Let’s face it, Doom: Annihilation isn’t going to be very good. First came the extremely dodgy-looking stills, then the cheap-looking trailer and the revelation that the movie was headed straight-to-video. But none of that means it couldn’t be a lot of cheesy fun to enjoy whilst drunk, right?
After all, if the flick can capture even a smidge of the pleasure of sprinting through the halls of hell clutching a super shotgun and dispatching waves of imps, pinkies and cacodemons, then it should at least be entertaining. We hope.
Now, a new teaser for the movie shows that someone has at least been paying attention to the original game. Beginning with an establishing shot of a colony on a moon of Mars that resembles the interstitial screens of Doom, we get to see a number of imps. These spiky, fireball throwing bad guys are classic Doom enemies, acting as cannon fodder in every title in the series. The versions we see in this teaser recall the hyper-agile versions seen in 2016’s DOOM, which scurry up the walls and throw fireballs in their wake.
But though the movie couldn’t ask for a better source of inspiration than the last Doom game, it still looks pretty bad. The costumes seem cheap, the sets are clearly shot in some kind of warehouse and the lighting is amateur hour. Though it wouldn’t take much for this to improve on the 2005 Doom, this film’s sorely lacking Karl Urban, Dwayne Johnson and Rosamund Pike, who at least added a little star wattage to that disappointing outing.
If you really want some Doom this fall, my advice is to wait for the new game Doom Eternal, which looks set to follow in the gloriously high-octane, blood-soaked wake of its predecessor and bring the demonic fight back to earth. Doom: Annihilation is released on October 1st, while Doom Eternal hits shelves on November 22nd. I know which one I’d hold out for.