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Silent Hill Discussion


Night10194
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Personally, I'm extremely impressed by this trailer. Come on guys, after all the abstracts of things we love that have been thrown up on screen, think about how close this is to the game. I mean, compare this shit to Street Fighter or Resident Evil or Doom. And then think about how much of actual straight up Silent Hill is going to be on film.

It's going to be amazing, even when it's flawed.

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I was scared of watching the trailer, since this would probably be the thing to decide if the movie would be lame or good. Well, I still can't decide after watching it. Although, I think they've ruined Pyramid Head a bit. He doesn't quite look the way he should. Have a look at these screenshots, although they only show a small part of PH:

EDIT: If the pics aren't working, just right click > properties, then copy the address, and paste it in your browser.

phead1.jpg

phead2.jpg

It might be the lighting in that scene or something, but he's way too... green?

I might be taking more screenshots, if you want to see more stills of the different monsters.

EDIT2: Here are two more pics of monsters. The bunch of nurses, and the weird monsters at the end.

nurses1.jpg

nurses2.jpg

monsters1.jpg

monsters2.jpg

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I saw this trailer when watching Underworld;Evolution (Which was actually pretty good...I was expecting an unintentional comedy like the first film. ) I think it has promise...ofcourse though I think something all you Silent Hill buff's have to do is keep your expectations in check. There's so much hype surrounding this film and so many expectations that if you just let it go wild...the film will never please you no matter how good or bad it may be. Control the hype, and maybe it'll startle you. :D I'm almost totally convinced that its just not going to be able to satisfy some insatiable hunger's I see around (since SH is such an interpretation heavy series.), and while I do have a tiny problem with Pyramid Head being in someone else's journey to the "other" side (since its sort of exclusive to James.) I remind myself that film and games are separate entities even if they're connected in storyline. Its a reimagining so I'm gonna just try my best to keep my expectations level.

Interestingly, a very large part of the audience was cheering the trailer. This was at a Hollywood premier too. It was really something, SH seems to hardly be a niche audience.

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^

I have no idea what you're talking about. It looks dark enough to me.

You have no idea what I'm talking about? If so, please read my post again carefully. ;) If I can see the entire hallway she's in rather well, that's too bright. SH has consistently had hard-to-see-locales. Fortunately that won't make or break the film, but it'll remove the tension because you'll be able to see everything and leave nothing to the imagination...which is something that the first Silent Hill was all about!

No way... I see far more influence from Lucio Fulci and other Italian horror filmmakers in Silent Hill.

Actually a lot of the films they pull from are American, although having not the full list of movies that actually influenced Silent Hill on hand, I can't say how many European-style films are there. In terms of American films we're talking like Jacob's Ladder, Muholland Drive, Strange Highways, etc.

Erm, Indie films then?

I don't exactly recall that the creators were trying to emulate European horror in the first place, so that's news to me.

Anyway, the movie is made by a Frenchman and he's probably pulling from the style that he knows. Frankly there's nothing wrong with that although I wouldn't expect many people (i.e. American audiences) to sit comfortably with another style than their own. Speaking purely in terms of my own experience with something not pop-horror, I did enjoy Ringu and that was my first experience with Japanese horror. Perhaps my first experience of European horror based on a Japanese game will go well too. :)

P.S.

I watched the trailer again. I still think the film is too bright. >:

At the same time I'm realizing that I'm probably not giving Gans credit enough, he has managed to capture the look of the games pretty well (more so than I thought the first time around, although I loved the grain filter), and from what I can glean from the trailer the story looks in place enough too. Also, Silent Hill in West Virginia? Hmm.

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You're telling me the opening cinematic of SH1 doesn't scream EURO to any of you? Think about it.

In retrospect I was wrong to say SH is "mainly" European.... SH lifts from international horror sources. Considering I am such a Jacob's Ladder fan I should know better.

What kinda scares me (not directed at anyone in particular) is that there seems to be a lot of Silent Hill fundamentalism going on...... Silent Hill is this..... Pyramid Head represents that......

YOU FANS INVENTED THESE THEORIES. Don't believe them so much!

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You're telling me the opening cinematic of SH1 doesn't scream EURO to any of you? Think about it.

No, it screamed Japanese to me because that's the only place I thought of it as coming from. My friend is really into Fulci and a variety of other Italian horror directors, so I could always grab some movies off of him. I'm sure he'd oblige. And in the process I could not only enrich my knowledge of Italian horror but perhaps Silent Hill too. :P

Oh and having read a review of The Beyond (where the author went into details about the plot) that movie did use similar ideas to the ones in Silent Hill. But those similarities weren't enough for me to declare that SH was striving for a kind of horror beyonds its own. As a result I just kind of forgot about The Beyond and SH sharing any particular qualities.

What kinda scares me (not directed at anyone in particular) is that there seems to be a lot of Silent Hill fundamentalism going on...... Silent Hill is this..... Pyramid Head represents that......

YOU FANS INVENTED THESE THEORIES. Don't believe them so much!

Thing is, some fan-made theories are backed up by what the creators have said. I realize that some theories are way off the mark, but other theories regarding creatures like PH have to fit more specific criteria. Some people will say that PH is intrinsically a part of James, while others will say that it doesn't matter because the creature's visage is part of the town's past. I believe the latter interpretation is failing to look at the big picture, but now isn't the time to dreg up that argument.

Although I can easily recognize I'm a bit of a purist regarding SH, the details in The Book of Lost Memories are sometimes too concrete to be taken any other way. There are certain aspects of the game that cannot be interpreted another way, although the same aspects may carry several meanings such as the purpose of Laura, Eddie, Douglas or Alessa.

As far as I know SH movie is in a world of it's own, and therefore I won't hold it to the same level as the games themselves. If the film tried to continue the game's general continuum it probably wouldn't have succeeded anyway.

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Those creatures in the third picture...I think they could be the stabby kids from the school.

'course, I can't say exactly since it's horribly fragmented.

They look too big to be the children.
And pyramid head has too many muscles. Your point?
Just saying it might be a new group of monsters for the film.
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What kinda scares me (not directed at anyone in particular) is that there seems to be a lot of Silent Hill fundamentalism going on...... Silent Hill is this..... Pyramid Head represents that......

YOU FANS INVENTED THESE THEORIES. Don't believe them so much!

Thing is, some fan-made theories are backed up by what the creators have said. I realize that some theories are way off the mark, but other theories regarding creatures like PH have to fit more specific criteria. Some people will say that PH is intrinsically a part of James, while others will say that it doesn't matter because the creature's visage is part of the town's past. I believe the latter interpretation is failing to look at the big picture, but now isn't the time to dreg up that argument.

Although I can easily recognize I'm a bit of a purist regarding SH, the details in The Book of Lost Memories are sometimes too concrete to be taken any other way. There are certain aspects of the game that cannot be interpreted another way, although the same aspects may carry several meanings such as the purpose of Laura, Eddie, Douglas or Alessa.

As far as I know SH movie is in a world of it's own, and therefore I won't hold it to the same level as the games themselves. If the film tried to continue the game's general continuum it probably wouldn't have succeeded anyway.

Personally I don't believe there is a general contiuum in Silent Hill.... it's not a comic book universe, you know? It's a series of nightmarish episodes in a familiar location.

I understand the creators' personal backstory has been unveiled through non-game sources, but again, I don't believe that these are rules or specific meanings.... They are only the inspiration for the obtuse work that actually appears in the game. For example, the enemies that James fights certainly are based on twisted images of sexuality........ but if those same monsters were to torture someone without sexual problems in some future game or movie..... so what?... it's Silent Hill! It's crazy! There are no rules.

One of the connections SH has to The Beyond, for example, is that it doesn't actually make sense... :D If you think about it with your logical left-brain you will explode. I know SH has concrete story themes, but the details are not to be explained. At least, they aren't in the main game, which is the artistic work. If the creators wanted you to know exactly what Pyramid Head represented, they would tell you in the game.... What we have now is "an inpiration for Pryramid Head.... what he is supposed to represent... as told in a behind the scenes source", and that doesn't seem like a rule that must now be adhered to.

But that says more about me and my relationship to SH than it does about SH itself. I like it kept subjective so that people can continue to read whatever they want in the details..... That has always been the original appeal, IMO.

And at least you recognize that you're a purist, and you do have a point :) It's all good.

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In response to the person who said pyramid head looked too green: I disagree. Looks more red than green to me.

His skin colour looks pretty grey to me. I'm thinking part of why that person thinks he looks grey might just be monitor settings or something. Pyramid Head looks pretty normal (well...) to me.

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WARNING: SPOILERS

Personally I don't believe there is a general contiuum in Silent Hill.... it's not a comic book universe, you know? It's a series of nightmarish episodes in a familiar location.

The episodes seem disjointed at first, but that's only if you look at them by themselves. The release of Samael allowed the towns power to grow (SH1), which lead to characters being pulled into Silent Hill (SH2), and during the intervening years the cult continued it's pursuit of Harry (SH3). SH4 is basically in it's own area, but it still has ties to the previous games.

I understand the creators' personal backstory has been unveiled through non-game sources, but again, I don't believe that these are rules or specific meanings.... They are only the inspiration for the obtuse work that actually appears in the game.

I see where you're coming from, but that's honestly not the things they are saying. For example, they aren't saying the Patient Demons were just inspired by a friend they saw walking down the hallway, but rather that the Patient Demons were created by James (and the power of the town) and represent X (X of course stands for the meaning that I forget, if I had time I could check what the meaning was specifically.) Another example are the winged creatures in SH1. They just aren't there to antagonize players, they are a manifestation of the pterodactyls that Alessa read about in the book The Lost World. So while some of the background information behind the creatures might be revealed (Patient Demon being inspired by friend), they are given a direct explanation as to what purpose they have in the story and why they are there.

For example, the enemies that James fights certainly are based on twisted images of sexuality........ but if those same monsters were to torture someone without sexual problems in some future game or movie..... so what?... it's Silent Hill! It's crazy! There are no rules.

The creatures themselves probably wouldn't appear sexual, you're right. They would appear as something else because their manifestation relies partly on their state of mind, their feelings, and the town's dark power...

EDIT:

Also, I went back and read your post. I see I've misunderstood this little section. You're right about the movie, anyway. If we have the same monsters from the game appear in the movie, they probably wouldn't have the same reasoning behind them (i.e. PH couldn't be a part of James's mind in the movie if Rose is seeing him).

I know SH has concrete story themes, but the details are not to be explained. At least, they aren't in the main game, which is the artistic work. If the creators wanted you to know exactly what Pyramid Head represented, they would tell you in the game.... What we have now is "an inpiration for Pryramid Head.... what he is supposed to represent... as told in a behind the scenes source", and that doesn't seem like a rule that must now be adhered to.

Why should they have to tell you in the story? Why couldn't they have left the story for players to figure it out? SH2 is a bit like a puzzle, it has certain pieces that fit together, and the player needs to put them together.

Second, this is not so much about a rule but rather going directly against a definition, if I'm thinking of the correct word. Think about it, a rule would be that if a person entires Silent Hill with dark feeling in their heart, that the town will manifest things for them to see. That much has been laid about by the creators.

But the same kind of thinking can't be applied to characters. Harry Mason is a 40 something male who is searching for his daughter. That isn't a rule, it's a fact. Pyramid is, by defintion of his creatures, from James mind.

Even if I'm wrong about the definition/rule thing in terms of how they would apply (i.e. whether one is really a rule or really a definition, or whether they are both definitions of some sort), that still doesn't change a thing about what certain characters/creatures are.

However, you could come to the conclusion that James is a really selfish man for what he did, and is entirely deserving of the hell he's gone through and that perhaps he deserves to die. You could also say that Laura is a bit of a guide, or even a demon (figuratively) in the story. What you couldn't change is that she's just a young girl who is searching for the woman who wanted to adopt her. Likewise, you could say that PH is an angel/demon/truthseeker. But you'd also have to accept that it's existence is tied entirely to James.

But that says more about me and my relationship to SH than it does about SH itself. I like it kept subjective so that people can continue to read whatever they want in the details..... That has always been the original appeal, IMO.

A lot of people feel that way, and unfortunately a lot of what is in Silent Hill can't be taken any other way. Certain creatures might carry symbolism with them, but they also have very unambiguous reasons for existing.

Like I said, the issue with me isn't so much disagreeing with symbolism as it is with the facts. When people say Eddie had no point, or Laura was just an extra, they aren't understanding the character. When they say PH could show up for anybody because it's a part of the town's past, they don't understand that the creature was manifested due in part to James's feelings of guilt.

Anyway, I don't claim to be the source on Silent Hill, I could be very wrong regarding the facts. There's probably a lot of ambiguity in Silent Hill that hasn't been explained, but I think that has more to do with symbolism and meaning.

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Well, I'm of the opinion that while there may be a meaning or reason for everytyhing to be in Silent Hill, the fact remains that it's just a video game, and not reality. That said, we can't expect them to have it entirely free of unexplained things, and we can't even expect it to be free of plot holes or logical fallacies.

We SHOULD be expected to notice the connections and origins of some things, but when no connections can be readily found without a large amount of speculation, it's best to chalk it down to 'It's just a video game.' instead of slitting our wrists and hoping we wake up in a foggy town instead of a hospital bed with a bunch of angry relatives standing over us.

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Good points RazorOutlaw. There is a lot of substance to the SH backstory. I guess I'm reacting to the gamers who say "Uh oh.... Silent Hill can't do this... Look what it says in the book." when this is a series about walls that bleed and doors that lead nowhere :P

Emotional themes and characters are very, very strong in this series... logical details... not so much. "What year is it?", for example. :)

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Mother fuckers this is the theatrical trailer! WATCH IT NOW.

Look a few pages back, and you'll see a link to it too. Most of us have already seen it. Although, not in a downloadable link, me thinks.

EDIT: Everyone who hasn't checked out the new and improved Silent Hill movie website, then go do so now:

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/silenthill/

EDIT2: You should really sheck the Media gallery, as it has loads of new stills. Yummyness!

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