Is Survival Horror Right for the Gaming Table?

The other day at work I got to thinking about all the great survival horror movies and games that are out there and how they have so much in them that would be fun to model or paint. Survival horror, as a genre, generally includes tons of vivid and evocative sets and creatures as well as characters and heroes that almost scream to be made into miniature.

There has already been much done along these lines for the various zombie games that are out there (you have to love zombies), but these generally come down to survival games and less along the lines of horror. The problem I see comes from that side of things which may work well in RPGs but are harder to bring to life on the miniatures games table.

Horror is based on certain assumptions that are hard to simulate on the gaming table. Fear, uncertainty, powerlessness, even hopelessness. All of these are based on emotional responses that most tabletop gamers are not going to be able to tap into. Most miniatures games are simply too cut and dry to instill players with these emotions. But, still I wonder if it can be done.

I would love to hear any thoughts or ideas that those of you who read this may have, so please comment freely.

Thanks,

-Eli