We may have lost our chance to experience a game adaptation of The Cabin in the Woods as told through Left 4 Dead, but there is a glimmer of hope for another horror film that holds a close place in the hearts of film geeks. It appears that the Left 4 Dead series is the go to property to adapt films featuring humans trying to make their last stand against a horde of horrible creatures as the current movie possibly destined for a game adaptation, thanks to modders mind you, is Shaun of the Dead.
Perhaps I’m lttp about this, but a group of modders and fans of L4D are trying to get a map made based on the famous Winchester last stand featured at the end of Shaun of the Dead. Now at this point maybe a few other modders have attempted to do such a thing in vague detail, but this new team of modders are hoping to do such a thing in as close detail as possible in an add-on dubbed Left 4 Winchester.
The one teeny problem is that since Shaun of the Dead isn’t their intellectual property there’s the worry that Universal will send the hounds after them i.e. a pack of rapid lawyers hoping to justify why they still have a job.
Doing a mod for a popular game based upon a movie as equally popular may seem like a completely futile attempt, but the project may have the backing of none other than Shaun himself, actor Simon Pegg. Whereas some actors don’t give a damn about their prior films or fan base, Simon Pegg has always had a nice relationship with his fans since he’s as much of a geek as they are.
After learning of the Left 4 Winchester mod via Twitter, which was originally started in 2008, Pegg is seemingly up for doing a bit of legal wrangling with Universal to see if the mod can ever be released; that’s of course depending if it’s actually finished.
It could be too late in the game for whatever influence Pegg can have on Universal’s team of lawyers or even amongst the Left 4 Winchester dev team, but it is nice to see an actor of his stature stand up and at least try something. Given how Valve was game for adapting The Cabin in the Woods it would be perfect to see some form of a Shaun of the Dead mod come forth, perhaps with the backing of Pegg and his colleagues Edgar Wright and Nick Frost.
Right now the trio may be busy filming The World‘s End, but being gamers themselves (watch the Resident Evil 2 inspired ep of Spaced for such proof) it could be amazing to see a final ode to Shaun of the Dead through a small video game mod.
All this recent L4D mod/spin-off/DLC news has me wondering when, or if, we’ll ever see Left 4 Dead 3 surface. Is the series better off staying as a two entry franchise or is Valve just being typical Valve by doing things at their own pace?
