Silent Hill - The Movie

[Brad Gallaway]

Hey All.

Went to see Underworld 2 tonight (never saw the first one, this one wasn't too shabby for a film about vampires fighting werewolves) and there was a trailer for Silent Hill.

I recognized what it was before the title came up, and i had to grin. don't know if anybody here has been following it, but this was the first i had seen on it.

it looks to be a mishmash of the SH games, but mostly SH1 from what i could tell. Harry is replaced by a female lead, and there's a husband who is evidently looking for her after she gets swallowed up by the town.

there was a *lot* of imagery that was directly recognizable from the game... the heavy fog, the chasms isolating the town, the nurses, the little girl disappearing, the flames of the town burning, etc...

there was also one clear shot of Pyramid Head from SH2, and i thought i saw bits and pieces of things from the other games, but i can't be sure.

so far it looks extremely promising, and one final shot at the end had the unforgettable siren sound that happened in SH1 before Harry would get sucked into the dark world, and the screen showed the environment around the lead character SH-ifying before her eyes... very cool stuff.

hard to tell from just a trailer, but it looked great and extremely faithful to the game(s). hopefully this will be one Hollywood gets right.

[Boy]

I'm a bit uncertain about it. I've been following it, and while it looks like they got the look down pat, I have a sinking feeling they'll mess up the spirit of Silent Hill (not unlike the developers did in SH3).

Like, I can see it easily being "Woman enters town, scary shit happens, she kills the big baddie, everyone is happy". I'm hoping this won't be the case, but I'm not hoping too hard.

[Dubkiller]

Here's the trailer. So far looks very true to the game. But it's the surrealness that made the game so good. I doubt they will go that direction with the movie, I can see them trying to explain everything. Still looking forward to it though.

[Adelleda]

Went to see Underworld 2 tonight (never saw the first one, this one wasn't too shabby for a film about vampires fighting werewolves)

Watch the first one. It's far better, and you'll understand the second one better.

[Mike Doolittle]

One thing that can be safely said about the Silent Hill movie: it's not directed by Uwe Boll.


I'm still wanting to see Underworld 2, but the whole element that made the first one good was the ambiguity of the characters' morality, that the supposedly good characters were often the most evil of all and vice versa. I'm skeptical that the sequel is anything more than a Blade clone.

[jwe8k]

It's much creepier when the otherworld just appears. I'm playing Silent Hill 3 right now for the first time and the way they usher in the otherworld is way less scary. At one point, they even have it slowly appear similar to the appearance in the trailer. It's much more horrifying to go through a door and find yourself in the otherworld with no way out.

But the siren... man does that make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Notice the radio static at the beginning of the trailer, too.

[Jet Black]

I'm a BIG Silent Hill fan.

I saw this trailer a few weeks back and was very happy with it. As Brad implies, it flings the franchise on the wall and blends it all into one paste.

I'm hoping for the best, but my expectations are low. This film adaptation won't hold a candle to the effect Konami's Silent Hill had at the time - when expectations of survival horror was pretty much just Resident Evil. Silent Hill came along and just midfucked anyone who fell under the spell.

As for horror film... that feat might be a tall order. Hollywood isn't into "surprises". If this had roots in more independent film, or with direction from, let's say, Japan's Takashi Miike then I might feel that same horror that evaded my every waking moment of the original Silent Hill game.

But, you never know... I bet this will be fun enough. And with a film on this level of production, that's good enough for me.

I loved they even included the mandolin music. And yes, the sirens. Freaked me the hell out.

[David Stone]

I'm going to state the obvious and say:

HOLY SHIT! IT'S JET!!!!

Welcome back from the netherworld!

[Jet Black]

Hahaha!

Now all the people in the room can say, "who the fuck is Jet?"

[Boy]

And to think after all that absence you still have more posts than me. I'll never live up to the legend!

[Jet Black]

Don't worry, Boy... I'm not as active as i used to be. You've got plenty of time to catch up.

Now that Enduro.... (( shudder )) that man passed my post count up like a crack addict running after an eightball.

[Hereticked]

The film is being directed by Christopher Gans (who did Brotherhood of the Wolf) so I'm very hopeful this will turn out well. (Especially compared to the average videogame--->movie...)

Here is an interview with him about the film that is quite encouraging ^_^ :

http://community.livejournal.com/silenthill/638253.html

[Jet Black]

I'll be at a comic convention this weekend
(WonderCon, San Francisco, Ca.)

This is on the program schedule:

Saturday
3:30-4:00 TriStar Presents Silent Hill—

Deborah Kara Unger (White Noise, Crash)
presents a special look inside Silent Hill! The eerie and deserted town of Silent Hill draws a
young mother desperate to find a cure for her only child’s illness. Unable to accept the
doctor’s diagnosis that her daughter should be permanently institutionalized for psychiatric
care, Rose (Radha Mitchell) flees with her child, heading for the abandoned town in search
of answers and ignoring the protests of her husband It’s clear this place is unlike anywhere
she’s ever been. It’s smothered by fog, inhabited by a variety of strange beings, and
periodically overcome by a living Darkness that literally transforms everything it touches. As
Rose searches for her little girl, she begins to learn the history of the strange town and
realizes that her daughter is just a pawn in a larger game. Directed by Christophe Gans
(Brotherhood of the Wolf). Room 2000

I'll be there soaking it all in. I'll write up anything interesting.

[Jet Black]

Well, I'm back from the comic convention for Saturday and I saw the Silent Hill presentation.

First off the programming track was screwed up by 45 minutes. So I arrived and Pixar was talking about Cars. Animators and editors were yapping', I saw three clips and scenes from the film (some of it still "rough"). And Pixar showed their short film, "One Man Band", which I believe is nominated for an Academy this year.

After that the presentation for Silent Hill went straight into action, which only lasted a whole of 15 minutes. Oh, boy.

But... it was a damn nice 15 minutes. Actress, Deborah Kara Unger was there to present the film clip, and she thanked all the video game fans, Konami, and filmmakers. She said making the film was a lot of fun and she worked with award winning creators and special effects people.

Then they made an announcement that all children should leave the room (especially since this was back-to-back with Pixar's "Cars"). The screening hall was packed with about 300+ people, give or take (could have been more... these were large rooms divided by many sections). The SH clip was made just for this event and shown on two screens.

Lights went down and the TriStar logo appeared. They ran the long trailer, which can be seen on the Internet. Audience response was great. Then Deborah Kara Unger came back and introduced a scene from the film (which she said was about half way through the film). This was the scene seen in the trailer where all the people are running up the stairs to the church and the female cop is barking for people to "hurry up, it's coming".

The scene opens with the people running, the siren (that haunts all our dreams) is wailing in the background. Deborah Unger's character is imploring a question to a woman. She is asking why their daughters look exactly the same. This should be the Allessa (sp) connection here. The woman , now stalled on the stone stairs up to the church, whispers her lines, but basically says "Be careful what you wish." The sky looks like late afternoon / sunset.

But then the darkness comes.

Storm clouds roll in, the sunlight fades away, shadows start to creep.

Then like a reverse rain from the ground spots of blackness "leak" upwards off the pavement. It "crawls" across everything and it's nearly at the feet of our lead character. She gets up and starts running for the church door, but the woman she was questioning stays behind. Deborah Unger gets to the cop and they both look back....

Pyramid Head does a slow methodical march out of the darkness. He is shown in all his glory, perfectly matched from the Silent Hill 2 game. He grabs the woman still left standing at the steps and now in the "darkness" - I guess she figured it was time to die.

Deborah Unger and the cop start running again, but still looking back.

Then it happens... Silent Hill takes the next step into real horror.

Pyramid Head drags the woman up the steps by the head. Then hoists her up by the neck & head into the air holding her at his head level. In one motion he rips her ragged dress off leaving her naked and flailing. Then (and this is all in one take, NO cuts, no "off camera" shit) Pyramid Head grabs her by the chest, digging into her chest cavity, twists and rips ALL THE SKIN OFF HER BODY in one yanking motion. The audience went wild.

The other women, finally catch the fucking hint, and run for the church doors just making it in time as Pyramid Head THROWS THE human skin at them, splattering the door and camera lens.

The audience reaction was palpable. You could cut it with a knife. People were all saying the same thing, "Holy Fuck, did he just strip all the skin right off that woman and throw it at them?"

For a while it was the talk on the convention floor. Silent Hill actually "went there" - and without blinking. I don't know how the film will stack up as a whole, or how well the story will work. But I can say visually this is a NICE piece of work, and ANY fan of Silent Hill will be happy as a pig in shit with the EXACT rendering of some of the Silent Hill creatures, theme, and over-the-top disturbing violent images.

The screen fades to black and the Silent Hill logo (as seen in the game) is blurry and then it fades off.

Afterward, (trying to make up for late programming) Brian Singer got up and did a presentation for Superman Returns - which was mostly the same trailer we've seen, plus more Metropolis set-up. Basically Metropolis has "moved on" without Superman. They've wondered where he went, but now they're cynical, not caring much, and basically pissed off people. In short, they joined the rest of the world without a Superman in their back pocket.

No mention of what gets Superman to "return", the story conflict, or situation. Some shots of Lex Luthor holding up a crystal. But it looked clear... like a piece from the Fortress of Solitude. It didn't look like Kryptonite.

I guess we'll have to see the film.

[Snack Eater]

Between the potential awesomeness of this movie and the news that Uwe Boll is not directing Fear Effect and will never get his hands on Metal Gear, I believe now is the time for Jesus to ejaculate, because it looks like the future of games-to-movies just got a whole lot brighter.

I can't say that the games were particularly gory to begin with, but with naked women getting their flesh chucked at people, I am not complaining.

In fact, I think Pixar should take the hint and have their next movie have dead monkeys being punted onto spikes. I'd see it just to hear the Academy Award Nominated Randy Newman theme song, "Dead Monkey Love".

My favorite thing so far with this movie has been this line from a recent interview with Gans, the question being about Ebert:

"Fuck him."