I quite enjoyed the video game Mouthwashing. It had plenty to say about how corporations exploit their workers, it experimented with character perspective to let you in on certain narrative threads while withholding others until they were taut enough to snap, and it was short enough that its misery didn’t outstay its welcome. What I wasn’t so fond of was much of the fandom response that followed, which is why I’m rather nervous to say it’s getting a movie from Sony.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony has acquired the feature film rights to Mouthwashing, attaching names both promising and anxiety-inducing to the project. It’s being produced in part by Scott Derrickson, director of Sinister (which I liked well enough) and Doctor Strange (a wet fart sound of a movie). What’s more interesting is that Karyn Kusama, director of the excellent cult classic Jennifer’s Body, is attached to direct. Given the game’s themes of sexual assault, which is putting it lightly, it’s nice to see a woman in the director’s seat.
YES, MOUTHWASHING MOVIE IS REALLY HAPPENING SOON™
You thought you could escape responsibility by turning off your console?
Produced by Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems and directed by Karyn Kusama.
[image or embed]— Critical Reflex (@cr-games.bsky.social) October 29, 2026 at 8:17 PM
YES, MOUTHWASHING MOVIE IS REALLY HAPPENING SOON™
You thought you could escape responsibility by turning off your console?
Produced by Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems and directed by Karyn Kusama.
[image or embed]
The thing that loops me back around to fear is having Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay attached as writers; the pair have long worked together, but often on stinkers like Clash of the Titans, The Tuxedo, and R.I.P.D. At the very least the two of them and Kusama are frequent collaborators, having made The Invitation and Destroyer together (it probably helps that Hay and Kusama are married).
As with every single live-action adaptation of a video game, the author immediately feels that it is wholly unnecessary, and certainly believes that is the case for Mouthwashing. It is described as a game with minimal interactivity, much more of a walking simulator than anything else, and one that deeply relies on that interactivity, alongside its first-person perspective, so it is not certain how well that would translate. And, according to the author, the game developed an uncomfortably intense fandom that has frequently treated the game’s themes as a suggestion, prioritizing skits and memes above a real reckoning with what it is doing. This leaves the author afraid of a film adaptation, adding that they perhaps will log off for the day whenever it comes out.
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