You and I have become quite accustomed, and rightly so, to too many mediocre horror movies being produced and not much better big-screen video game adaptations. The case of Return to Silent Hill, however, is very special: Christophe Gans, the director of the film, is especially familiar with the video game and knows very well how to bring it to the big screen. Among other things, because he already has.
Officially presented on the occasion of Silent Hill Transmission, the new film based on Silent Hill 2, will reunite Gans with Konami’s Psychological Terror saga since that Silent Hill (the movie) that in 2006 knew how to please video game fans. Which, given the characteristics of the work of Team Silent, has double merit.
The kind of horror that Silent Hill brings to video games isn’t raw and visceral, but rather is born from bewilderment and explodes on screen. Little by little, it manifests itself until it explodes on the screen. Namely: “Don’t be afraid of the dark. Fear what is hidden in it“. A characteristic that Christophe Gans is very clear about. Moreover, as we will see, he already tells us that there will be elements inherited from the sadly disappeared P.T.
In iGamesNews we love movies. Especially video game movies. Missing more! Precisely for this reason we have shared with you everything we know and have said about Return to Silent Hill in one place starting from the most basic: what the film is about, what we can expect from it and, of course, When will it hit theaters? Let’s start with the latter.
Return to Silent Hill release date
Return to Silent Hill will be released in 2023. At least according to the original plans. We know that it is in the production phase, and that the script for it began to be written in 2020 and is already finished. In fact, storyboards and pieces of art have been shown that serve as a reference to the film crew, but, to date, neither the cast nor the footage has been offered. In any case, we will update the text when we have an official release date.
We know that Return to Silent Hill will premiere on the big screen. Among other things, because Christophe Gans, its director, is shaping it so that it can be enjoyed in movie theaters, ensuring tension and surprises “to experience them together“. In any case, and except for surprise, we also have its arrival in the domestic format.
It is normal to think that Return to Silent Hill It will be released in theaters more or less coinciding with the eve of Halloween, given its theme of terror and suspense, but the truth is that the two previous adaptations of the video game were released in spring and summer. In any case, it will be the shooting schedule, which is scheduled for february 2023and the resources allocated to the special effects that will determine the date.
All in all, we cannot ignore the fact th at Konami is developing a remake of Silent Hill 2 in parallel, whose plot serves as the basis for the film itself. Return to Silent Hill
The plot: what is Return to Silent Hill about?
Return to Silent Hill is based on the video game Silent Hill 2 and, by extension, we’re talking about a twisted, modern version of the myth of morpheus in which the protagonist heads towards hell itself armed only with the hope of being able to rescue the love of his life. Progressively, he will realize that he will need something more effective to get through the underworld.
In the 2001 video game the protagonist is James Sunderland, a simple office worker who comes to the town of Silent Hill after receiving a series of letters from Mary Shepherd-Sunderland, his wife. An essential fact: Mary passed away three years ago.
Upon his arrival in town, James begins to run into different locals, some scheming and others directly tormented. Some of them warn him of the existence of some monsters that live in Silent Hill.
Inevitably, James will end up embedded in the very nightmare that fuels those fears. Questioning reality and her sanity, but without losing sight of her purpose: to find out what has happened to her wife and what tied her in life and death to the cursed town of Silent Hill.
About the production of Return to Silent Hill
Return to Silent Hill marks the reunion of Christophe Gans with the Konami saga after a margin of 16 years since the premiere of Silent Hill, the movie. Of course, this reunion did not catch us again: in January 2020 Gans already confirmed to the French medium Allocine He was writing the script for the film. In fact, she took the opportunity to confirm that he was also developing a film based on Fatal Frame.
Curiously, that we see a new film of Silent Hill as new video games, including a remake of Silent Hill 2, are part of a larger initiative coming from Konami to revitalize its franchise. The fact that Gans and producer Victor Hadida proposed to the Japanese company to make a new film made the vision of the filmmakers and Konami itself very aligned.
Christophe Gans, director de Silent Hill (2006) y Return to Silent Hill
Why did Gans want to make a new S movie?ilent Hill? Basically because he has been fascinated with that universe for decades: Director of Wolf pact or the recent French version of Beauty and the Beast was shocked and completely absorbed with the original trilogy, and proof of this is what could be seen on the screen: the film of Silent Hill He combines the games and at the same time knows how to adapt sequences and moments with great success.
And even though the end of Silent Hill, the film does not equal that of the games, condensing so many plots and events in just two hours of footage has its own merit.
Gans spoke again about the new film by Silent Hill, without an official title, in June 2022 for the medium Video gamessharing his vision of what the town of Silent Hill itself looks like and how it should show up on the big screen in 2023.
Silent Hill is a bit like the Twilight Zone, the Fourth Dimension, a place where anything can happen. I am working on a new Silent Hill which is a Silent Hill from the year 2023 since the movie will be released next year, in 2023, and not a Silent Hill as I imagined it to be in 2006.
It is a Silent Hill for today’s public being ultra respectful of the saga. I am aware that Silent Hill is a great video game franchise and a work of art in the noblest sense of the term.
Victor Hadida, productor de Return to Silent Hill
Of course, as a fact to be considered, we can expect in Return to Silent Hill tributes to the entire saga, including references to PT the painfully canceled raid under the direction of Hideo Kojima.
I have practically finished the storyboards for this new Silent Hill and yes there are some nods to PT because, obviously, it made us all dream
The announcement of Return to Silent Hill, as well as the name of this third film, were produced on October 19, 2022 during the event of the Silent Hill Transmission. Practically on the eve of Halloween. Not long after, Gans told IGN that filming would begin in February 2023 and that It would be finished by the end of 2023. However, and despite the fact that there is an established calendar, we cannot rule out setbacks.
As we already mentioned, from the beginning it was clear that Return to Silent Hill would be a reinterpretation of the video game in the form of a movie. Silent Hill 2. So, is it necessary to watch the other two movies of Silent Hill already premiered? The quick answer is no.
Is Return to Silent Hill a sequel to the 2006 movie?
The movie Silent Hill 2006, directed by Christophe Gans himself, successfully combined themes and elements from the first three video games of Silent Hill. The base was born from the first title, published on the original PlayStation, but in it we could see enemies and lots of aspects directly extracted from the sequel and the third installment. doIs Return to Silent Hill a sequel? Not quite.
Both Gans and Victor Hadida, the film’s producer, assume that it is a new version of Silent Hill. That is, from the 2006 film. In fact, Hadida has established during the presentation of Return to Silent Hill that it is a new universe and, at the same time, a new challenge.
The script for the new Silent Hill movie that is totally independent from the previous two movies and respects the way Silent Hill has evolved.
Still from Silent Hill, the 2006 movie
In fact, Return to Silent Hill is a reinterpretation for the big screen of the Silent Hill 2 in which the monsters themselves will be redesigned to horrify the viewer again, maintaining the essence and respect of the video games according to Gans, with the aim of showing the icons in a different way. Basically, because fans expect the surprise effect.
Does that mean we’ll see elements of the video game get a Hollywood treatment? Not exactly: According to Gans, the very Konami helped redesign the monsters. Collaborating together so that longtime fans and viewers alike can enjoy a 100% Silent Hill cinematic horror experience. Logically, it will be time to take them at their word once the film is released in theaters.
trailer and images
Return to Silent Hill has all the elements to be a good movie based on the psychological horror video game: its director is committed to the project and managed to surprise fans with his previous adaptation, and the truth is that the renewed interest in the franchise will be an additional boost facing the project.
In any case, the cursed town of Silent Hill will reopen its doors from 2023 through different projects. And nothing like a movie to warm up the atmosphere and bring the saga to a whole new generation of fans of video games and horror movies. A triple hit.
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