At a recent Konami showcase for Silent Hill, fans were delighted to get news of not one but two new games, a remake of Silent Hill 2, and a new movie. Most surprisingly, the new film will be a sequel to the first film from 2006 and will be directed by the original director Christophe Gans, who first discussed the possibility of a sequel in 2020 stating he was considering a script centered on puritanism.

While the first two Silent Hill films are fine in their own right, many fans felt that they didn't fit with the source material or share the atmosphere of the game series. With a new film and new games on the way, how can the new installment in the film series make good on the horror of the games?

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What Past Films Got Right & Wrong

The original 2006 Silent Hill movie is based on the events of the first game in the series. In the film, Rose (Radha Mitchell) takes her sleepwalking and disturbed daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) to the town she talks about in her sleep state: Silent Hill. Without telling her husband Christopher (Sean Bean), Rose takes Sharon to the deserted, forever-burning town to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her adopted daughter's condition and fascination with the place.

While it is by no means a perfect adaptation, the film does get many aspects right. For starters, the music is perfect and is made up entirely of music from the games composed by Yamaoka. The only exception is the inclusion of Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. The look and feel of the town itself are excellent, transforming from a dusty, derelict, deserted ghost town to a Hell dimension filled with nightmarish and twisted monsters with a disintegrating landscape. The visuals of the film are almost perfect. The film falls down in a script that is clunky and overly long.

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The follow-up film, Silent Hill: Revelation from 2012, was written and directed by M.J Bassett (Deathwatch). Adelaide Clemons stars as Heather Mason (formerly Sharon De Silva from the first movie) who is searching for her true identity. After moving from town to town with her dad, Christopher (Sean Bean), now going by Harry Mason, Heather is still having visions of Silent Hill, and the Order soon comes looking for her and her new friend Vincent (Kit Harrington). The Silent Hill hell dimension begins to bleed into Heather's life in her new home as the Order closes in around her.

Revelation stumbles in many of the same places that the first film does. The dialogue is extremely clunky and Kit Harrington's American accent slips and slides whenever he has to change volume. The film also suffers from extraneous exposition and a lack of interesting monsters. The overall feel is a sanitized and reductive take on the games, which are rooted in psychological horror as well as terrifying and hideous monsters.

What The New Film Should Do Differently

First and foremost, the story is important. According to Gans, the script is complete, and the film is tentatively titled Return to Silent Hill. Another interesting development is that the story is reportedly based on Silent Hill 2, and is serving as a soft reboot of the franchise along with the new games that have been announced.

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If the film is to be based on the second game, it's a heavy project to tackle. The game is a lot more psychologically rooted, with the town using the character's psyche against them when creating the horrors they encounter. The game is also heavily influenced by guilt and consequences, and offers six endings depending on the way it is played. As well as difficulties in adapting the story, there are also the expectations of fans that need to be considered.

Silent Hill 2 is the most popular game in the franchise. It is a beloved title and one that many see as the height of survival horror along with Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2. With that in mind, plus the renewed hype about the franchise following the slew of announcements from Konami, Gans has a difficult task ahead. Add to that the critical failures of the 2006 film and Revelation and the pressure is definitely on.

The atmosphere should be a key focus of the new film. In Silent Hill 2, there is a sense of dread permeating throughout the game. The existing films both lack tension, although the first film does capture the atmosphere of the eponymous town fairly accurately. The original movies are flat. There may be excellent visuals and some interesting creatures roaming around the town, but there's very little sense of danger. The fear needs to be felt on screen as it is in the game, and the original films fall short of invoking that feeling.

Gans is undoubtedly a huge fan of the franchise and his first film comes closest to capturing the essence of the games. The new script has to have better dialogue and pacing than the first two films. It is one of the key points that lets down both existing films. However, if budgetary constraints don't become an issue, there is real scope for Gans to create a faithful and frightening adaptation.

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