Clash Royale is cursed in the game’s creepy Halloween horror ad

David and director Kelsey Taylor’s short film imagines players dying in real life the same way they die in the game

Published On
Oct 07, 2024

Editor's Pick

Supercell mobile game Clash Royale is rolling out Halloween updates and in-game events this month, and is celebrating with a creepy short film centered around a classic horror trope: the curse.

In this case, it’s the game itself that’s cursed. Which doesn’t seem like that great of a selling point, but let’s go with it. The video above, from agency David New York and Eleanor director Kelsey Taylor, shows a group of young people playing the game—where the stakes are just a little higher than usual.

Also read: Clash Royale tests players’ strength by putting the game inside a 50-pound phone case

Taylor does a nice job of ratcheting up the tension, and the deaths are cleverly handled, too, on what clearly wasn’t a huge budget.

“A cursed item is a classic horror film trope. So, we thought, what if the cursed item was our iconic game, Clash Royale?” said André Toledo, chief creative officer at David New York. “Our partners at Supercell saw the entertainment potential in this and encouraged us to commit to the horror genre and deliver the chills and thrills to their millions of fans this Halloween season. We are very excited to ask gamers to lose ... if they dare.”

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Credits

Date
Oct 07, 2024
Client :
Supercell
Agency :
David-New York
Head of Live Games Marketing :
Iwo Zakowski
Brand Marketing Manager :
Erol Tekkanat
Marketing Producer :
Freddy Herneoja
Global CCO & Partner :
Pancho Cassis
Global COO :
Sylvia Panico
MD :
Carolina Vieira
CCO :
Daniel Lobaton
CCO :
André Toledo
Creative Director :
Pedro Sattin
Creative Director :
Sébastien Rouvière​
Senior Art Director :
Carmen Fenech
Global Chief Strategy Officer :
Paula Vampre
Group Strategy Director :
James Mitchell
Associate Strategy Director :
Vanessa Amaral
Strategist :
Brooklyn Carey
Group Account Director :
Brett Niebling
Account Supervisor :
Luisa Prado
Head of Production :
Brenda Morrison Fell
Executive Producer :
Debi Rubbiani
Associate Producer :
Sophie Freid
Director Business Affairs :
Barbara Karalis
Business Affairs Manager :
Catalina Peña
Global PR Director :
Sandra Azedo
Production Company :
Eleanor
Director :
Kelsey Taylor
President/Executive Producer :
Sophie Gold
Head of Production :
Rochelle Savory
Producer :
Rita le Roux
Line Producer :
Luis Valderrama
Fixer :
Michael Araya
Production Manager :
Tavo Jimenez
Production Coordinator :
Cherie Melaniuk
Production Coordinator :
Roger Hidalgo
DP :
Adam Lee
1st AD :
Valeria Perucci
1st AC :
Juan Quesada
2nd AC :
Jose Moreira
DIT :
Saul Garcia
Gaffer :
Pablo Guevara
Best Boy Electric :
Carlos Solano
Key Grip :
David Friedlander
Best Grip :
Jordan Sequeira
Art Director :
Eric Viquez
Set Decorator :
Jason Fallas
Practical SFX :
Alvaro Elizondo
Production Assistant :
Ana Lucia Arias
Stylist :
Annabella Prins
Stylist Assistant :
Ale Freer
Hair & Make Up :
Andrea Seas
Sound Mixer :
Mauricio Vindas
Locations :
Mauricio Cortes
Medic :
Oscar Salas
Script Supervisor :
Carlos Benavides
Edit :
Eleanor
Editor :
Dawson Taylor
Editor :
Luke Thorpe
Post Producer :
Rochelle Savory
Post Producer :
Jennifer Gee
VFX :
Noise Studios
CD/VFX Supervisor :
Michael Gregory
Head of CG :
Corinne DeOrsay
Lighter :
Ca Chau
CG Modeler :
Will Moody
Senior Nuke Compositor :
Chung-Pu (Duff) Hsiao
Senior Nuke Compositor :
Jim Spratling
Senior Nuke Compositor :
Oliver Caiden
Executive Producer :
Karen Anderson
VFX Producer :
Stefani Na
Color :
Trafik
Colorist :
Dimitri Zola
Color Assist :
Jacob Suffern
Producer :
Hugh Copeland
Music & Sound :
Yessian
CCO :
Brian Yessian
Head of Production :
Michael Yessian
Executive Creative Producer :
Matt Nelson
Director Sound Design :
Jeff Dittenber
Sound Designer/Engineer :
Mike Baluha
Composer :
Andy Grush

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