I took this picture from
Where the Shadows Stalk of the sadly short lived
Forbidden Gateway gamebook series. This is a monstrous humanoid made of vegetals that is turning into a copy of your character. A sort of
dopplegänger, although they call him a
Changeling. It is the first adversary you fight in the book and it truly sets the tone for the kind of horrors you will face during the rest of the adventure. I find dopplegängers and changelings scary and unsettling (you can be replaced by an usurper, someone you love and trust may not be who they are, etc.), but is it me or are they seldom used nowadays in horror? They deserve a comeback. Anyway, if you know of any stories involving them, let me know in the comments section.
In Marvel comics, there are aliens called Skrulls who shapeshift and replace people on earth in a bid to take it over. Marvel did a TV series about them in "Secret Invasion" available on Disney+ streaming service.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you already know about "William Wilson" by Edgar Allan Poe. A great doppleganger film directed by the great Richard Ayoade is THE DOUBLE and it's very creepy. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!
ReplyDeleteOoh! I have Where the Shadows Stalk, and also Terrors out of Time...but I've yet to play through the second! Got them both years ago as a teenager though, and loved the creepy, Lovecraftian atmosphere of the first one! Definitely a great read/play for Halloween!
ReplyDelete