news There’s a New ‘Silent Hill’ Film in Development

Return to Silent Hill,” a horror film based on the classic Konami survival/horror video-game series, is in development. The news was announced at the end of a livestream dedicated to announcing new titles in the franchise.

Christophe Gans, who directed 2006’s “Silent Hill,” based on the first game in the series, was confirmed to direct the film. He appeared in a video message during the livestream to discuss the project. In addition, Victor Hadida, who executive produced the 2006 film, will return to produce “Return.” Gans confirmed that the movie would adapt the second game in the franchise, which was announced to receive an upcoming remake for the Playstation 5 during the same livestream.

“The film tells a story of a young guy coming back to Silent Hill, where he has known a great love,” Gans said during the livestream. “And what he is going to find is a pure nightmare.”

Created by video game director Keiichiro Toyama, the “Silent Hill” franchise focuses on the titular abandoned small town, which is covered with fog and brimming with monsters. Each game follows a new protagonist as they stumble upon Silent Hill and wind up struggling to survive, often confronting their darkest traumas in the process.

“Silent Hill 2,” released in 2001 for the Playstation 2, is widely regarded as the best game in the series and one of the best games of all time. It was a financial success with over a million copies sold in its first month. The game’s story centers on James Sunderland, a young man who receives a letter from his deceased wife urging him back to Silent Hill, where they once had an idyllic vacation, promising she’s waiting there for him.

Gans’ original 2006 film starred Radha Mitchell as Rose, a mother searching for her missing daughter in Silent Hill. Other cast members included Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Deborah Kara Unger, Kim Coates, Tanya Allen, Alice Krige, and Jodelle Ferland. The film was a financial success at the time, grossing $100 million worldwide off of a $50 million production budget. Reviews at the time were generally negative, although the film has several defenders today and was better received by fans of the games. A sequel to the film, “Silent Hill: Revelation,” which adapted the third game in the series, was released in 2012, with Gans replaced as director by M. J. Bassett. That film received similarly negative reviews and grossed $56 million worldwide.

In addition to “Return to Silent Hill” and the remake of “Silent Hill 2,” Konami announced several other projects in the video game franchise during the livestream, including the games “Silent Hill Townfall” and “Silent Hill f.” The three games will be the first entries in the franchise in over 10 years, after the 2012 release of the eighth game in the franchise “Silent Hill: Downpour.”
 
That's great news. For the 99% of people who have no idea what Silent Hill is, it's a video game franchise that defined a new horror genre. It's formula is really different from conventional horror, with heavy use of liminal spaces and fog. The writing is kind of like Kafka, keeping sanity just out of reach at all times. I guess what's interesting about it is that it captures the feeling of an actual nightmare better than conventional horror.
 
I really wanted to like the 2006 film. I've tried watching it on several occasions. There's some nice atmosphere and effects, but, especially for a big budget film it's just bad. Overbloated, oft over-acted and spelled-out. The little girl screaming "SILENT HILL! SILENT HILL!" whilst rolling on the ground is
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But I remember generally liking Brotherhood of the wolf. Hard to believe it's the same director. I'd recommend giving Hellraiser V: Inferno a shot if you haven't seen it. It seems to be a polarizing film amongst fans, but I personally like it. I has a similar atmosphere of Jacob's Ladder and in turn, Silent Hill. I hope the new SH film is better than 2006.
 
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There's some hope, as with all films, but I think that the kind of creepiness silent hill excelled at worked a lot better on the longer timelines of the games. They did a fair job of trying to transfer the style to cinema. I can see the issue they had. The characters from the game probably wouldn't have worked too well on the big screen (see Spawn), and the replacement characters weren't able to recreate the original magic. There were some directing/acting blunders as you mentioned, but honestly I think with Silent Hill, the whole brand in the atmosphere, and it was pretty good.
 
Yeah, my biggest problem was with the over-explaining in key parts and Sean Bean's role felt shoe-horned in. The atmosphere was good. Spawn did have a lot of problems, too. I like the costume though and clown was cool. Here's an interesting video on Youtube with Michael Jai White vs the director:
I feel many of the films' flaws could've possibly been forgiven had the story elements remained.

Edit: Another video talking about Spawn (skip to 3:55)
 
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