KORN

[Adam]

Awesome pic.
I'm sure SH will be gory (how could it not be, what with the set design) but suspenseful as well.
Gans generated great tension in Le Pacte De Loups and I think we'll see that here.

[Thorngrub]

fucking fuckity fuckfuck.

[Thorngrub]

I will destroy you

[Adam]

That's nice, Thorn.

[Thorngrub]

[Thorngrub]

I hope you don't think I was referring to you man. I was just shootin off silly like.

[theladyofthelake]

Sorry, but I'm just so excited and this board is dead anyway...

On July 18, 2005, ComingSoon.net had the opportunity to pay the cast and crew of Silent Hill a visit on set in Toronto, Ontario. The city was hotter than Georgia asphalt, but the heat did nothing to diminish the spirits of producer Samuel Hadida (The Rules of Attraction) and director Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf). In fact, it seemed nothing could bring them down. The funny thing is that Hadida and Gans genuinely seem excited about the film they are making… something you don't see too much these days.

Gans is a hopelessly addicted gamer, and knows what it is like to see a crappy movie get made on the back of a great video game, and he was hell-bent to make sure that "Silent Hill" gets treated as a self-supported majestically dark film that holds true to the game's aesthetics and not go the way of dismal-beyond-imagination catastrophe that was Super Mario Bros. Judging by the set they were filming in that scorching day, there is little doubt that they achieved their goals.

The set ComingSoon.net was privileged enough to view was possibly the creepiest hospital ever designed. In fact, it looks as though instead of being a place created for caring for and healing the sick, this hospital looks as if it were used solely as a fecal matter storage facility for the last one hundred years. That by no means is to suggest that the set design looks crappy, because it was clearly very well thought out, but you don't want to touch the walls. From experience acquired from years of working as an art director in the film industry, this writer can assure you that's a pretty hard thing to achieve and it shows just how skilled Silent Hill's production designer Carol Spier (Mimic, Blade II, eXistenZ) truly is. What's more, the overall production design is reminiscent of a Rothko painting. Throughout the story, the sets --which this hospital is somewhere around the second act-- get darker and more decrepit from scene to scene as the characters go deeper into the darkness.

What could have come off as campy truly does look frightening, and in a time where suspense and horror are tag lines used to justify poorly crafted splatter flick remakes targeted at teenagers who wouldn't know shit from good chocolate, Silent Hill looks like it may have the vision and clarity that created films like The Changeling or The Shining.

Of course, that's a hefty thing to say when one considers that the statement is made after only a few hours of talking to the cast and crew and seeing one especially creepy scene develop. But really, faceless nurses clad in skin tight vinyl costumes slinking around in the dark as if they were marionettes being guided by a puppeteer above the set is one hell of a disturbing visual.

"Christophe has a really interesting take on the concept of the video game. And you do have a sense of what it must feel like to be stuck in this chase," says Radha Mitchell (Phone Booth), who plays Rose, a distraught mother looking for her daughter who is lost in the darkness that is Silent Hill. "Since we've been making the film, we see the vision and the script come alive. It's a very visual piece so when [reading the script] you won't necessarily understand what it is but every day has just been an assault on the senses."

One of the things that a lot of modern horror films lack is suspense. It's all about establishing characters as briefly as you can and then putting them in situations that will make you either jump or groan. Gans' idea for Silent Hill is to slowly take you down into the darkness. With each passing minute, Silent Hill is intended to make you feel like the situation is going from truly bad to incredibly hopeless. All the while he is keeping a strong focus on character's appearances and motivations to insure that they are not unlike those in the game.

"Cybil is a woman who grew up in a small town outside of Silent Hill. She's a bit of a lone wolf, in the sense that her mom died when she was thirteen and there was never really a father around." Says Laurie Holden (The Majestic, The X-Files) of her character. "It was a very religious community, so I think that because [Cybil's] mother was such a woman of faith and she passed away in a really painful way, it really scarred [her]. And she's really kind of denounced any sort of religion just because of what happened. Because of that she's been a bit of an outsider, doesn't have a lot of friends. But that's okay for Cybil because she's found her calling and that is to serve and protect. And, really, she wants to save children. She wants to be kind of like the mother of saving the children."

Much to Holden's dismay, Gans' quest for accuracy also cost the actress a little bit more. "I had hair before this movie. They chopped it all off for Cybil."

Hair wasn't the only thing done to establish character traits from the video game though. Some characters, like Dahlia Gillespie played by Deborah Unger (The Game), are an equal mixture of special effects and artistic design geared to translate what you see in the game to the silver screen.

"Dahlia's been extraordinary. To Christophe's credit, he's really captured the essence of her and then extended her into the psychological nightmare that would capture the imaginations of the gaming fans. So it was a much deeper exploration than I anticipated." Says Unger, "With Dahlia it's been an extraordinary psychological journey for me, as an actor, to embrace this walker between worlds. And, as a mad and slightly cryptic prophet, akin to obviously the essence of the game, [she] has been just a delight to play."

As a stark contrast, the character of Chris Dasilva, played by Sean Bean ("The Lord of the Rings") is very much a real world character that is "sort of a successful businessman. They live in a nice house. Things seem to be going well, apart from the child. But he's a good guy, a regular sort of guy with bit of money, wears nice clothes and drives a BMW." For those not familiar with the game, this character is married to Mitchell's Rose character, and both of them are independently looking for their daughter.

"It has the nostalgia," Mitchell reflects, "their relationship does, as is in the game in that they're sort of separating in different dimensions. And they're kind of passing each other by often in the movie. They don't actually connect. So it's kind of, I guess, like the average relationship…"

A young Canadian actress named Jodelle Ferland, who according to Mitchell is amazing to work with, plays their daughter. "She has a sort of adult concentration and patience and yet, obviously, the charming innocence of a little girl. So it's been fun playing [her] mom."

Silent Hill does still follow in the footsteps of stories already told, but at least from the perspective of Holden, unlike the remakes we've seen over the last few years, this film seems to be going in a more interesting direction.

"I think of this more as a nightmare fairytale. It is elegant and I think of this as kind of a cross between 'Alice in Wonderland' meets 'Dante's Inferno'. It's very high art and frightening and violent and sexy and elegant all at the same time. Which I think is Christophe's genius."

Going to a traditional style of story telling does mean a lot of practical sets and people in monster costumes. But being a film of the 21st century, CGI will still play a part on how the terror of Silent Hill unfolds.

"A lot of the time we're reacting to things that are not necessarily in front of us and we've got to imagine them at the same time." Says Mitchell, "So we've constantly encouraged the first AD to make loud noises for us so we can all, you know... be scared."

It is impossible to say whether the film can deliver what Gans hopes it will, but considering its solid cast and Spier's production design, chances are good we're in for one heck of a dark suspenseful ride that will give its viewers the willies. As Mitchell herself put it, "Christophe has made sort of clear decisions to make sure it's not cheesy. So there's none of that kind of, you know, action movie kind of stuff we've seen in a lot of American films. There's no inside humor in the film, like winking at the audience. If you're into horror I would say this is the movie to watch because it's elegant horror. That's my understanding of it."

[Adam]

Kewl.

[Thorngrub]

HOly shit, Lady. Kickass. When is this shit comin out?!?! I'm so there.

[theladyofthelake]

April 21st. And you can rest assured I won't let you forget.

Now, let's just hope it's not a huge, embarrassing disappointment...

[Thorngrub]

Doesn't look like it will be. That "le Pact de Loups" was awesome. I got it on DVD.

[Thorngrub]

ANYONE WHO DARES TO MEET ME @ THE HARD ROCK HOTEL IN LAS VEGAS ON TUESDAY, MARCH 14, WILL BE GIVEN MY EXTRA KORN TICKET, VALUED AT $98.75, RETAIL.

Just the fact you show up will be payback enough.

The ticket is on a First Come, First Serve Basis, and may be snatched up at anytime. If no one comes w/me, I will scalp it easily and thus double my gas fare.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the legendary KORN in a small venue, w/the thoRnster.

2 Words:

*Nuclear Explosion*

Have a great weekend, all

[Adam]

Silent Film: Konami's Silent Hill Fogs Up the Big Screen
by Shane Bettenhausen 2.17.2006 (Electronic Gaming Monthly)

So you've become understandably wary when it comes to big-screen adaptations of your favorite games. From Super Mario Bros. to Doom, nearly every motion picture inspired by our industry has royally stunk up the multiplex. (The continually fecal torrent of flicks like House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark by German director Uwe Boll certainly doesn't help matters, either.) But one upcoming game-to-film project actually shows promise-Sony Pictures' Silent Hill (opening April 21). Shortly after an impressive trailer ignited positive buzz among the fan community, EGM sat down with director Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf ) and composer Akira Yamaoka (director of the Silent Hill games) to discuss their fogdrenched horror flick.

EGM: Did the stigma of working on a videogame-based film deter you?


Christophe Gans: Of course it was challenging, but it was impossible for me to do Silent Hill and not be serious about it. It's much easier to adapt Doom, even if it turns out to be a disaster-as we've seen [recently]-than to adapt Silent Hill. If you want to adapt Silent Hill, you must be ready to face all of the complexity of the story. For a lazy director, like the one who directed Doom, Silent Hill would be too big of a piece to swallow. I dreamed of adapting this game when I first started playing the first one six years ago. I prepared for this for years, knowing that every fan in the world would wait for me with an ax. I will be sniped when I go to buy my games at my favorite store if I do a bad job. And I understand that. I'm a fan of the games myself-I admire the work of Akira and his friends, and I feel like someone who joined the group and tried to transport that amazing piece of art into a different medium. I love the fandom, and I understand these people and how tense they get when they hear, "Your favorite game is going to be adapted by some French guy." [Laughs]

EGM: It's impressive that you actually tackled the mythology of the games rather than creating a simpler story...was that something you intended from the project's outset?

CG: Yes. Although, when we first decided to do Silent Hill, we wanted to base it on the second game. It was very natural, since that game is the favorite of every fan, and it's the one with the most beautiful world, and it's the most emotional one of all four. Every gamer who finished the game knows what I'm talking about... it's a very tragic and romantic game, and it's a beautiful adaptation of the myth of Orpheus- going to hell to bring back his love, Eurydice. It was not a real Silent Hill, though; the town serves as the background to the story, but it's not really about the mythology. So, when we decided to do the film, we realized that it was impossible to talk about Silent Hill and not talk about why this town is like that. So we realized that we had to adapt the first one.

Of course, we were facing the fact that the characters that we love so much were designed for games, and not to be played by real actors. It became readily apparent when we began to write the script and had to deal with the [main] character, Harry Mason. We realized after two weeks in the writing process that Harry was actually motivated by feminine, almost maternal feelings. It's not that he's effeminate, but he's acting like a woman. So, if we wanted to keep the character, we would have to change other aspects of him...so to be true to the character, we changed Harry into Rose. Essentially, all the people who love Silent Hill are more interested in seeing the mood and atmosphere of the games rather than if a certain character is wearing pants or a dress. Also, when we decided to adapt the characters of Cybil and Dahlia, we found it difficult, mainly because they appear only sparsely in the game. When you have to create a narrative arc for these characters, you have to work really hard to make them work on the big screen. I didn't want to do what they did with Resident Evil: Apocalypse when they put Jill Valentine onscreen. I mean, that's a perfect example: I love Jill Valentine...in the game, but not onscreen. I mean, I'm sorry, but just dressing a girl like her doesn't make her the character.

EGM: Did you feel a need to clearly explain the Silent Hill mythology to the audience?

CG: It's a delicate balance, because in the game we are basically following one character, and this character is more or less finding little clues that tell a backstory. In a film, we can change the perspective when we want. We can show what Silent Hill was like before it became a ghost town. We can show precisely what Silent Hill is like in reality-we've never seen that before. In the game, there are two Silent Hills: the Silent Hill of darkness and the Silent Hill of fog. But when you have to tell a story about something that happened 30 years ago in a town, and that town suddenly became like the Bermuda Triangle, you have to add two more dimensions: the reality and Silent Hill from 30 years ago. So basically, we had to deal with four dimensions, and jump between them at will. It makes the concept very exciting; it's very compelling to juggle the story between those different incarnations of the same place.

EGM: Akira, what do you think of the additions Christophe has made to Silent Hill world?

Akira Yamaoka: After seeing the film, I think that Christophe has really expressed the core elements of Silent Hill, and he's really kept the themes alive in this new medium. Silent Hill is not just a horror game; there is human drama rooted very deeply in the story, and I feel that he expressed that very well with the visuals, sounds, and atmosphere in the film. By watching the film, I feel that you'll get a clearer and deeper understanding of the world of Silent Hill, more so than by simply playing the games.

EGM: Christophe, given your fandom, have you considered directing a game?

CG: Yes, I'd like to try that one day. Because as a director who is also a gamer, I think that there are two different ways to tell a story, and sometimes it can be like a dialogue between a film and a game. I'd like to think that, like, a 40-year-old woman might enjoy the film and then realize that it's an adaptation of a videogame. Now, I don't expect her to play the game, but for her to realize that games are important and that they deal with human emotions, not only carnage. Most of the people have a very caricatured vision of videogamers, and actually, gamers are very intelligent.

Games are a form of art. I realized that when I played through Silent Hill. Of course, I was a big fan of [Mario creator Shigeru] Miyamoto's work, and I consider him a true artist. Playing through The Legend of Zelda, for example, was a beautiful, poetic moment for me. Playing through Silent Hill is very serious-and adult, of course-and that was the moment that I realized that gaming would become an important medium for storytelling. The quality of immersion is very difficult to reach with cinema. And I feel that it's extremely stupid for films like Doom to come out and reflect poorly on games.

EGM: It doesn't help when a critic like Roger Ebert says that games are not art....

CG: F*** him. You know, I will say to this guy that he only has to read the critiques against cinema at the beginning of the 20th century. It was seen as a degenerate version of live stage musicals. And this was a time when visionary directors like Griffith were working. That means that Ebert is wrong. It's simple. Most people who despise a new medium are simply afraid to die, so they express their arrogance and fear like this. He will realize that he is wrong on his deathbed. Human beings are stupid, and we often become a**holes when we get old. Each time a new medium appears, I feel that it's important to respect it, even if it appears primitive or naïve at first, simply because some people are finding value in it. If you have one guy in the world who thinks that Silent Hill or Zelda is a beautiful, poetic work, then that game means something.

EGM: How did you tackle the concept of evil in Silent Hill?

CG: Because Silent Hill comes from a part of the world where the line between good and evil is blurred more so than in the West, it's very interesting to deal with that. Since you haven't seen the film, I don't want to go too deeply into that, but I will say that for me, it was interesting to define what exactly is evil in the world of today. I think it's an important question to raise. Until five years ago, we were living in a world that was a product of the Second World War. It was very clear that we were on the good side. But many things have happened in the last few years, and now people aren't so sure about that.

In Silent Hill, I don't attempt to answer these questions, but I do try to illustrate them. And I think it's one of the most important objectives of the horror genre, to ask the right questions. Horror is actually a very political genre. Silent Hill is a very disturbing game, because you're not just alone physically, but also alone morally. That's the world of today. Each day, we're forced to reevaluate our own morality.

EGM: You seem so passionate about this project...do you hope to helm a sequel?

CG: Of course, I would love to come back. And of course, Silent Hill 3 is a direct continuation of the first game's plot...I think that it would be very possible to do a sequel to this film. As I said, Silent Hill is a complete mythology, and I did what I could in two hours, but I would love to tell much more about the Red Nurse, Claudia, and the Doctor. Plus, there is a fifth dimension of Silent Hill-how it existed in the 18th century, during the Salem witch-hunts. It's so big and so interesting, and I would love to jump back on the horse.

EGM: Akira, what has the whole Silent Hill movie project meant to you?

AY: I never dreamed in my wildest dreams that Silent Hill would ever become a feature film, so I must say that I'm extremely grateful for the chance to work on this incredible project. The approach that we took when making the games was not typical- we were heavily influenced by films, and really wanted to touch the users' emotions. We wanted to touch their hearts deeply. That kind of emotional potential was generally reserved for other forms of art, but I think that we were able to succeed. And now, to see these filmmakers take inspiration from our game, that was a very emotional moment for me.

[theladyofthelake]

Awesome! Thanks, Adam. Silent Hill, Zelda.....I love Christophe Gans!

Man, I nearly flipped when I read that they almost made the movie based on SH2... that one, like he says of most fans, is by far my favorite storyline, but he's right in that it's not a part of the Silent Hill mythology -- it's its own story. 3 is really good, too, though. Hopefully the movie will do well enough and be good enough to warrant a sequel. If they can do it with Resident Evil......

I finished the first Silent Hill over the weekend. 3 was the first one I played and then I worked my way backwards. Took forever to get part one because I don't have a PS -- I had to find an emulator and download the game over a 3 day period because I'm still on dial-up at home. It was a bitch! But I got it done. I still haven't played 4 -- need some computer upgrades first.

[Adam]

I love it when Gans said Ebert should go fuck himself. I think Ebert's a great writer and critic but he really has no frame of reference when it comes to video games. He should've just stuck to talking about the Doom movie in his review; all the bickering could've been avoided.

But yeah, I think it helps that Gans is not only an avid gamer but a huge fan of the SH series.