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ローゼンメイデン 
February 3, 2006 | 
20 Comments
The full trailer for the movie adaptation of Silent Hill is finally here and it does look really good and far removed from the cheese and embarassment of other video games to movie adaptation. A teaser trailer for the film was actually released a few months ago. But you could barely see anything in it so I decided not to make a fuss about it back then. Having said that, I've provided a link to the place where you can download it if you wish to do so. Also please note that the first set of images you see here is actually from the teaser trailer and not the full trailer. I intentionally put the images from the full trailer below the cut to prevent spoiling those who wish to see the film without any idea of the storyline. For everyone else, download the trailer and proceed to the extended page.
Teaser Trailer (7MB, Quicktime)
Full trailer (34MB, Quicktime)
Synopsis:
Rose's daughter, Sharon, often mentions a place called 'Silent Hill' during her sleep. In an attempt to understand why this is the case, they decided to visit the place. However, in the middle of their journey, Rose hears static radio noise and all of a sudden a girl wearing a blue dress appears in front of her. Rose tries to steer the car in order to avoid hitting the girl but she and Sharon end up getting into an accident because of it. When Rose regains her consciousness, she finds herself alone in her car with Sharon nowhere to be seen. Desperate to find her missing daughter, Rose continues her journey to 'Silent Hill'.
Impression:
Anyone who has played the game probably think that the summary sounds kind of familiar. That's because the film does take some plot points from the first game involving Harry and Cheryl. Actually, that's not really correct. The film seems to be a combination of the first 3 game with the main plot taken from the first game, the pyramid head taken from the second game, and Rose's character seems to be based on Heather's apperance. I have to say that I'm not sure what to make of this plot mish-mash. I don't know why Christopher Gans insists on making the main character a woman when it was perfectly fine when Harry was the main character. I've seen a lot of film about mother and daughter interaction. It would have been nice to see a Father and daughter interaction in this film. But unfortunately, we won't get to see that in this adaptation of the video game. At least not in regards to Harry and Cheryl.
Another thing that baffles me is the presence of a third character, Sean Bean's character, Christopher. To me the thing that makes all Silent Hill games interesting is the fact that the main character has little to no help from outside influences. By having Sean Bean's character looking frantically for his wife and daughter, I'm afraid that the film's tension maybe slightly lessened. In addition to this, judging from one of the scenes, there seems to be other villagers inside Silent Hill. In this scene, Cybil seems to be trying to evacuate them to a building before the dreaded Siren blares throughout the city. I know that in some of the games, there are 2-3 people found in the city but to have more than that is a bit overkill in my opinion. Some of the lines in the trailer are also a bit stilted although thankfully never become cheesy. Hopefully with some editing, the film's dialogue could be a lot tighter.
I probably sound unhappy about the trailer but the truth is, I'm actually rather excited about it. Having said that, I've been disappointed with many video game to film conversion that I wonder if there will ever be a good film adaptation of a video game series. This film actually does many things right so far. To begin with, the look and feel of the film are dead on. The town looks so similar to the one in the game and its gradual degradation looks wonderful. I can actually see the street turning into rustic metallic platform in one of the scenes. I also like the monster/freaks that they show in the trailer. They look good and suitably creepy. And then there is the fog, which is something that Silent Hill must have or else, it wouldn't be Silent Hill. The performance of the actors are also quite good, which is a shocker for a video game turned movie. Last but not least, I'm glad Akira Yamaoka is the composer for the film.
I was just watching the trailer just a few minutes ago, and then I pop over to your page and you've made entry about it (coincidence? maybe lol). Anyways, I think Gans has done an awesome job adapting the Silent Hill games into a movie. I love the trailer, it's got me hooked until its release. I just wish I had the chance to drive to Brantford, where they were filming it(oh well). Thanx for the downloadable trailer Garten!
I'll admit I am a bit tempted to go to the opening day, but given the track record of the recent video game adaptations, I'll wait a week or two.
Even if this one flops, there is still hope for Halo. Even if Peter Jackson could never hope to match the Majesty of Tolkien's epic, at least he didn't butcher it utterly.
Silent Hill is my favourite gaming experience. Its scenarios mess with my head and every minute in the game I feel jumpy. I'm waiting for a decent movie since a guy like Uwe Boll isn't ruining yet another game. Gans has upped my interest with the teaser trailer, but somehow made me discomfort with the full trailer. I hope for the best *crosses fingers* Please God make it be a success and a good movie overall *crosses fingers*
When I got word that the movie was finally in the works, I was both excited and extremely hesitant. I certainly did not want anyone to poorly execute one of my favorite games of all time.
When my brother showed me the teaser trailer not too long ago, I was disappointed finding that they replaced Harry with a woman. Personally, it seems to be more gripping to see a father frantically look for his lost child, and furthermore, I find female leads in such situations can get just plain annoying. (Which is why I refused to play SH3). The addition of the father may be a really bad choice as well. I believe it takes away the intensity of the feelings towards the main character and the dynamic between parent and child. Hopefully it's not as bad as I think, but more characters means more mess and less intensity -_-.
With regards to the look and feel of the movie, I am glad they got something right. They were able to successfully recreate the eerie, foggy, decaying feeling of the game without making it look fake. I only hope that this movie goes far beyond camera tricks, cg and fog.
My last gripe is actually not for the movie, but for the rest of the SH series in general. I really, really hate those ridiculous looking monster creature things. They get more plasticky and more fake with every SH incarnation. I think the ghost babies in the first game were the creepiest things anyway (shiver). Anyway those mannefreaks aren't creepy, they aren't really scary. They're just ridiculously so warped and effed up that you don't really know what to think. It just pushes the whole thing beyond the identification factor of the audience. I guess that's just my personal preference though (natural creepy horror).
To me Silent Hill was so great, in part, because everything was made to feel like they were very possible and real. You could actually sense the tension and the emptiness of Harry and his sense of despair, helplessness and isolation. The game developers messed with formula that worked very well and gave in to overproducing sequels that don't match the intensity of the first.
I'm full of pessimism and disappointment, but I'm still very excited and I sincerely hope to be proven wrong in this case. I miss playing games of the calibur of Silent Hill. Very few games will leave me with such a feeling. Hopefully this movie does the game a bit of justice.
I'll see Silent Hill just for the fact that I see every video game movie. It looks promising, and I for one have loved a lot of video game movies because I'm not so picky as others (the RE movies are my fav adaptations).
However, what the hell is Pyramid Head?
I've never played Silent Hill, but I'm always looking out for atmospheric, creepy movies ala Ringu. The trailer looks delicious, and I think those twisty guys are kind of disturbing. They remind me of the shambling denizens of Innsmouth.
Well, I have my finger crossed... but... replacing Harry with a woman? ... Thats a bad start...
...and I wonder... what explanation will they give to the "fenomenon" happening in SH...?
By the way, the Pyramid Head are the "nemesis" of James, in SH2. There are monsters with helmets thats have pyramid form and carry some HUGE swords... in fact they´re based on the ancients executioners in Silent Hill in the past.
And Shine... if you liked SH1, you MUST play SH3. Otherwise you dont have the complete story.
And Heather is a good protagonist.
I have high hopes for this movie because Christopher Gans is directing. Unlike most video game movie directors, who tend to be action movie directors or are just totally unkown, Gans has a decent track record. Most notably, he was responsible for the excellent, and fiendishly creepy, Brotherhood of the Wolf. I really enjoyed that movie, and it also shows that he is good at creating a sense of dread and horror.
I really liked the scene they showed where Rose was in the bathroom, and reality was actually changing from the smoky abandoned town layer of reality, to the zombie infested pit layer of reality, and like blood was appearing on the walls. That scene looked definitely creepy.
Rincewind, actually I have played SH3. I avoided it for a looong time, but eventually played it, but it didn't really keep my interest. As I mentioned to another poster, the game play is good and story is decent. I also got over Heather's "annoyingness" by not paying much attention to her voice during the cut scenes. : P
I picked up the game after some coersion, played it for a few mins and dropped it (it wasn't addicting enough to me I guess). I actually don't have much time for playing vgs, but if it was that good, that probably wouldn't stop me. Don't worry, I'll eventually finish it : )
I know the story of SH and how each game ties into it. Frankly, it's gotten a bit "eeeh" and no longer very mysterious, but it's still good fun I guess.
Fingers crossed for this one, it looks the goods, but so did resident evil . uuugggh can't wait
i think it may take a while until its released in norfolk lol
Actully, I dont think it could beat a Silent hill 2 story, that was such a good game was so emotionally attached to the storyline, god im sad lol but still give this film a shot
I downloaded the trailer, but I haven't seen it yet. Thanks for sharing the links. Anyway, I wish they didn't have to change the protagonist to a woman. Having a male search for his daughter in an eerie place is rather believable than a woman. Did they intend to turn this into part Resident Evil and Tomb Raider as the woman kicks ass? XP I have to agree that they didn't have to add other characters. But that's more applicable to the game. Having people around town in the movie shall give it more spice and mystery. Why have normal living humans in town when it's already like that, right? But I also believe there should be like only 1 or 2 people who could help herand end up getting killed. XD
I would only watch this at home rather than in the theaters.
If this is the version that I think it is....then this movie was partically filmed near my ex high school in Canada. At least I can see some of the results. Looks pretty scary, probably would be a good idea for me to stay away from this movie.
Well, I suggest to the person who didn't play silent hill 3 to play it, it's my favourite one. She doesn't whine though, just gets on with the killing. (and running...and running, and running and running.)
Agree with Rincewind. Show will be a flop! James is now a woman, thanx to the lameness that is the fenomibore!!! From the trailer shots, I gather it will be a remake of SH1. The part in the alleyway where James is suddenly ambushed by little bloodstained demons from Midwich Elementary holding sharp knives is now replaced with fenomisnooze adults is not a good sign. Why couldn't they have just adopted a true game-2-movie translation is beyond me. All the visuals and storyline present in the game would have worked!! Prob. creative primadonism of the director/producer! Sheesh!! Thumbs down!!
The movie wasn't necessarily a flop, but they could have done better. In terms of visuals the movie rises above any movie i've ever seen. Turns out the dialogue did reek...but you can easily look past that. The REAL problem was what they changed in the story. People got confused if they didn't play the game, even though the movie stopped to explain things once and a while (which was a slightly bad idea). I loved it personally, I'm more into visuals then dialogue, and more into there being action then an iron-clad plot and it being perfectly to the game... Honestly if you ask me see the movie just for the Pyramid head, and the last 30 minutes of Gore (the movies VERY gorey, but they did very well with it...) it wasn't scary though, but silent hill isn't supposed to be right? It was true to it's nature in being psychologically disturbing, what with the pulsing walls, mangled corpses, and the gruesome monsters... only real reason i'd tell you not to watch it, is if you love SH1 so mcuh you can't bear having the story seriously twisted, if you cannot bear it's poor dialogue, or if your looking for a good plot and having not played the game...
I have only a few words regarding the trailer and movie: Akira Yamaoka was in every little thing behind Gans` back....and Yamaoka san loved this "version" (yeah you heard it...) of the story...I simply love the fact that a director took an amazing story and then make it even better.
The Silent Hill always was one of my favorite games on the legendary PSX and PS2. I didn't pass any part of the game thought, but I love it anyway. Maybe the characters look like those from the game ,but does the hollywood filmmakers always are making some new charaters when it comes to a game-adaptaited movie? Yes, but they are something new? I don't think so... ;)
I already watch that movie and it didn't scare me like in PS2. I think that's weird. Anyway, in PS2 did scare me and I sometimes scream when I played it. I know I know I am so stupid. Anyway, if you read this comment, then GO WATCH THAT MOVIE...it may be scare for you but it is eh...oh well.
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