Let’s go back to Silent Hill.
In 2006, Christophe Gans proved that you can, in fact, make a good horror video game adaptation with his take onSilent Hill. His adaptation captured the brutality of the popular video game franchise, but placed it in its own context. Gans didn’t return for the second film. But now, according to an interview with Jeux Video, he’s written a new script for a third film.
He told JeuxVideo (translated by Video Games Chronicle),
There were the Covid-19 years which finally forced us to stay home. I took the opportunity to write two scripts, [including] the script for a new Silent Hill movie that is totally independent from the two previous movies made and respects the way Silent Hill has evolved.”
The world of Silent Hill is already terrifying, and it sounds like Gans is ready to explore even more of the nightmarish hellscape. His first film stars Radha Mitchell as a mother trying to find answers about her adopted daughter’s past. They end up in the town of Silent Hill, an abandoned town that exists within another dimension, crawling with flayed creatures and religious fanatics. She must try to save her daughter from the clutches of those who wish to burn her alive. It’s gruesome, creepy, and perfectly captures the cosmic horror the permeates the video game franchise.
The game franchise, which launched in 1999 from Konami studios, is made up for eight games and several spin-offs. Gans wants to follow in the franchise’s footsteps, taking this next film in a new direction. He said,
“Most of the time, these are stand-alone stories. Silent Hill is a bit like The Twilight Zone, the fourth dimension, a place where anything and everything can happen. I worked on a new Silent Hill which is a Silent Hill of the year 2023 – because the film would be released next year – and not a Silent Hill as I imagined it in 2006. It is…today’s audiences while being ultra respectful of the saga.
For me, it was important to design a Silent Hill for today’s audience. It’s clear that today’s horror movies don’t look like the horror movies of 2006, and so much the better. Not that the horror films of 2007 weren’t good, but every genre goes through an evolution. I’m trying to take into account what I’ve seen recently, what’s most original and amazing in horror films, and see if [it] has the seeds, or even the expression of that. It’s always been an unusual game and ahead of its time.”
We can’t wait to see whatever Gans ends up making up in the horrifiying, fog-filled world of Silent Hill.
