Clock Tower (series)

Clock Tower is a survival horror point-and-click adventure video game series,^[1] created by Human Entertainment and continued by Sunsoft. The series plays like a horror film and unlike some of the other survival horror games, the Clock Tower series does not focus on shooting creatures or using violence, but rather using the player's surroundings to hide and escape while solving puzzles and following the twisting storyline. The main character is usually quite helpless compared to the villains, so the main emotional connection to the game is the fear of being discovered or captured.

Installments

There are four games in the series. The first two games are directly connected by use of common main characters and villains; the latter two titles do not share common characters. It should also be noted that Clock Tower Ghost Head, while sharing the gameplay mechanics of the first two, could be considered a spin-off from the main "numbered" series, inasmuch as it is set in Japan rather than Europe. Thus Clock Tower 3, while differing in gameplay style, reunites the original and western numbering.

• Clock Tower (1995) - SNES and WonderSwan; released only in Japan
• Clock Tower (1996) - PlayStation; called Clock Tower 2 in Japan
• Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within (1998) - PlayStation; called Clock Tower Ghost Head in Japan
• Clock Tower 3 (2002) - PlayStation 2

Spin-off

Originally planned to be Clock Tower 4, the game was later made to be only a spin-off. The game was innovative, because the leading character was accompanied by a dog.

• Haunting Ground (2005) - PlayStation 2; called Demento in Japan

Similiar Game

A PlayStation 2 exclusive survival horror game was developed by Punchline and published by Sony in Japan, by Atlus in North America and by 505 GameStreet in Europe. The leading character was also accompanied by a dog, but instead of fleeing and hiding, players would have to battle enemies.

• Rule of Rose (2006) - PlayStation 2

Remake

In 1997, Human Entertainment released a remake of the original Clock Tower.

• Clock Tower: The First Fear (1997) - PC and PlayStation

Ownership

After Human Entertainment folded in 1999, the Clock Tower series was sold to Capcom. Clock Tower 3 was co-created by Capcom and Sunsoft ^[2] and published by Capcom. Not only was this part of the series created by a different company, it also offered 3D movement for the first time within the series. Capcom has not announced another game, although the game Haunting Ground is considered a spiritual sequel and was thought to be initially developed as Clock Tower 4.

Film adaptation

Until April 30, 2008, the film was stuck in development hell, but finally more information about the film was announced on G4's Attack of the Show!, the show featured a headline quoting: "The Weinstein Company has announced their plans to make a feature adaption of Capcom's classic series Clock Tower, the film will offer gameplay elements from the series while the story will be loosely based on all of the games. Martin Weisz (The Hills Have Eyes 2) has currently been signed to direct."

On September 9, 2008 it was reported that Brittany Snow would be playing the lead in Clock Tower.^[3][4] Filming is set to begin in November at Los Angeles. It is known that Scissorman will be included in the film, but his identity and backstory will be completely different from any of the games.

On October 7, Bloody Disgusting reported rumor that Milla Jovovich, star of the Resident Evil movie franchise was to play a role in Clock Tower.^[5] However on October 14 a representative of Jovovich corrected Bloody Disgusting saying that Jovovich was not doing the movie.^[6] The only confirmed actor in the movie so far is Brittany Snow.

November 7 brought news that Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group had acquired domestic home entertainment and television distribution rights to Senator's release slate, which included Clock Tower.^[7] The long delayed movie has also been pushed back and is set to begin filming in December. It is unknown if the movie will, yet again, be pushed back further.

On December 16, eight promotional artwork and teaser posters were posted online, along with a synopsis and a TBA 2009 release date. The posters show the Scissorman extensively and it appears as though he will be wielding two knives that can join together into a makeshift pair of scissors (like the Scissorman/Scissorwoman in Clock Tower 3 appearance) rather than his trademark pair of shears.

In February 2009 it was revealed by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group that Clock Tower would have a 2010 release, but as of September 2010, it appears the film once again has no director and was described by Martin Weisz as "officially in limbo".

On November 29, 2011, it was announced that David R. Ellis, director of Snakes on a Plane, was attached to the project as the director, but he has since died, and the current movie status is unknown.^[8]

References

See also

• List of horror video games