Choose Your Own Nightmare series – Multipath Movies (DVD & online streaming)

The Choose Your Own Nightmare series were interactive ‘movie games’ based on the spooky bedtime stories of the books of the same name. They were a part of Brilliant Digital’s broader catalogue of ‘Multipath Movies,’ interactive stories where players dictate the course of the adventure. These were 3D games made in Brilliant Digital’s proprietary engines and, in a forward-thinking move, were distributed online through a real-time pay-per-use streaming service. Regions like Australia, however, didn’t have the internet infrastructure for streaming in the late 90s, and so Multipath Movies were accessed on DVD and CD-ROM. Brilliant Digital had recognised the potential and promise of multimedia technology and the internet, and as an entrepreneurial start-up they rode the wave of investment capital during the dot com boom, albeit precariously.

While production was based in Bondai Junction the company had offices in LA where they made many of the licensing deals for Multipath Movies. The Choose Your Own Nightmare series were adapted from the children’s horror books after a deal was struck with book publisher Bantam Doubleday in 1997. The company never envisioned a particular market though, and so their acquired IP haphazardly also ranged from Xena and Popeye, to Ace Ventura and the rock band KISS. They also produced original IP in Gravity Angels and Cyberswine. Like the Choose Your Own Nightmare series though, many of these were children-friendly.

The Choose Your Own Nightmare games were adapted from existing books, but re-envisioned for multiple outcomes that would encourage repeat plays. Scriptwriters had to be familiar with the engine constraints, where each scene needed to be ‘budgeted’ on a limited about of megabytes, preventing heavily-animated crowded scenes. Voice recording was completed first in the US and the programmers and animators had to work with the pre-recorded audio.

The Choose Your Own Nightmare series included:

Choose Your Own Nightmare: Halloween Party (1999)

Choose Your Own Nightmare: Bite of the Vampire (1999)

Choose Your Own Nightmare: The Evil Pen Pal (1999)

Choose Your Own Nightmare: The Curse of the Mummy (2000)

Choose Your Own Nightmare: Night of the Werewolf (2001)

Choose Your Own Nightmare: How I Became a Freak (2001)

Version Information

Each game was could be purchased and streamed individually through the online Multipath Movie player (video below), or on DVD and CD-ROM. A box set collection of ‘Halloween Party’ and ‘Night of the Werewolf’ was also made.