Twisted Metal from 2012 offered the most unique take on Mr. Grimm yet. The original Twisted Metal arrived in 1995 and was a vehicular combat game where players guided their vehicles around various areas and blasted opponents. The carnage evoked the Mad Max movies and a series of hit sequels followed. The franchise was created by David Jaffe, who directed several of the games and also directed the original God Of War in 2005.

Twisted Metal also inspired rival titles like Vigilante 8 and 2000’s bizarre spinoff Star Wars: Demolition. Crank co-director Brian Taylor was once attached to helm a movie version of Twisted Metal that was set to star Nicolas Cage as fan-favorite Sweet Tooth, though it was later scrapped over budget concerns. While it’s not connected to the franchise in any way, the Death Race movies are currently the closest thing to a Twisted Metal movie fans can get.

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While the same characters and scenarios often reappear in the Twisted Metal series, each title acts as a retelling that reimagines the story. The setup typically revolves around the devilish Calypso holding the “Twisted Metal” tournament, with the winner being granted a wish if they win. Mr. Grimm was typically depicted as the actual Grim Reaper in earlier titles, though Twisted Metal 4 called him Captain Grimm and he drove a pirate ship car.

Twisted Metal: Black from 2001 featured one of the bleakest backstories for Mr. Grimm, depicting him as a Vietnam vet who was forced to eat the body of a dead friend to survive. He later donned the skull of his friend Benny and set out on a quest for revenge. It was 2012’s Twisted Metal that offered the most dramatic reinvention, where Mr. Grimm’s wish is to go back in time to save his father’s life and undo the dark path this event led him down. His backstory bears a resemblance to that of Ghost Rider, but instead of being the Grim Reaper, this Mr. Grimm is a killer named Daniel.

Compared to Twisted Metal 2012’s other characters like psychotic model Dollface or serial killer Sweet Tooth, Mr. Grimm is something of a sympathetic character. The reaction to this new take on Mr. Grimm was mixed, however, with longtime fans finding Daniel Grimm a dull antihero. That said, his story has the most tragic payoff, with Calypso granting his wish, only for him to cause an accident that kills his father and his younger self to shoot him in self-defense. This is the kind of dark, ironic ending the Twisted Metal franchise loves, and while Black’s version of Mr. Grimm is the most nightmarish, his 2012 counterpart is arguably the best.

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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