That Moment In Night Trap (1992): The Bathroom Attack

Guest Post Written By The Vern

Since we are nearing Halloween, I thought I would share with you one of the most shocking and controversial scenes ever put on screens.  It was so shocking for audiences it was even brought forth before the U.S. Senate in the early nineties. Senators Joseph Lieberman denounced it and Herbert H Kohl called it “sick” and “disgusting.” The movie this scene was featured in would later be banned in several stores and would not be released in its full version until several years later. I can even remember having to be 18 to rent this. So what is so shocking about this moment?  Well let me set the scene for you.

In a bathroom that must have a pink florescent bulb because it has this oddly pink hue to it. We see a guy dressed up in all black like some sort of reject S.W.A.T. team members enter the room. He quickly steps inside the shower that has a clear glass screen and just waits. A young blonde haired woman named Lisa (Debra Parks) wearing a pink slip enters the room to fix her hair. As she looks at herself in the mirror she sees the figure lurking in the shower and just thinks that it’s her friend Megan (Christy Ford) playing a prank on her.  She opens the door to confront her friend, but when two other stalkers enter through a wall on the side holding some sort of weird weapons. She knows this is no joke. She tries to run away but two of them grab her and hold her while another one puts this claw like device with a drill on her neck.  While she is screaming the weapon begins slowly removing the blood from her body until she is dead.

The scene I described doesn’t come for an actual movie, but from a video game called Night Trap. Released for the Sega CD in 1992 from Digital Pictures. This FMV(Full Motion Video) puts you in to the role of a SCAT or Sega Control Attack Team (Sega was changed to special when this game appeared on other consoles) as an operative who is there to help protect a group of young girls who are visiting a house where a bunch of girls last year disappeared from. There are cameras in every room and a series of traps in each one. Your mission is to trap these creatures so that they don’t kill the girls and drain their blood. If  you fail to save any of the girls your captain will appear, chew you out and the end credits role.

As for the game itself, it’s kind of boring. All you do is just go from room to room capturing these creatures. But you have to press a certain button at just the right moment in order to capture them. You also have to make sure that you follow the owners of the house around because they can change the code of the traps and cameras at any time. When playing the game I wanted to see more of the story, but if I spend too long watching a scene and not trapping creatures, the game ends. Luckily, I was able to see a cut of Night Trap with all of the scenes put in and what I saw in my mind was a nice throwback to bad 80’s horror movies. Even though it was released in 1992 it was first filmed back in 1987 and features all the tropes of that era without calling attention to itself like a lot of other movies do. Yes, the acting is bad and the plot is a bit weak but I still found it fun to watch and even laugh when the girls do a karaoke style jam to the movie’s main theme song (which has an 80’s vibe that even Nicolas Winding Refn would  probably love). Besides the controversy, this game is also known for having Dana Plato in its cast. For those who didn’t grow up during that time, she was one of the stars of the highly successful television show, Diff’rent Strokes (yet if it was made today it would be somewhat controversial show). She was also one of the first troubled child stars. So Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan, you girls should pay some respect because you would have no career without her.

Many politicians and parents thought the object of the game was to capture and kill young women. One of them even thought that the player gets an option to even rape one of them too. Of course this never happens, and not one of these politicians has even played it either. I do remember being kind of surprised when I lost and saw that character died but I wasn’t scared by it or anything. This was way before Grand Theft Auto, and I guess seeing real people in a video game was shocking to many because it was something they have never seen before. While the quality isn’t anything special. This was on a CD-ROM after all. You’re not going to get any high resolution HD quality. It still to this day has a very nice cheesy horror quality that I love.

The infamous Night Trap Bathroom Scene:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsxEvybbKv0?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0&w=620&h=315]