Indie Horror Game Mouthwashing Boosts “Headlock”

Indie horror game Mouthwashing made a splash when it hit the Steam store in September right on time for Halloween. Now the game is responsible for Imogen Heap’s “Headlock” going viral on TikTok thanks to fan animation based on characters from the game.

The game hit the Steam store on September 26, 2024 and is the product of Developer Wrong Organ. The game features five crew members of the starship Tuplar who are transporting cargo to the empty reaches of space. When the ship crashes, the crew must survive by breaking into their precious cargo—hundreds of bottles of mouthwash.

The crew is driven insane by a consistent diet of mouthwash after food and supplies run out. The hijinks that follow have quickly gained a cult following among horror fans. Sharing videos of the characters set to Imogen Heap’s “Headlock” has become a fandom trope among horror lovers analyzing the story of the game.

Those fans of the game are entirely responsible for the streaming boost to Imogen Heap’s “Headlock,” which has become an unofficial anthem among fans who enjoy the characters and create content on TikTok featuring those characters backed by lyrics from the song.

The song talks about habits that are stuck in their old ways, similar to characters from the game. Crewmember Curly speaks with the player about wanting a wife, house, and family, but finding transport on the spaceship more comfortable than pursuing those goals. Similarly to how people used to watch The Wizard of Oz and line it up with the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon—gamers are attributing lyrics from “Headlock” to certain characters on the ship and the struggles they face throughout the game.

“You’ve been walking, you’ve been hiding, and you look half dead all the time,” is a lyric from the song attributed to the character Jimmy, who engages in deception while pretending he’s not betrayed his crew members. The result of this hyper interest in attributing song lyrics to characters is a huge streaming boost for a song that came out in 2006.