Silent Hill was about a mother looking for her child. If the second movie was to coincide with the second game, would it be a husband looking for his wife? Sean Bean played a very underused character in the first flick. I know I’d be happy as hell if he was brought back for the pivotal role in the second movie.
The 2006 fantasy-horror film, Silent Hill was a very much hit-or-miss video game adaptation amongst gaming and horror fans alike. Featuring some of the most bizzare and creative monster effects in the last ten years, the story failed to capture most critics as Roger Ebert himself thought the plot was overly-convoluted. In his 1.5 star review, Ebert said “Not only can I not describe the plot of this movie, but I have a feeling the last scene reverses half of what I thought I knew (or didn’t know).”
Video game adaptations have had a really nasty track record- Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil were two franchises that actually could have worked out to be decent movies even if they weren’t sourced from videogames. The plot alone from the various scenarios was rife with suspense in the Resident Evil games, and the Mortal Kombat franchise had many interested (and possible-to-develop) characters. Unfortunately both franchises got handed off to Paul W.S. Anderson, who I will one day punch in the face for AVP. I won’t even mention the reasons why Street Fighter sucked, just the result: It killed Raul Julia with its suckiness.
When the Silent Hill film came out I was really indecisive about my own criticisms. The characters were there, but they felt like mere gimmicks compared to their video game counter parts. The story was there, but became Hollywood-ified as somebody during the screenwriting process decided to change the “evil” from a demonic Lovecraftian cult to uber-puritans. That was a big “NO” in my opinion. If you put Pyramid Head into the movie he is supposed to be a fantastical example of their executioner- The Red Demon, Xulchibara.
Yeah, I’m a total nerd for this series. That’s why over all I did end up liking the movie. The set designs and overall direction was just so beautiful in its own twisted, mysterious and fantastical way that I still watch the movie anytime I just want to mellow out and take in some…well bizzare scenary.
A foggy, oldtowne style pervaded the set design, and it kept the essence of the game clearly in tact, causing many genre fans such as Arrow in the Head to hail the film as a “flawed yet faithful video game adaptation, obviously made for mature horror fans.” This movie definitely could win you over for its presentation if nothing else.
However the ending proved to have some weird twist that made a lot of people in the theater go “what does that mean? I don’t get it!” and myself to lay down a huge “WTF.” I obviously won’t spoil it for you, suffice it to say that while it did make sense in context of the film, it really had nothing to do with ANYTHING plot related and really just caused for a loose conclusion. One wonders if Gans just said to his crew “Ok…well I have no idea what to do at this point…slap an ending here…and lets go get Dunkin Donuts.”
Yet it did leave an opening for a sequel, a sequel which I am happy to announce that according to Christophe Gans, Neil Gaiman is more than in talks to co-write with Roger Avary.
Could this be a match made in heaven? Quite possibly. Gaiman is one of today’s most prestigious and awarded fantasy and horror writers. He’s also a fully functioning graphic artist, creating well-recieved Sandman comic series amongst others. Gaiman is an artistic Renassaince man, and with his ability to create deep characters and fantastical situations just from the tip of a pen, Silent Hill 2 could become one of the greatest horror movies of recent times. That is if Gans comes back for directing. I myself would appreciate the same visual punch he put into it, and I doubt if the same director didn’t work on it, it would feel much too different and end up flopping around a bit.
I’m looking out for this one- expect to hear more news as I get it.
My overall opinion on the matter:
Silent Hill was about a mother looking for her child. If the second movie was to coincide with the second game, would it be a husband looking for his wife? Sean Bean played a very underused character in the first flick. I know I’d be happy as hell if he was broughtback for the pivotal role in the second movie.