6 Scenes Movies and Shows 'Borrowed' From Gaming

They're then subjected to similar neurological testing, right down to the weird sci-fi crown thingamajig.

Netflix/Quantic DreamTypical tween fashion. If one has it, they all have to.

Also, remember how Eleven has a nosebleed after using her powers, but they never explain it? Here's the explanation: Beyond: Two Souls did it as well!

By the end of both the game and the show's first season, the girls are running around sporting hospital gowns and buzz cuts.

Netflix/Quantic DreamDon't worry, it'll grow out.

The same can be said about their respective netherworlds, which both involve terrifying journeys through ominous portals ...

Netflix/Quantic Dream"Please have you passport ready before stepping though the Eldritch Vagina."

... to the same desolate, depressing land where it's always snowing:

Netflix/Quantic Dream

And look, it's not a secret that the Duffer Brothers paid homage to so much '80s media that everyone who recorded a home video in 1986 has received at least one royalty check. They proudly admit to all of it. But not this. Maybe it's because the game only came out in 2013, and they're not allowed to reference anything more recent than Dragon's Lair.

2018's Overlord is a video game movie in all but name. It might start as a regular behind-enemy-lines war movie, but before long it plunges brain-first into an occult Nazi zombie adventure akin to the old-school Wolfenstein games, down to the badass eye scar on its Nazi-killing machine.

Bethesda Softworks

Paramount PicturesThe beard is supposed to distract from the lack of a hyper-jaw.

Overlord's plot, about the Nazis creating an army of immortal uber-zombies to win the war, is lifted from not just one but two Wolfenstein plots ("Operation Eisenfaust" and "Operation Resurrection"). The zombie serum is even mined, like in in 2009's Wolfenstein, and both are ultimately destroyed by the badass protagonists for the same reason: They don't trust their side with it. (So badass). Speaking of mutant zombies, Overlord also borrows their mangled sneering-skull aesthetic from Return To Castle Wolfenstein:

Activision

Paramount PicturesMinus the all that sexy zombie nudity.

Overlord even adheres to a lot of first-person shooter tropes. There's the tense creeping around through narrow corridors, revisiting the same levels (a Nazi castle, duh) under different circumstances and recurring boss fights that get harder every time. The only thing Overlord didn't learn from games is to keep everyone alive to leave room for the inevitable sequel. Then again, B.J. Blazkowicz took a nuke to the face and still came back, so anything's possible, really.

While making Journey To The West, Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow was probably prepared for people to compare it to other media based on the mythology in question, like Dragonball Z. But all the plagiarism accusations were pointed at Asura's Wrath, and for good reason. At one point in Journey To The West, a planet-sized Buddha appears out of nowhere In a pose very reminiscent to the golem-god Wyzen of the Seven Deities, who pops up in the stratosphere in Asura's Wrath.

Capcom/Edko Films"I can see my temple from here!"

Both then smack their oversized digits into the Earth to crush a very puny antagonist.

Capcom/Edko Films"You! Yes, you. Fuck you in particular."

The heroes take on the same pose ...

Capcom/Edko Films"Just letting my nail polish dry before grabbing this fireball."

... before meeting their meteoric doom with the same fiery defiance.

Capcom/Edko FilmsCrossfit has gotten out of hand.

The similarities are so shocking that people started accusing the movie not just of paying homage, but outright stealing and reusing graphical assets. When confronted, at least the director's team didn't bother to grab their reading glasses and go "Oh yeah, this incredibly memorable heavenly pimp slap does look a bit like ours." Instead they blamed it on the gamer nerds in their VFX team. Except in another interview, the movie's co-director stated that both filmmakers had seen gameplay of Asura's Wrath before. And as we said, you're not likely to forget even a second of that ridiculous game.

But in Season 10 of Dr. Who, the similarities move from circumstantial to "obviously jumped into a dimensional portal, stole an idea, and skipped back." It all has to do with the Master, the Doctor's nemesis who has a suitably sinister mustache ... sometimes. Or all the time. It's complicated, because due to reincarnation and time travel, he/she/they eventually become two people simultaneously: the Master and Missy. And what does this duo/solo/Timecop violation do when together? Mostly dress up in old-timey clothes, dance to gramophone versions of pop hits, and have cryptic conversations while finishing each other's sentences.

Which is exactly the gimmick of the Lutece siblings from Bioshock Infinite, who are also the same person (save for a single chromosome) from two different timelines, dress up in old-timey clothes, dance to gramophone versions of pop hits, and have cryptic conversations while finishing each other's sentences.

Which is actually good news for people who feel that Dr. Who is getting a bit stale. Now we can look forward to the next season, when the Doctor will be fighting deep-sea divers with drills for arms.

... to this Key & Peele sketch.

Of course, that's how buying soundtracks in the music industry works. It's not like those shows made a ridiculously similar version of the song and passed it off as their own, right? For that we have to look at Mass Effect 2's "Suicide Mission," recorded by veteran video game musician Jack Wall:

Then, only a few months after the game's release, a very, very similar (but slightly sped up orchestral version) could be heard on the new Dr. Who soundtrack. Credited to that show's composer, Murray Gold.

Now, music sounding a bit the same is as old as bone drums, so it could be possible that two composers thought of exactly the same kind of music at almost exactly the same time. But Wall, at least, would disagree.

Specifically Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow, released the previous year. Untold's Dracula mirrors Alucard, right down to his sanguine sartorial choices ...

Konami

Universal Pictures"We wore the same armor to the war? Awkward."

... and his very fashionable fur-and-chains combo.

Konami/Universal PicturesSpeaking of coming out of someone else's closet ...

They even strike the same awkward pose while lounging atop of a pile of corpses:

Konami

Universal Pictures

Dracula Untold even transports a medieval Slavic tale all the way to a knockoff Mordor just to steal from Castlevania.

Konami

Universal Pictures

This is Untold's castle of bloody doom:

Universal PicturesNice lawn. I wonder what he uses as fertilizer?

Which looks a lot like the titular Castlevania:

KonamiNecromancer magic is great for raising corpses AND bridges.

It also looks in no way like the actual castle our buddy Vlad lived in:

Simbotin/Wikimedia Commons Vlad the Impaler's Cozy B&B.

Also, like Alucard, this Dracula is given his vampiric powers by a pale ur-vampire.

Konami

Universal Pictures"How do I know vhat I look like? I have not looked in a mirror in 6,000 years!"

Both properties even end the same, bringing the main character to modern times, their mentors lurking nearby, in order to set up a sequel.

Though considering how much of a flop the film was, the odds of resurrecting Dracula Untold are worse than resurrecting Dracula himself.

Tiagosvn would love to know of more instances of this phenomenon, so if you liked this article feel free to drop him a line and a follow on his Twitter.

For more, check out 4 Famous Musicians (Who Stole Their Biggest Hits) - The Spit Take:

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