Second thoughts about the film

[TheRedNurse]

LOL People keep repeating the same stuff over and over again. Pissy game fans

[Asylum-Alice]

I entirely agree with Terramax.

When I first saw it, it was with one of my friends and before I knew anything about Silent Hill. I thought it was a bit awkward, like the janitor whom my friend and I named "poop-veins" because... well... he had veins of poop coming out of his hand!

I'd never liked Cybil in the movie. I found her to be annoying and a bit pretenious.

But I was like, "Meh, it's entertaining."

Then I got into horror video games and I really wanted to see the movie again, still not knowing hardly anything about the games. And my thoughts on it were "It's pretty... but it sucked!" My whole family was mad at me for making them watch it and I felt bad for it. There really wasn't anything redemable about the movie other than the cinematography and the soundtrack (some of it taken directly from the games themselves). And my judgement doesn't stem from it not being like the game because I saw it before I familiarized myself with the series. As an avid movie-watcher (and believe me I literally do nothing but watch movies), it was awful. The idea of having any sort of coherent plot line went down the drain, explanations were abandonded, and the acting--oh goodness--the acting was atrocious!

I think that's the end of my rant...

One last thing, in terms of it being any kind of adaptation, it failed. The writer and director were given a great opportunity to explore a wonderfully crafted and intricate storyline and instead gave us something that was just really not well thought out. I still believe a better version of Silent Hill can made to make up for the disaster Gans shot, and my hopes are up a little that this next movie will actually try to tell a story despite the disadvantage left by the previous film.

Okay, done now. =]

[Mr.E.Nygma]

I think its the best video game movie ever made. Its not perfect but I think its a damn good movie.

[Floodclaw]

I think its the best video game movie ever made. Its not perfect but I think its a damn good movie.

This. Until Revelations comes out, that is. Has potential to be a better movie.

[Asylum-Alice]

I think its the best video game movie ever made. Its not perfect but I think its a damn good movie.

This. Until Revelations comes out, that is. Has potential to be a better movie.

Definitely. The interviews with the director sound like he knows what he's doing and that he's dedicated to making the best film he can. I still don't think there's been any "best" video game adaptation, certainly not the previous SH, but I do get the feeling that Revelation will be pretty awesome. =D

[gustavopi]

Reading comments here, I don't think Revelations will be well received by most of fans - at list here. How Basset gonna use Sean Bean in the movie (as we know, it's a SH3 based movie)? Reading those looong posts above, I came into the same conclusion: some fans want something from the movie that it's impossible to be made.

I'd also wach a comment copy full of smart propositions like "oh, I hate that part...". No one is obligated to like the movie, it is a adaptation of one single player - we each write our own adaptation. But trying to make it the worst movie ever made is to consider who is listening as a stupid zombie!

[ÆNEMA]

For me, it's the random changes that do nothing to improve or help the story that really bring it down.
I don't mind things like using SH2 monsters instead of the original's- sure, they lose their symbolism, but it's not like the film was concerned about having any of that anyway and I feel like the more visually ambiguous lying figures go over a lot better than giant moths or skinless pteradactyls might. Trying to put the original nurses in the game probably would have pushed the film over into B-movie territory. So they can't have Rose running around by herself solving puzzles for two hours- that's totally understandable.
But to make Harry into a woman because fatherly love is too difficult to identify with? Turning the Order into a bunch of witch-hunting Puritans? Removing all mystery and ambiguity from the town itself by explaining it away quickly and neatly? ( i mean, really, how is heading to a town for vacation only to find it almost completely empty and snowing in the middle of summer not bizarre and creepy? somehow makes more sense to me than a woman taking her screaming daughter to a dangerous, abandoned town because she's a shitty mother. ) How does any of that pay homage to the games or make the story any more digestible for a film audience? It was still really confusing for people, so they certainly failed with the latter.

Most people aren't expecting a word-for-world, play-by-play rendition of the game, but they aren't really interested in a blatant bastardization of it either.

[Asylum-Alice]

For me, it's the random changes that do nothing to improve or help the story that really bring it down.
I don't mind things like using SH2 monsters instead of the original's- sure, they lose their symbolism, but it's not like the film was concerned about having any of that anyway and I feel like the more visually ambiguous lying figures go over a lot better than giant moths or skinless pteradactyls might. Trying to put the original nurses in the game probably would have pushed the film over into B-movie territory. So they can't have Rose running around by herself solving puzzles for two hours- that's totally understandable.
But to make Harry into a woman because fatherly love is too difficult to identify with? Turning the Order into a bunch of witch-hunting Puritans? Removing all mystery and ambiguity from the town itself by explaining it away quickly and neatly? ( i mean, really, how is heading to a town for vacation only to find it almost completely empty and snowing in the middle of summer not bizarre and creepy? somehow makes more sense to me than a woman taking her screaming daughter to a dangerous, abandoned town because she's a shitty mother. ) How does any of that pay homage to the games or make the story any more digestible for a film audience? It was still really confusing for people, so they certainly failed with the latter.

Most people aren't expecting a word-for-world, play-by-play rendition of the game, but they aren't really interested in a blatant bastardization of it either.

You said it!
Thumbs up.

[gustavopi]

Most people aren't expecting a word-for-world, play-by-play rendition of the game, but they aren't really interested in a blatant bastardization of it either.

Alright, now you can show us an example of a better adaptation game-movie than Silent Hill. I'm not been ironical, I really like to see it.

I didn't like the change of main protagonist too. But the point that make the movie a B-movie is the theme. Horror movies are always B-movies to the critics, with a very few exceptions.

[ÆNEMA]

Resident Evil: Degeneration

But no, seriously, I think that the Silent Hill film & the first Resident Evil film are both on par when it comes to maintaining story. They take the very, very basic skeletal structures of their source materials and then go off in some crazy direction that completely misses the point and fails to really capture the actual substance source material in any way.
Just because one pile of shit smells a little less than the next, doesn't change the fact that it's a pile of shit.

[Asylum-Alice]

Degeneration was a pretty good movie, although I was a little ticked that the writer's were trying to recycle bits of the RE2 game and I'm still WTFing over the end credit song (but that's really unimportant... the song). There really has yet to be a good video game adaptation, although (IMO) Resident Evil has gotten the close, not that they're good adapptations, just the closest. The only other video game movies I can think (Doom, BloodRayne, Max Payne, Alone in the Dark) were not very good according to what I've found on the internets, though I can't pass judgement since I've not seen them.

I still believe that Gans and Avary are pretty much to thank for the stupidity of Silent Hill the movie. It couldn't have been SOOOOOOOOOOO much better than that, but they really just didn't care. There's still time that fans can band together and make this thing the right way.

Hmmm... rambled again.

[gustavopi]

Resident Evil: Degeneration

But no, seriously, I think that the Silent Hill film & the first Resident Evil film are both on par when it comes to maintaining story. They take the very, very basic skeletal structures of their source materials and then go off in some crazy direction that completely misses the point and fails to really capture the actual substance source material in any way.
Just because one pile of shit smells a little less than the next, doesn't change the fact that it's a pile of shit.

Ok, let me "help" you: considering animations, Final Fantasy it's better.

There is a list in Wikipedia with a list with Rotten Tomatoes Score: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games).
I still put Silent Hill over Resident Evil and don't know why Tron it's outside the list - an interesting experience. I didn't see Prince of Persia nor Mortal Kombat yet. Is that all a pile of shit? Even critics say no:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Films_based_on_video_games#Video_game_adaptation
A full subject adaptation of SH2 will lead to a multi-chapters saga, like Star Wars. Is it possible? How do you deal with multiply endings?

[Asylum-Alice]

Multiple endings for movies isn't too rare. In this case, someone can arrange for all the different (serious) endings for SH2 to be shot, then when it's shipped to theatres, every version of the film can have the different ending and once released to DVD, all the endings could be avaible along with the dog ending for fun. Or they can just choose one ending and release all the other endings on the DVD. It's been done before for various movies so it could very well work for SH2.

(I saw Prince of Persia, and it really wasn't that great, but I will link you this for fun.)
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videol ... -of-persia
Not using it to make a point.

[gustavopi]

Multiple endings for movies isn't too rare. In this case, someone can arrange for all the different (serious) endings for SH2 to be shot, then when it's shipped to theatres, every version of the film can have the different ending and once released to DVD, all the endings could be avaible along with the dog ending for fun. Or they can just choose one ending and release all the other endings on the DVD. It's been done before for various movies so it could very well work for SH2.

Let me help you: Run Lola, Run. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Lola_Run A german production with several variations of same thriller (short time) to made a single movie (normal time). I strongly advise you to see it! That's what I'm talking, not just changing the end. In SH2, all game lead to an end, it's all new movie, resulting in a long (looooong) movie.

[ÆNEMA]

There is a list in Wikipedia with a list with Rotten Tomatoes Score: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games).
I still put Silent Hill over Resident Evil and don't know why Tron it's outside the list - an interesting experience. I didn't see Prince of Persia nor Mortal Kombat yet. Is that all a pile of shit? Even critics say no:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Films_based_on_video_games#Video_game_adaptation
A full subject adaptation of SH2 will lead to a multi-chapters saga, like Star Wars. Is it possible? How do you deal with multiply endings?

Tron isn't on the list because it was a movie before it was a game. I'd say anything under 50% is pretty poor and you will note that nothing on that list is even near that other than Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, with which FF fans were generally unimpressed. Video game movies are generally pretty terrible & the ratings confirm that.

Again, I'm not insisting that the source material be followed to the T. Changes are absolutely necessary in order to make the story not only fit in the time frame given, but also for things to translate well into the new medium. ( so again, that throws out things like puzzles and long stretches of the protagonist wandering around alone ) SH2 would have made the perfect film because it's self-contained. They don't have to use the multiple endings; trying to do so is kind of silly ( though I do love Lola Rennt ). All they have to do is successfully convey that James Sunderland is looking for his wife, there's something "wrong" with the town of Silent Hill, and drop subtle hints along the way that Mary didn't die three years ago of her illness and that he, in fact, is her murderer. It's not important that he stop at every location and find hairs to tie to hooks to get keys out of drains. The outline and "main idea" of the story are all that are really important.
The first film got the "outline" all right but missed the overall idea and theme by miles and miles and that's where it really failed. Silent Hill has so many possibilities that it would have probably been better to just write their own, entirely original story instead of fucking up one that's already there. SH2 & 4 ( and in its own way, SM as well ) stand pretty well on their own without information on the rest of the series, so I don't see why this should be any different.

[Purramid_Head]

I don't care what critics say, I did actually like the movie.

[ÆNEMA]

I don't care what anyone says, I did not actually like the movie. At all.

[Asylum-Alice]

Silent Hill the movie is just one of those films where you either absolutely love it or you absolutely hate it, and that will probably never change... Unless we make a better one. There is always that option and one I strongly opt for, especially in this day and age of remaking stuff after it's not even a year old. Might as well.

[ÆNEMA]

From my understanding, Basett is trying his best to take what the first film established and swing it back towards the actual direction of the games. Even if he doesn't succeed, I gotta give him props for trying to make sense of the mess Avery created.

[Asylum-Alice]

From my understanding, Basett is trying his best to take what the first film established and swing it back towards the actual direction of the games. Even if he doesn't succeed, I gotta give him props for trying to make sense of the mess Avery created.

Yes, I kinda wish that he could've been involved with the first movie, but yeah, he wasn't. His blogs sound like this next movie may actually turn out for the better, even with ties to the first holding it back. It really has nothing but disadvantage after disadvantage, but it could work out.

Lucky for us, Avary was arrested for vehicular manslaughter.... I guess lucky for us.... =/