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Silent Hill (film)

Silent Hill is the film adaptation of Konami's famous survival horror video game franchise. The story, though primarily based on the first Silent Hill game, will be a mélange of the first three. The film is expected for release on April 21, 2006 in North America. According to the French magazine "Score" the movie earns a 16+ rating in France while an 18a rating has been given in Canada. The US rating has been revealed in a TV Spot as an R-rating (it has also been confirmed on the MPAA website). The movie is 127 minutes long.


Synopsis

_{(Numerous plot synopses have appeared on the internet since the movie was first announced. The following summary is as it appears on the official website of the film, and as such can be considered final.)}

The eerie and deserted town of Silent Hill, West Virginia draws a young mother desperate to find a cure for her only child's illness. Unable to accept the doctor's diagnosis that her daughter should be permanently institutionalized for psychiatric care, Rose (Radha Mitchell) flees with her child, heading for the abandoned town in search of answers – and ignoring the protests of her husband (Sean Bean).

It’s soon clear this place is unlike anywhere she’s ever been. It’s smothered by fog, inhabited by a variety of strange beings and periodically overcome by a living Darkness that literally transforms everything it touches. As Rose searches for her little girl, she begins to learn the history of the strange town and realizes that her daughter is just a pawn in a larger game.


Relationship to the Video Games

The film is known not to be direct adaptation of any one of the games, however, it does contain numerous apparent connections to the series. Many of these are purely thematic or aesthetic similarities to the games' distinctive style, but there are also various features which appear to be direct translations of their in-game counterparts.

While many of the film's main characters are original creations, it is confirmed that the police officer Cybil Bennet, from the original Silent Hill, will appear in the film. The film's trailer and still images also show a young girl resembling Rose's daughter in a formal school uniform, as well as a mysterious older woman. Information about these two characters is scarce, but it is reasonable to assume that their role will echo that of Dahlia and Alessa Gillespie from the first Silent Hill, with the high possibility that they will in fact be those characters. The character of Christabella appears to be original and does not appear in any of the games, but a little girl of the same name did appear in the Silent Hill graphic novel, Dying Inside.

Many of the creatures shown in the trailer also seem to be taken from the various games in the series, most notably the towering Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2 (to the delight or chagrin of various followers of the series), and the ever-present Nurses.

The town itself has been recreated with a striking attention to detail, right down to the names of many of the town's shops (some of which are borderline Engrish). As a result, the street scenes are almost indistinguishable from those of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3. The memorable Midwich Elementary School from Silent Hill also appears, along with a hospital which is likely to be either Alchemilla Hospital (from Silent Hill) or Brookhaven Hospital (from Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3).

Two scenes from the beginning of the first Silent Hill appear to have been recreated almost shot-for-shot, one which features Rose and her daughter driving towards Silent Hill, only to crash after swerving to avoid a ghostly figure in the road, and one where Rose is ambushed by grotesque humanoid creatures after discovering a mutilated body crucified on a chain-link fence.

Mock newspaper articles handed out at WonderCon also mention a police officer named Gucci - Officer Gucci was mentioned briefly in a note found inside a police station during the first game. This is possibly the most obscure detail included in a video game adaptation to date, and a good sign that the film's creators care about the source material. Speculation that Gucci is played by actor Kim Coates was confirmed when the "cast & crew" page was made available on the official site.

At this point, it is unknown if events in this film will be considered series canon.


Trivia

* In the original script, there were only female characters. After submitting a new script, the script was returned to Gans with a memo saying "there are no men!". When Sean Bean was added to the cast the script was approved.
* Nearly all of the creatures that appear in the film are actors covered in latex and makeup, rather than the computer-generated beings that many contemporary films use. The actors playing the monsters are professional dancers, and their movements were performed live, with some filmed backwards in order to give a strange and disturbing effect.
* Silent Hill uses little computer-generated imagery, with the most notable exceptions being the fog that drenches the town and the insects that surround Pyramid Head. Some of the creatures have been touched-up with CGI in post-production, but, for the most part, what is seen on film existed physically.

Connections with folklore

* The storyline of the Silent Hill series of games (and the film) bear some striking resemblances to some elements of the Mothman legend. For instance, the collapsed bridge in the first game of the series appears to be a reference to the Silver Bridge of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Also, the names of the two towns seem very similar, giving further strength to this connection.
* The setting of the film is Toluca County, West Virginia, but there is no such county in that state. However, there is Toluca Lake in California, which is referenced in the second game in the series, and there is also a Toluca, Illinois. It is likely that some of the legends in the series (and in the film) may have been adapted from local lore in one or both of these areas.
* The series of games (and the film) have multiple references to a cult which closely follows descriptions found in the Cthulhu mythos given by H. P. Lovecraft.

Production

The film was greenlit on September 19, 2003, and was filmed in Hamilton, Ontario as well as on soundstages in Toronto, Ontario. The film originally was a France-Canada production. Sony bought the rights for the film and it is now set for release on April 21st, 2006.


Cast

_{(Note: Since early in the film's production, several inaccurate cast/character lists have circulated the Internet, with many of them remaining on popular websites to this day. The following list is limited to the characters and cast whose appearances have been confirmed beyond reasonable doubt.)}

Actor - Role
Radha Mitchell - ^{Rose DaSilva}
Sean Bean - ^{Christopher DaSilva}
Jodelle Ferland - ^{Sharon DaSilva/Alessa Gillespie}
Laurie Holden - ^{Cybil Bennet}
Deborah Kara Unger - ^{Dahlia Gillespie}
Tanya Allen - ^Anna
Kim Coates - ^{Officer Gucci}
Alice Krige - ^Christabella

Release dates

The following is a list of release dates worldwide.

_{Release Date Country}
21 April 2006 USA
21 April 2006 United Kingdom
21 April 2006 Canada
26 April 2006 Belgium
26 April 2006 France
27 April 2006 Hungary
11 May 2006 Germany
18 May 2006 Netherlands
18 May 2006 Thailand
23 June 2006 Brazil
30 June 2006 Finland
31 August 2006 Australia
31 August 2006 Argentina

Website

The official website for the film ([link]) was launched on December 5th, 2005. Heavily Flash-based, it contains a large amount of digital media related to the film, including a trailer, still images, and downloadable screensavers.



::Information taken from Wikipedia.com::