kitchen. On the business side, Rocket Science is launching international sales at the European Film Market, with CAA Media Finance handling domestic.
For anyone who only knows the name but not the game, the original House of the Dead hit arcades in 1997 as a light-gun shooter built for speed, panic, and surprise attacks. It became a late 90s staple and helped push that more aggressive style of undead horror that games leaned into through the 2000s.
Merced’s recent run also makes her a smart get for a project like this. She has been bouncing between prestige TV and franchise work, including The Last of Us, Superman (directed by James Gunn), and Alien: Romulus. That mix matters for The House of the Dead, because the movie version needs to land as character-driven survival horror while still delivering the kind of spectacle people expect from a modern game adaptation.
It also helps that Sega has momentum in this space. Sonic showed there’s real appetite when the tone is clear and the execution is confident, and this move signals Sega wants to widen the lane beyond family-friendly adventure and into hard genre.
And yes, there is history here. A 2003 film adaptation directed by Uwe Boll exists, and it’s been dragged for years. The upside is that the bar for a “better House of the Dead movie” is not exactly floating in the clouds.
What happens next is the part fans should watch: who joins Merced, what version of the lore they pull forward, and whether the “real time” angle becomes a genuine storytelling hook or just a marketing line. Either way, if Anderson commits to lean, nasty horror with clear rules and relentless pacing, this could finally be the version that makes The House of the Dead feel like it belongs on a big screen again.
gfpods.com 
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