I don't often find myself haunted. But there's a 60-second stretch of video I can't get out of my head — and now that I've found it on YouTube, I can't stop hitting Play over and over, even as I write this.

Play.

It's embarrassing to admit, but what haunts me isn't footage from a natural disaster or the aftermath of a bombing in Baghdad. It's a TV commercial for a video game.

I'm not a big video game fan — it's not that I don't enjoy them, they're just a few notches down on my list of leisure-time activities. But that doesn't matter. The ad for "Gears of War," an Xbox 360 game, won't leave me alone.

Play.

The setting is not unusual: The sun sets on an apocalyptic urban world in the not-too-distant future, the streets and buildings largely reduced to rubble by fires and explosions — and becoming more so as the seconds tick by. A massive and heavily armored soldier runs through the streets.

He's armed with an assault rifle the size of a tree trunk. But you immediately sense our hero doesn't have a chance.

This premise, though, isn't what haunts me. Nor is it the graphics, impressive as they may be.

It's the choice of music that consumes me — which may be why I can't leave this behind, even when I close my eyes.

Play.

The song is "Mad World," originally by Tears for Fears but hauntingly covered by Gary Jules, whose version also shows up in a scene from "Donnie Darko."

The choice of sound is surprising for a game like this. There's no death metal. No gangsta rap. No clatter of explosions and gunfire. Just agonizing vocals over a progression of soft, devastatingly sorrowful piano notes.

Our hero might be angry, but it's his sadness I can't escape.

Play.

"All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces."

"Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow. No tomorrow. No tomorrow."

Our hero gazes at a partially mangled bust of a woman's head. He takes off when he notices the street is beginning to collapse.

"And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad. The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had."

Someone spots our hero. He makes an acrobatic dive through a window and into a building.

"I find it hard to tell you. I find it hard to take."

Flat on the floor, he slowly lifts his head. Scattered bits of light come together into a rounded shape that's growing closer.

"When people run in circles it's a very, very ..."

It's the head of a 50-foot mechanical spider. Our hero fires his weapon.

"... mad world."

The creature lunges at our hero as the darkness fades to black.

"Mad world."

Play.

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See the video: http://tinyurl.com/y7xugq

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asap news editor Eric Carvin hopes to sleep well tonight.

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