For those who only knew it existed with home gaming consoles, it might feel wild to realize that the video game movie genre is still quite young. The first film to be based on an existing video game was the studio's mash-up of Rocky Morton and Annabelle Yankel. adaptation of "Super Mario Bros." a massive box office flop that caused studios to push future excursions into this new genre. While 1995's reasonably budgeted Mortal Kombat brought in significant profits for New Line, the studio didn't consider video game movies as potential blockbusters until Lara Croft: Tomb Raider grossed $275 million worldwide in 2001. decade, but the films were, with very few exceptions (The first "Resident Evil" by Paul V.S. Anderson and Christoph Gans' Silent Hill), about as bad as movies get.

The video game movie turned 32 this year and, amazingly, you can count on two hands the number of movies in the genre that don't belong in a container. Why have filmmakers so failed to make watchable, let alone great, cinema out of a medium that, at its best, can be as immersive as losing yourself in a classic novel? A-list filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro and Gore Verbinski have been linked with straight-to-the-big-screen renditions of games like Halo and BioShock, but these are first-person shooters with pedestrian narratives. People would rather play these games than watch a director recreate the first-person experience through photorealistic visual effects. The movie Doom tried to do this, and there's a reason we don't talk about the movie Doom anymore.

Are there really great video game movies? According to review aggregator Metacritic, there's at least one very good one.

With a metascore of 66Josh Ruben's Werewolves Within is currently the best reviewed video game movie out there - and rightfully so! Based on Ubisoft's 2016 social deduction VR game, this adaptation, written by Mishna Wolff, is a witty, terrifying delight. Sam Richardson stars as a forest ranger assigned to police a small community torn apart by a dispute over an intrusive gas pipeline. Richardson is coldly received by the locals, but finds a sympathetic ear in a cheerful mailwoman played by Milana Weintraub (best known as Lily in countless AT&T commercials). Soon, Richardson and the townspeople are forced to contend with an apparent werewolf who will pick them off one by one.

"Werewolves Within" is a monstrous outlandish riff "Clue" by Jonathan Lynn, as well as a spiritual brother of "Hot Fuzz" and "The Wicker Man." The ensemble cast hits all the right weird notes, while Wolff's ultra-clever script keeps you guessing until the lycanthrope's final reveal. It all works because of Reuben's deft direction, which, like Edgar Wright did with Shaun of the Dead, strikes the perfect balance between gory and silly. While I've never personally played the game, the clever mystery-solving premise makes it a much more ideal film adaptation than, say, Fortnite.

Unfortunately, Werewolves Within wasn't as popular as these previously mentioned titles, so it didn't get the budget or commercial push that Sonic the Hedgehog or Angry Birds did. If you've never seen it, it's currently available to discover on Shudder. Stop denying yourself joy and go for it!