it's rape time
This Friday marks the release of Silent Hill..the movie! Directed by Christopher Gans! Expectations are high because it is done by a director who obviously loves and respect the games.
First off, here are promotional clips and various media for the movie:
http://silenthillforum.co.uk/forum/show ... hp?t=23235
Movie faq:
http://www.silenthillforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=114
Awesome quotes from Gans!
BlogIn SH, creatures are not only here to scare. They all have a very precise function. I’ve totally invented the creature of the Janitor and I was worried of Yamaoka’s reaction when he would discover it. As the contract stipulated, he had the right to make me take it off from the movie if he didn’t like it! Actually, he loved this foul creature eaten by some sort of venereal infection that haunts the school toilets!
SH creatures all have a pathetic dimension. They’re not the real monsters of this universe but only projections of guilt, punishment and remorse. They’re not monsters in the usual sense of the word. They don’t wait in corners to jump on you. They are poor things who stroll in darkness, attracted by the simple fact that you’re still alive. Their promiscuity is unpleasant and goes far beyond the real danger they represent. The real monsters of the film really are the human beings! In that way, SH creatures have dantesque function. Because when Dante goes to hell, what strikes him first in the scenery of the damned is the horror of the human condition!
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/sile ... /index.php
Snips:
Silent Hill looks very good thus far, but Mr. Gans I have to ask why it is that you didn't stay true to the story and use the father, Harry Mason? In an interview you mention that the main character was changed to a woman because you believed Harry's qualities were feminine but isn't the protection and well being of a child the responsibility of every parent?
- Stuart A.
I think when Roger Avary and Nickolas Boukhrief and I started to work on the project we assumed, because we are all fans of the game, that we would start writing with Harry Mason as our lead.
It quickly became clear however Harry never acted like a masculine character. He was constantly dizzy, fainting, talking to himself, screaming and in fact was very vulnerable. We didn't want to betray the nature of the game by changing the character's feelings and motivations, so we felt it was better to change to a female protagonist and retain all those important qualities. I don't want people to think that I have been "politically correct" because we changed Harry into Rose. There is no political correctness in Silent Hill.
It's important to mention that we were conscious that allowing the Gamers to have to face a new character would help in the transition from Silent Hill the Game to Silent Hill the Movie.
Mr. Gans: A lot of people feel that it doesn't make sense for the Red Pyramid to be in the film because he was a delusion specifically for James. While I think it makes perfect sense, can you shed some light on the subject so that peace may finally be restored to all the Silent Hill forums of the world?
- Jared S
Akira Yamaoka and I agree that Red P is not just a creation of James. Saying that Red Pyramid was solely conceived by James in Silent Hill 2 is just one of the explanations for his existence. James is just one point of view. Another perspective is to remember that Silent Hill existed before James and that Red P was one of the executioners in the original history of the town. So clearly, there is not one particular or exclusive manifestation of him as an entity.
My version of the Red P was adapted from the perspective of the female characters. I felt it important that their psyche influence his shape, dress and physicality.
The Silent Hill series has been known for the subtle symbolism in the creatures and the environments that pertains to the protagonist. Will this symbolism carry over to the movie?
- Vince G
Absolutely, yes. The creators of Silent Hill the game are so highly intelligent and used so many abstract and interesting references to create the creatures that of course it was such challenge for us to replicate this. Silent Hill the game heavily borrows from Modern Art especially the paintings of Francis Bacon. As in Bacon's art we see the monstrosity of his figures is actually a reflection of their souls. They are the embodiment of anxiety, fear and self-destruction and exist in world where cruelty is absolutely accepted. Hence the fact the creatures of Silent Hill are so absolutely unique. They are not your typical wait around a corner and jump out to scare you type. They are promiscuous pathetic and disturbing... standing naked in the middle of a room or alone on a street. Every fan of Silent Hill knows the creatures have been conceived by a child at least in the first game. They are the creation of Alessa's mind. They embody a strange, naïve, candid sense of cruelty that only a child can have. They are more like broken dolls than horrible creatures. As in the great classical text Dante's Inferno. Dante goes to hell and watches the dammed people and realizes the human condition. That is how we must perceive the monsters in Silent Hill. The real monsters are human.
Interviews!Christophe, what aspect of the Silent Hill lore did you find the most compelling and intriguing, and how did you use it in your film?
- Michael V
Perhaps the common link between all the stories of the Silent Hill world is the concept that this is a place where both reality and personality can be split.
I like the fact that this is where many dimensions intersect, and where you can exist on many planes. This fracturing between realities is reflected as a fracturing within a character. Characters can become multiple, like Mary and Maria in Silent Hill 2, and Alessa in SH1.
Because this is such an abstract concept, this was the most challenging aspect of trying to adapt the game. The first game tells the amazing story of an adult woman who also exists as two little girls, good and bad doubles representing who she was when she was hurt.
We are forced to realize in Silent Hill that we can be our own devil, our own God. This very Asian perception is so completely different to the Anglo/Christian concept of God and the Devil as separate beings.
http://www.silenthillforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=111
http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2 ... ry_tal.php
EGM: Did the stigma of working on a videogame-based film deter you?
Christophe Gans: Of course it w as challenging, but it was impossible for me to do Silent Hill and not be serious about it. It’s much easier to adapt Doom, even if it turns out to be a disaster- as we’ve seen (recently)- then to adapt Silent Hill. If you want to adapt Silent Hill, you must be ready to face all of the complexity of the story. For a lazy director, like the one who directed Doom, Silent Hill would be too big of a piece to swallow. I dreamed of adapting this game when I first started playing the first one six years ago. I prepared for this for years, knowing that every fan in the world would wait for me with an ax. I will be sniped when I go to buy my games at my favorite store if I do a bad job. And I understand that. I’m a fan of the games myself-I admire the work of Akira and his friends, and I feel like someone who joined the group and tried to transport that amazing piece of art into a different medium. I love the fandom, and I understand these people and how tense they get when they hear, “Your favorite game is going to be adapted by some French guy.” (Laughs)
EGM: It’s impressive that you actually tackled the mythology of the games rather than creating a simpler story…was that something you intended from the project’s outset?
CG: Yes. Although, when we first decided to do Silent Hill, we wanted to base it on the second game. It was very natural, since that game is the favorite of every fan, and it’s the one with the most beautiful world, and it’s the most emotional on of all four. Ever gamer who finished the game knows what I’m talking about…it’s a very tragic and romantic game, and it’s a beautiful adaptation of the myth of Orpheus- going to hell to bring back his love, Eurydice. It was not a real Silent Hill, though; the town serves as the background to the story, but it’s not really about the mythology. So, when we decided to do the film, we realized that it was impossible to talk about Silent Hill and not talk about why this town is like that. So we realized that we had to adapt the first one.
Of course, we were facing the fact that the characters that we love so much were designed for games, and not to be played by real actors. It became readily apparent when we began to write the script and had to deal with the (main) characters, Harry Mason. We realized after two weeks in the writing process that Harry was actually motivated by feminine, almost maternal feelings. It’s not that he’s effeminate, but he’s acting like a woman. So, if we wanted to keep the character, we would have to change other aspects of him…so to be true to the character, we changed Harry into Rose. Essentially, all the people who love Silent Hill are more interested in seeing the mood and atmosphere of the games rather then if a certain character is wearing pants or a dress.
Also when we decided to adapt the characters of Cybil and Dahlia, we found it difficult, mainly because they appear only sparsely in the game. When you have to create a narrative arc for these characters, you have to work really hard to make them work on the big screen. I didn’t want to do what they did with Resident Evil: Apocalypse when they put Jill Valentine onscreen. I mean, that’s a perfect example: I love Jill Valentine…in the game, but not onscreen. I mean, I’m sorry, but just dressing a girl like her doesn’t make her the character.
EGM: Akria, what do you think of the additions Christophe has made to Silent Hill world?
Akira Yamaoka: After seeing the film, I think that Christophe has really expressed the core elements of Silent Hill, and he’s really kept the themes alive in this new medium. Silent Hill is not just a horror game; there is human drama rotted very deeply in the story, and I feel that he expressed that very well with the visuals, sounds, and atmosphere in the film. By watching the film, I Fell that you’ll get a clearer and deeper understanding of the world of Silent Hill, more so than by simply playing the games.
EGM: IT doesn’t help when a critic like Roger Ebert says that games are not art…
CG: F*** him. You know, I will say to this guy that he only has to read the critiques against cinema that the beginning of the 20th century. It was seen as a degenerate version of live stage musicals. And this was a time when visionary directors like Griffith were working. That means that Ebert is wrong. It’s simple. Most people who despise a new medium are simply afraid to die, so they express their arrogance and fear like this. He will realize that he is wrong on his deathbed. Human beings are stupid, and we often become a**holes when we get old. Each time a new medium appears, I feel that it’s important to respect it, even if it appears primitive or naïve at first, simply because some people are finding value in it. If you have one guy in the world who thinks that Silent Hill or Zelda is a beautiful, poetic work, then that game means something.
EGM: How did you tackle the concept of evil in Silent Hill?
CG: Because Silent Hill comes from a part of the world where the line between good and evil is blurred more so than in the West, it’s very interesting to deal with that. Since you haven’t seen the film, I don’t want to go too deeply into that, but I will say that for me, it was interesting to define what exactly is evil in the world of today. I think it’s an important question to raise. Until five years ago, we were living in a world that was a product of the Second World War. It was very clear that we were on the good side. But many things have happened in the last few years, and now people aren’t so sure about that.
In Silent Hill, I don’t attempt to answer these questions, but I do try to illustrate them. And I think it’s one of the most important objectives of the horror genre, to ask the right questions. Horror is actually a very political genre. Silent Hill is a very disturbing game, because you’re not just alone physically, but also alone morally. That’s the world of today. Each day, we’re forced to reevaluate our own morality.
EGM: You seem so passionate about this project…do you hope to helm a sequel?
CG: OF course, I would love to come back. And of course, Silent Hill 3 is a direct continuation of the first game’s plot…I think that it would be very possible to do a sequel to this film. As I said, Silent Hill is a complete mythology, and I did what I could in two hours, but I would love to tell much more about the Red Nurse, Claudia, and the Doctor. Plus, there is a fifth dimension of Silent Hill-how it existed in the 18th century, during the Salem witch-hunts. It’s so big and so interesting, and I would love to jump back on the horse.
Release Date: April 21, 2006
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OR, PH took the bottom half of Anna, sewed her onto another bottom half he had found, MADE a mannequin...then raped it. 
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