Columbia Pictures' Silent Hill was a beast theatrically taking in nearly $100 million worldwide, so the fact that sequel talks haven't risen sooner is a little odd to me. Today B-D reader 'Domenic' pointed me in the direction of a French website, which has an incredible interview with Director Christophe Gans in which is confirms plans for a Silent Hill 2, which will be written once agian by Roger Avary once he has completed Driver. Read on for the skinny.
The interview can be read in French over at DVD Rama
Translation courtesy of Silenthillforum:
BOBLECON1096 writes in the forum:
"Okay, since this is a very long interview, I tried my best to give you the important details. I'm sorry in advance for the spelling mistakes or if something is not well said and I hope others will help me completing it.
Gans worked on the Silent Hill movie for a long time. In fact, he ended it 10 days after its US release which why they didn't have time to do bonus scenes (alternate endings, etc.).
He doesn't want people to buy x different versions of a SH collector so he is going to make one after completing his Onimusha movie.
The 1 hour making-of present on DVD was made by Sony and talks only about the creatures and the architecture. According to him, this making of is incomplete.
Another reason he wants to release the collector so late is to have the opportunity to work with DVD and DVD-HD.
He considers the DVD Zone 1 cover and compression to be a total disaster. He then used his relations with producer Samuel Hadida to personnally give the Zone 2 DVD a better shape. Also, the features in both zones are apparently the same.
The SH collector should contain more information about game/movie translation and his workteam with Akira Yamaoka. He wants to rebuild the road he took to make the movie the way it is. He also confesses that during the making he stayed as an "illustrator" and focused more on the visual aspect of the game. Akira also wanted the movie to be released before the announcement of the 5th game to convince Konami to financially validate it.
For Gans, SH is a popular franchise in Anglo-saxon countries (US/UK) and Germany but is not loved a lot in countries like Japan and France (so why do they get all the goodies? )
Commercial success ---> Silent Hill got crushed both in Japan and Germany (because of Mission Impossible 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean). However, he says the movie achieved its 100M$ and did better than Resident Evil. The country where Silent Hill did best however is the US. (50M in theatres, 30M DVD rent and 30M DVD sales)
There will be a Silent Hill 2. Avary returns after adapting the VG Driver
Gans is happy because Silent Hill is one of the biggest horror success of 2006 in terme of box-office. He arrives 3rd after Saw 3 and an american haunting.
Sean Bean ---> The husband was supposed to appear only in the beginning and the end. The executives were afraid to make a movie without a man. Gans confesses he never found his scenes to be useful. These scenes created a problem in the movie: they affected the "subjective" time of the movie by the alternance of day/night. The movie worked as a Twilight Zone episode but the husband scenes messed things up. Gans realized he should have kept Sean Bean's scenes for the DVD only. The movie testing wasn't done with people coming from outside the studios.
Gans also confesses that his movie shouldn't have lasted 2 hours. for a horror movie. With Sean Bean, Gans had to work faster and had to replace some long scenes with something "smaller".
One of the causes he was forced to add Christopher is because he says the studio have a "quantity" reasonning. They want each character to be analysed in function of a particular audience (in this case, Christopher for the men). Considering the freedom he had on his project, Gans doesn't consider it to be a big sacrifice. Also, the studios didn't add any other comments on the movie since it cost them only 14 M$ to acquire and they wanted the movie to be released.
Censorship was blank. As long as the story was fiction and guns were useless it was fine with studios. Plus it is the story of a loving mother. Studios didn't care about the rest. A reason why Gans finds censorship to be absurd and useless.
Cut scenes ---> There is only one scene that didn't made it in the movie: a church scene with Christabella. As for the lying figure scene attacking Anna, it is more complicated. The Lying figure was supposed to be injured and it was trying to slither on the road and go hide in the sewers. This scene was filmed but the crew had only 60 shooting days to do it. So the producers wanted to save money and told Roberto Campanella (the monster supervisor) to stay home. So the crew tried to make the lying figure scene without him but the result was way too bad. Gans and the producers had a fight about making this scene but due to budget limits, the scene didn't made it.
Gans had also a different idea about the end (where alessa appears and slices the cult members). When Christabella stabs Rose, a black smoke comes from the woman and 6 pyramid heads appear, each one holding a different weapon. The 6 PH will then cut, dice, slice the cult members to create a Dante's inferno hommage. Again due to budget and time, Gans had only one day and half to film this scene. Many wanted this scene but the people from the insurance asked something that could be done in one day and half.
The scene with Alessa killing the cult is inspired from the Japanese animation Legend Of The Overfiend. Plans from this anime were also used to complete the editing. Compare the first OVA of Legend Of The Overfiend to see the similarities.
Gans used what critics said about his last movie Brotherhood of the wolf to correct the mistakes in Silent hill. One of them was to put less references to movies, paintings in the SH movie. Being a former movie critique, he says that he always read what people think of his work, good or bad, to improve his next movie.
After watching Silent Hill, Gans regrets that he didn't create fear effects. He didn,t want things like "door closing with high sounds". He wanted a fantasy movie more than horror. His goal was not to take the audience for idiots. The idea that Silent Hill is more of a literary horror pushed him to ignore the usual ideas of slashers and high tension.
Although he tried to create a scary movie where it is more of disturbance than of jump scares just for the audience, he feels bad about the fact that many didn't find silent Hill scary. He doesn't want to consider an audience better than another. Although he likes to hear that Silent hill is nowhere near a slasher.
One of his goals for Silent Hill 2 is to correct mistakes he made with the 1st one which cost him a lot of energy. However, he wonders if he can truly come back for a 2nd movie because of Onimusha. He says that if he doesn't come back, producers agree with him that the 2nd movie should keep the visual aspect of the 1st one. There is no way they are bringing a whole new vision of the town's design. He doesn't want a hollywoodian movie. If he doesn't come back as a director, he strongly suggest an European (and even a French) one. He will however stay close to this movie."
This was a pain in the ass to find. It took forever. I knew he would do another one. Here is my take... I strongly believe that the sequel will be (at least should be), paralleled to Silent Hill 2. Sean Bean/Chris Da Silva will take the character of "James" from the Silent Hill 2 video game. In the game, James gets a letter from his dead wife saying that she is in Silent Hill. So we could have the same characters. This would be great for the movie considering the confusion the first one created. It would mean that Silent Hill would actually be a "To Be Continued" rather than a whole movie in itself. Viewers will be able to forgive (hopefully) the confusion of the first in that case. Silent Hill can quite possibly be a very heavy hitter in our Horror World. I think it will be. As long as Gans keeps directing, and new writers are added to Avary to give some differentiation I believe that SH2 would blow the first out of the water (which I absolutely loved). SILENT HILL!!!!
I hope there's a second one, and also it does'nt matter if you get things messed up.
i mean everyone makes mistakes.
well i hope u keep up the good work.....
i also have some suggestions u know about the 2nd movie. its about the husband be a hero when travels back to the city finding
his wife and daughter. (its like the game) but different storyline......
thank you for making the best horror film................................
omfg! i love this movie!!! i sooo cant wait till the second one i'm gonna be in the movie theaters till the crack of dawn just to see this movie!!! i hope gans stays with directing it cuz i dont want anyone else to try and re-create his vision. but i do agree they should include some characters from the game. KEEP UP THE good work! me and my mob friends are waiting at the edge of our seats !
I thought this movie was awesome! I really didn't notice any "mistakes." I was so into the film I didn't even notice it lasted 2 hours.
The only thing about the movie I didn't like was the ending. I didn't like how they're stuck in that limbo fog thing. I mean, I was hoping they'd go back to the husband in the real world. I mean he could smell her and stuff.
I'd like to know if they were killed or just stuck somewhere and is it forever? Either way, I hope the sequel brings back those characters and kind of branches off of that.
I don't see how they could work a whole new story line. The first movie pretty much demolished any kind of harsh feelings left from Alessa.
They'll have to continue this because we all noticed that Sharon seemed a little off. But I'm still excited to hear about a second movie and I can't wait to see a trailer! The director should give himself more credit, I think he did an awesome job.
I'd like to see a second one, but it seems to me more of the problems were in the story development than in the atmospheric aspects of the film. I would have thought the story might even have needed to be spread over several movies, since it looked like time restraints pushed the "explanation" sequence where it might not otherwise have been necessary. Cinematically though--well let's face it, the film was a spectacular work of art. If I had any chance to make suggestions for the second film, I'd also suggest to parallel the second game, but with an entirely new set of characters--perhaps even a direct reflection of Silent Hill 2. It seems to me that among the series that one in particular has the ability to stand on its own, and if the effort is to build a film franchise, that's certainly a good step at this point. And not to mention SH2 had the philosophical and psychological issues at greater prominence. Now as for development... well, I say if we have to wait on Onimusha... I can wait. After having seen the level of dedication of Gans to this project, I would feel it almost unfair not to see the same level of involvement on future productions if it can be managed at all.
And yeah... for goodness sake... give us more Pyramid.
The first movie was awesome, but the characters is not the sames of the silent hill one, from the video-game.
I have played just the silent hill one of Ps one, I waited for the first movie for long years. I want in the second movie Radha Mitchell again.
Silent Hill 2... I truly thought the first movie was great, seriously great I truly, TRULY want to see the next one, umm... more using the game features.
I enjoyed the first movie... I like how it had things surrounding all three games... the car scene from the first one, Pyramid head from the second one, and Alyssa from the third game...
I think they should now have the husband return to silent hill or something.. i duno...
The one thing i didnt like about the movie is the fact that Dahlia wasnt 100% true to the video game character... but oh well, the movie was great...
I like seeing some positive forum posts for once. This was obviously a great adaptation of a horrific and excellent game. It's easy to say bad things about a horror movie but it's usually out of ignorance, certain people respect these movies for what they are. The Silent Hill movie was true to its original material and has unique qualities regardless of the negative comments. A sequel will undoubtedly be something which will satisfy to a great extent.
The first silent hill was a great movie. I'll start with praise and end with a little constructive criticism. Thankfully the CG was kept to a minimum. Flesh and bl00d creatures te over CG. Secondly, the environments and over all atmosphere of the town was accurate. Though I'd have liked to see more interaction with it, like the game. The casting couldn't have been better. The music was a flawless addition, it ran seamlessly with the movie. From the peaceful, but haunting moments to the melodic industrial grinding heard when they flee the hotel. As a visual spectacle, little more could have been done with the time they were alotted. Which is to say it was a beautiful visual representation. Now for the bad news. The Silent Hill cult seemed more to be over zealous christians then the type with a motive to raise Samael or perform the Ritual of Holy Assumption. Chris seemed like more of an added sub plot that was poorly resolved than anything. It also didn't really show how different people experience Silent Hill differently which is prominent in the games. I'd have liked to see a little more prying into the psychological world that is Silent Hill. I wouldn't mind if they left the sequel unresolved like the games, rather than trying to explain the unexplainable. Deliberation over the possibilities is part of what makes Silent Hill so popular. I hope they take the next one in a entirely different direction, as exposure to something like this wouldn't be as bad if you'd gone through it once already. Silent Hill (to me anyway) isn't so much a place as it is a state of mind. The events that took place there could have happened anywhere. I guess I'll end this with OMG excitement I feel over the promise of a sequel. My wish if for the horrific potential Silent Hill has to fester and bloom into something that changes the face of horror films forever.
I think Silent Hill 4 should be its own movie.. and I assume it will be the best in the series.. It was a phenomenal game.. and has the setup to be a masterpiece of a movie...
Critics know nothing. The fans want references to the game. It's fun cause we know it. I really hope that the second Silent Hill is based around the story of the third game. I love Heather, she's without a doubt, my favorite character and I think a lot of fans like her as much as I do.
Well what can I say about this film except wow! Just when it started to seem like the face of classic psychological horror was dying, Silent Hill comes in a whole new level. I personally have been getting bored of films of ALL genres recently, and lost faith in video-game-to-movie attempts, but the disturbing atmosphere, immersive soundtrack, great pick of cast, and well blended-with-the-games storyline guaranteed this to be what I think personally could be a classic psycholical horror movie. Also, as a big big fan of the video game series all the way up into the fourth installment, this served not only to be a stand-alone masterpiece, but a fantastic representation of the world of Silent Hill in all its glory. Would be overwhelmed to have a sequel to this classic, but to be honest...I could really see there being a few movies following this one and as long as it hits as hard as this one, success is sure to follow in future releases of Silent Hill.
P.S. HUUUUUGGGGE thank you to Christopher Gans for making this whole thing possible, truly a master of his craft :-)
First movie was frickin great, a lot more depth and details to the story than can probably be picked up by most people, and not enough scares, especially as related to using more of the source music/sounds or something in the same vein if original (complete soundtrack from SH1 can effectively project horror, dread, and panic, and even emotion (ex. main theme melodrama); this was a huge part of the impression left by the first game)
Utilize elements of the music more appropriately to shock and scare the shit out of people, make them forget they're safe in a theater (for most) for the chase/attack scenes.
The Cult Member Genocide scene would've been waaay more cooler with the 6 pyramid heads appearing on the scene, gar! Silent Hill has failed me on this one, I find this scene cheap and cheesy.
Everyone knows Pyramid head Rules!
I actually like the idea of Sean Bean/Christoper De Silva Portraying James Sutherland from Silent Hill 2, the movie could be parallel to it, it make sense because his wife is dead and they both are familiar with Silent Hill, I realy hope they do make it that way, oh please do!
We didn't find Sean Beans useless in this Movie (Silly Christophe)
I was actually picturing him already portraying as James Sutherland right after the end of the movie since his wife died (although not of a sickness)
wicked film, absolutely loved it, pyramid head is sooooo kewl, cant wait to see the second one, gotta admit d confusinnish of the first movie did have me thinkin for a while so am hopin the second one will be just as hard to get! i didnt notice any mock ups but i myt look for dem now, i prefer to enjoy d movie rather thn look for mock ups lol hope secon one does well!
I have read/studied every item of Silent Hill lore released to the public in all mediums. Comics, Music, Movies, Games, et cetera. I am a fan of a very few things and SH is one of them. Having studied in depth the anthropology of monsters at the university level I understand that there is much more going on in SH than just the usual spooks and shock horror. And for me that is largely the point. Watching SH in the theater gave me shivers (physically), and make me stop eating my pop corn to stare blankly at the screen. Around me the vast magority of people were saying things like "wha the hell?" or "Umm whats going on?" and to me that is the perfect desired effect of SH. The fear is rooted in the idea that people are afraid.. but they are not quite sure what it is that they are afraid of. The fear is obscure (another great survival horror game FYI), but the fear is not vauge. The fear generated by Silent Hill (the mythos) is tangable. But its source remains (to this day) unknown. For me SH makes me look within myself for the source. And that obscure yet tangible force of fear is what I find (guiltily) lovely about SH the Movie (and the mythos by and large).
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"Okay, since this is a very long interview, I tried my best to give you the important details. I'm sorry in advance for the spelling mistakes or if something is not well said and I hope others will help me completing it. 
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