Until they announced Silent Hill 2 recently, I had no idea how many Screen Rant readers were actually fans of Christophe Gans’ 2006 movie adaptation. But now that I know, I’m keeping you guys in the loop about the sequel is developing.
Earlier (this week) I reported that Silent Hill 2 could possibly start filming next year. In that report came word that returning writer Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction) has some ‘crazy, cool stuff’ already worked into the script. That all sounded good, but questions like would Gans be returning, would star Radha Mitchell be returning, would the movie be a direct sequel, etc., still needed answering.
Well, thanks to producer Don Carmody and Shock Til Ya Drop, some of those questions are indeed starting to get answered.For those who don’t know, Roger Avary was recently sentenced to a year in jail following a vehicular manslaughter charge from a 2008 car accident. So how is Avary’s incarceration effecting the progress of Silent Hill 2? Said Carmody (exclusively to Shock Til Ya Drop):
“Well, we have had a bit of a hiccup with Roger…We’re just debating whether we can wait for him. He’s writing the script for sure.”
As for the questions of whether or not Mitchell will return to star and Gans to direct, Carmody had a “no” and a “maybe” to give: Mitchell has expressed interest in returning (that’s the maybe), but as far as Gans:
“I don’t think he wants to come back. He’ll have some input for sure. In his mind, I think he wanted to do the first one and for this he’s very happy to consult, but I think he wants to direct something new,”
Now, I don’t want to alarm you Silent Hill fans on a Friday, but you really need to pay attention to this next part:
“I think we need to make it a little more accessible to the movie-going public…Silent Hill is not a blockbuster game like Resident Evil or the other games out there…You have to appeal not only to the gamers, you have to appeal to a wider audience. So we have to get some story in there that helps explain a bit more…Of course, [the story] is going to happen years later and the main character – without giving too much away – is much older and representative to the movie-going public which is in that age group.”
While the Silent Hill video games may not be as popular as the Resident Evil series (you’ll need to check with our guys over at Game Rant to be sure), they have certainly left a much stronger impression on gamers via the skid-marked underwear of those who dared to play the games at night. Gans’ adaptation, while a bit weird and (artsy?), captured the terrifying sensation of the games almost perfectly. Watering that terror down into a schlocky, by-the-numbers horror flick – where all the terrible happenings HAVE to be explained at length – doesn’t sound as interesting.
But wait, what’s this about ‘an older main character?’ In the first film, Mitchell’s character, Rose, comes to Silent Hill to find her lost daughter, Sharon, who is a spiritual conduit for a hell-demon. Could an older version of Sharon be the main character of Silent Hill 2? And would that make the age group Carmody is targeting teenagers / young adults? Is that the Silent Hill 2 we’re getting, Twilight with demons? I hope not…
Head over to Shock Til Ya Drop for the full quotes from Carmody. Then let us know what you think about this supposed change in approach to Silent Hill 2.
