THE DARK PICTURES ANTHOLOGY: LITTLE HOPE

The Dark Pictures Anthology returns this summer

The next instalment in Supermassive’s Dark Pictures frightfest will debut this summer, and this one’s got a witchy twist. Whereas Man Of Medan saw you lost at sea alongside Shawn Ashmore, this time British actor Will Poulter is taking the lead in a dual role.

You may already know Poulter from folk horror smash Midsommar and Netflix’s dark branching narrative… thing, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Here he plays a student stranded after a field trip goes awry. Time-travel shenanigans introduce each of the undergrads to Puritan doppelgängers and a plot spanning centuries. Seemingly at the centre of it all is a little girl with a creepy doll made out of needles.

CHILD’S PLAY

We waste no time asking Supermassive’s managing director Pete Samuels and series producer Dan McDonald the important questions: “Why are little kids in horror so creepy?”

“I think, because they are,”

McDonald states.

Samuels laughs, “I was tempted to say ‘because they are in real life’ but that would be a bad answer for an interview…”

After assuring them that we’re right there with them, the pair agree it’s a long-standing genre tradition.

McDonald elaborates, “It’s when they do something weird and odd

HORROR IS JUST A GREAT PLAYGROUND FOR US.

that makes [it feel like something is] just not right. And it’s something we can play on […] Is she creepy? Isn’t she creepy? Is she evil? Is she not?”

Little Hope’s prologue, set in the ’70s, keeps us guessing. You explore a family home while trying to avoid getting directly embroiled in their quarrel. All the while, there’s chatter that the youngest, Megan, is in big trouble after an incident at school. Megan herself, creepy doll in hand, is desperate for her family’s attention but everyone seems to have something better to do.

And then you put the kettle on. Before it even has a chance to boil, the entire house has gone up in flames and every family member has expired violently.

“Did she start the fire? Didn’t she?” McDonald asks.

In light of the genuinely winceworthy death scenes, McDonald

says, “It’s not about horror just in terms of ripping people’s arms and legs off and blood splurting everywhere […] Whilst we might do some of that, it’s not about that.”

Samuels elaborates, “Our stories are predominantly about people and relationships. […] Horror is such a great backdrop to throw people into so that you can push people into decisions that they just wouldn’t contemplate in real life and put stress and pressure on characters.”

McDonald agrees, “It’s taking these great characters and putting them in absolutely awful situations and seeing how they react and seeing the emotions play out […] [Horror] is just a great playground for us [with] the chance to do different things.”

Fnd out more at the official website: en.bandainamcoent.eu/the-dark-pictures. the-dark-pictures-little-hope