The company Puppet Combo has been doing their best to horrify video gamers for years, making retro-style games with “a gritty VHS feel and low poly stylization.” As they say, “fans of Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Texas Chainsaw Massacre will warm right up to their games… or rather, their blood will run
cold.” Back in 2018, they brought the world a slasher video game called Night Shift, which has players tending to a desolate convenience store while a masked killer lurks somewhere in the shadows. Now, Puppet Combo is giving Night Shift the film adaptation treatment – and they’ve shot the movie on 16mm film, aiming to “stay true to Puppet Combo’s signature VHS-style aesthetic and obsessive attention to detail for a true ’80s slasher style experience.” A trailer for the video game can be seen in the embed above.
Written and directed by Puppet Combo creator Ben Cocuzza, the Night Shift movie follows a young woman named Debra as she works the overnight shift at a minimum wage gas station job. What begins as routine shelf-stocking and floor-sweeping quickly spirals into a heart-pounding descent into paranoia, dread, and blood-soaked madness.
Adrianne Knapp plays Debra and is joined in the cast by Justin West (Ghost Hunters), Phu Mau, and Donald Morgan, with cameo appearances
from YouTube legends Justin Whang and John Wolfe.
A press release lets us know to “expect grainy textures, the creeping fear of being watched, and all the hallmarks of the Puppet Combo universe.” I haven’t played the video game, but this all seems very cool to me.
Produced by Maggie Brown, who is “known for her diverse work spanning corporate Hollywood to indie festival hits,” the Night Shift movie is currently in post-production and aiming for a theatrical release this October! You can follow Puppet Combo on Instagram or on Twitter for the latest updates.
Have you played the Night Shift video game, and are you glad to hear it is getting the film adaptation treatment? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and take a look at these images from the movie while you’re scrolling down:
