Avary doing Silent Hill 2 film?

By Robert Purchese Published 12 May, 2009

Pulp Fiction writer to try again.

Roger Avary may return to write the Silent Hill film sequel after all, according to comments made by renowned novelist Bret Easton Ellis.

"He's going to be shooting Silent Hill 2," said Ellis, when asked by The Cult whether Avary will adapt and direct his Glamorama novel. This, however, may simply be speculation, although Ellis claims to have been out to dinner with Avary recently.

Avary wrote the screenplay for the first Silent Hill film, which was critically panned back in 2006.

Silent Hill director Christophe Gans confirmed the existence of a sequel in early 2007, claiming Avary was once more onboard.

Avary, however, publicly denied wanting anything to do with the project after hearing that Christophe Gans was too wrapped up directing another project to get heavily involved.

Avary's website and Twitter make no mention of his involvement in a Silent Hill 2 project, either. It's eerily quiet.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #1 3 years ago

    first first! I hope :p

    Well seeing as SH1 was one of the very few games to film to actally be loyal to it's origins, I'd hope the same team will be on the project again, shame it's 'spin off' game wasn't as good, I mean yea Homecomming did borrow the adpatations from the film, but the quality wasn't there...

    Irronic isn't it.
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/09 @ 15:24

  • Irien #2 3 years ago

    I suspect various people will pop up and point out differences between SH1 movie and the game(s), as a non-SH player, but with a strong interest in the series, I found the movie quite interesting/entertaining/watchable.

    It was never going to be an oscar-winning type movie, but it seemed to capture the eariness, and other-worldliness of SH pretty well, whilst retaining the "not sure what is happing" vibe, until an ending which at least brought some sense of comprehension, if not closure.

    Would certainly be interested in a part 2, although only as a DVD/BluRay thing - can't really see myself going to the cinema for it.

  • collateral89 #3 3 years ago

    yes i c batman would do well in a silent hill movie he cud sneak up on the zombies

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #4 3 years ago

    zombies? errmm...

  • ZuluHero #5 3 years ago

    While i'm a huge fan of both i could really see the 2nd film following the theme of Silent Hill 2 if Sean Bean's character starts getting letters from his wife (there was a wierd tension between them in the first film if you rememeber, they could play on that). Just so long as he loses that stupid accent.

    Good news really - i thought that this might have succumbed to development limbo...

  • Evolution #6 3 years ago

    Kudos to Avery for Pulp Fiction, and although Silent Hill is to date the best video game adaptation, and not a bad film in it's own right, the script was not good. Maybe it was the direction, maybe the actors (I'm looking at you Sean Bean... what was that accent?!) but where was the guy who wrote Jules? Must have been Tarantino...

  • TheWretched #7 3 years ago

    Didn't Avary say, that he couldn't write a true script, because he was too constricted by the original content?

    I mean, for a popcorn movie SH1 wasn't that bad, but it had NO lasting appeal, as the mistery and all were missing... This IS the job of the storywriter, and he failed miserably with that!

  • spliffhead #8 3 years ago

    The movie was great up until they entered the church.

  • Gearskin #9 3 years ago

    Mortal Kombat!

  • ZuluHero #10 3 years ago

    I actually thought they captured the originals religious fanaticism and overtones rather well with that scene. Considering that there wasn't a lot to go on from the game, as it had already happened and the town was deserted.

    It was rather bold of them to try and explain the siren (when the worlds switched over) and where the town’s population had actually vanished to.

    I also liked the scouting parties and the reliance on almost 'Victorian' apparatus, seeing as nothing modern would work in that world.

  • Sycopat #11 3 years ago

    I actually liked the first silent hill movie. It wasn't terrible. Okay it wasn't going to win any oscars, and Sean Beans role felt completely tacked on (And he didn't die! The rule with Sean Bean movies is "They are only great if Sean Bean dies". You know it's true.) but it was weird and creepy and watchable.

    In all fairness, far worse movies have had far more sequels. I'd probably go see it.

  • Spong #12 3 years ago

    I get the sense I'm in a minority here. The rumour that Avery might be writing a possible second film is one I hope is proven wrong. He completely screwed up the first film, he took the Silent Hill ethos and chucked it out the window, ignoring virtually every aspect of what makes the games so great. The first movie was a confused, watered-down idiot's synopsis of the first game's plot and nothing else. You've only got to look at the appearance of Pyramid Head in it to realise how laughable ill-thought-out it was.

    But, in saying all that, I'd die with excitement if a second film was released. But only if Avery the twat hasn't written it.
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/09 @ 16:49

  • Raiftel #13 3 years ago

    Considering Avery approached the film with reverence and obvious love of the source material and attempted to work around a mythology that was largely absent in the first game, the plot of the first game is largely inferred rather than actually told, I think it's a little harsh laying into him for using Pyramid Head. It used the creature illogically, but I feel that it was a bone he had to throw the studio to try and keep the film as uncompromised as possible.

  • penhalion #14 3 years ago

    A sequel would make sense if they continued the story immediately after the end of the first movie i.e. with the husband going back to silent hill to look for his missing wife. The wife was lured to silent hill by the notes and drawings from her dead daughter. I guess she is now trapped in that twilight world with the demon those idiots summoned.

    I loved the touches like the air raid siren signalling a world shift. And pyramid head coming after the wife. Having an all female cast was a bit silly though. Not because they were female but, because it was forced for reasons only the director knows. Maybe he thought it would attract 14 yearold boys into the theatre.



  • ZuluHero #15 3 years ago

    Well by the very fact that the Pyramid Head is featured in Silent Hill 3 as both dipictions in paintings and as part of the scenery i think that the whole "it being manifested as James' personal tormentor" arguement is a little bit weak. Who's to say that it can't be used to toment anybody that harbours guilt (or other repressed feelings) when they visit Silent Hill?

    And besides, its such a strong iconic creature it would be foolish to use anything else.

  • Evolution #16 3 years ago

    Pyramid Head was total fan service, but I think you can justify his appearance well enough. You are talking about the most messed up place on the planet after all. There's no sense pretending the movie was great, but it was a good effort and it looked and felt like Silent Hill. It was only the people who brought it down. Less talking and cultists, more psychological terror please.

  • EmiliasHorse #17 3 years ago

    Pointless gore in the church...no need. Sean Bean was shit and very nearly ruined the film (The same can be said for every single thing he has ever been in).

    BUT

    I liked it.
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/09 @ 17:35

  • KrispyBacon #18 3 years ago

    I would like Radha Mitchell to be in the next one....naked.! The film itself was poor.

  • FogHeart #19 3 years ago

    Wow, I never realised it was judged so harshly by critics. I've read a few reviews from UK sources that chime with me - give it seven out of ten. Maybe you just need to be au fait with the source material to appreciate the film, otherwise Pyramid-Head looks like a daft and rushed monster design for example. But it absolutely nailed the philosophy, the look and the atmosphere of the games. The part where husband a wife are wondering around the same school but in different realities was spooky and heartbreaking - perfect SH material.

    I'd like a sequel...they just need a better script.

  • GamesConnoisseur #20 3 years ago

    The film was fine, on the better side of the sliding scale of the game based movies! Watchable and fine for people who never played the game and able to follow.

    Hoping they do SH2 a proper justice, as its often perceived as the best of the whole franchise, a better example of strong story, character and sense of creeping fear and tensions throughout the game. I played it again few months ago and still respected the game.

  • Agent_Llama #21 3 years ago

    If you search the forums there's several debates about the nature of Pyramid Head. General consensus however is that he should not have been in the film, he was out of context. Ditto the nurses.
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/09 @ 17:56

  • ZuluHero #22 3 years ago

    @CountFapula

    Well said. I was going to post something along the lines of this, but this is the kind of discussion wars are fought over. In regards to the Pyramid Head, and like I said earlier, it was depicted in both Silent Hill 2 AND 3, in paintings and the like. The church in Silent Hill 3, for example, has a huge painting of it hanging on a wall! And because of such can't be claimed to only exist as part of the mythos of SH2.

    That being said however, the nurses are supposed to be limited to SH2. But I’m not going to quibble there really. They impressed me enough by having Lisa in the film.

  • cawley1 #23 3 years ago

    I liked the first film enough to buy a German HD-DVD on import, I thought it was creepy, but not having played much of the Silent Hill games I did not get bogged down in plot, I just wanted to see a half-decent horror.

    If you liked this, give Stephen King's The Mist a try.

    Other than that this thread is sounding worryingly like a Doctor Who forum post, who gives a toss if Pyramid Head and the nurses wern't in the first game?

  • XdarXideX #24 3 years ago

    Kremlik> It didn't really follow much of the first game. A lot was different and it didn't really feel like Silent Hill. If the second one has anything to do with the games, then I hope they either do Silent Hill 3 with the same characters, or Silent Hill 2 with a different cast. If Sean Bean and Rada take the places of James and Mary then the whole point of Silent Hill 2 is lost.

  • thepiedpiper #25 3 years ago

    i really liked the first film!

  • Razorus #26 3 years ago

    TBH, I enjoyed the first one cos the imagery and atmosphere was spot-on and the story was original but drew from elements of a few of the games.

    But all I care about right now is Onimusha.

  • CitizenGeek #27 3 years ago

    I actually enjoyed the Silent Hill film rather a lot and I'd definitely go to see the sequel :)

  • Bulbatron #28 3 years ago

    I know there were lots of differences between the stories of the games and the films, but at least the film looked and felt like the games, and I rather enjoyed it.

  • curtlikesmeat #29 3 years ago

    Agree with most of what is said - the look and feel was great, the script was average and the actors were mostly poor. I like Radha Mitchell but she didn't seem to "get" it. Also a big fan of The Beaninator but he was totally tacked on so the film could have a big name star and way out of place.

  • ZuluHero #30 3 years ago

    @XdarXideX

    "It didn't really follow much of the first game"

    Apart from a lot of the camera angles? Some of the characters? Some of the locations? Oh, and the story?

    ;)

  • XdarXideX #31 3 years ago

    Zuluhero> Oh you mean the 50 or so people still left in Silent Hill that weren't in the game? The witch-hunting cult/order they all followed that wasn't in the game? The fact that Pyramid Head was in the film but was an integral part of Silent Hill 2's storyline and more importantly James' subconscious? Silent Hill being changed completely into purgatory instead of an alternate reality different for every one of its unfortunate inhabitant?

    No, Silent Hill the movie, although I enjoyed it after a while, had little to do with the already movie quality story of Silent Hill 1. The only things that remained were the camera angles and SOME of the set design. I mean... they even messed up the silent threat that the "otherworld" Silent Hill posed in the games.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 09:18

  • ZuluHero #32 3 years ago

    Did you even read my previous comments?

    The towns desertion was only touched upon in the games. Some speculate that the town is still there in its initial state while people trapped in the foggy plane just can’t see them (just like the film explained) Who’s to say that out of a town whose population is around 22,000, the 50 or so practicing occultists wouldn’t also be trapped in the foggy plane also? They incurred the wrath of a pissed off Alyssa after all, so they would be the ones also ‘trapped’?

    As I tried to explain earlier the Pyramid Head is depicted in paintings in Silent Hill 2 AND 3 also. If it’s supposed to be some kind of personal tormentor manifested just by James it would hardly be in paintings now would it? As someone pointed out earlier, in the early colonial days of Silent Hill, executioners would adorn the Pyramid Head ‘costume’ before executing the condemned (James finds this out in the Historic Society building in SH2) . Given the towns turbulent past, yet one steeped in its historical roots, it’s reasonable to assume that this is the form of the tormentor that the town/Alyssa would choose to reek their revenge - regardless of who the condemned is.

    Besides, i think alot people misinterpret James' personal tomentor. Its not the Pyramid Head - Its Maria.

    EDIT: Just to add - while i enjoyed the movie also, i don't treat it as strictly canon. What i do commend (as i said eariler) was the interpretation of the games plot in the movie as well as the bold decisions to try and explain things like the siren and where its population had vanished to.

    I personally feel that the film captured silent hill rather well.
    Edited by 6 at 13/05/09 @ 11:00

  • Zebula77 #33 3 years ago

    Well, as far as the "critically panned" thing - one: it was a videogame adaptation and two: a horror movie. Two genres which never have an easy time with critics. Personally, I thought it was the most faithful adaptation of a videogame yet. There were plot desicions I didn't like, and certain parts of the film I don't consider to be strictly Silent Hill canon, but overall the feel and atmosphere was captured really well. I loved how CG was only used minimally, I loved the fact that it wasn't a Resi-style action fest and in parts it was genuinely creepy and unsettling - which is what makes the video games so damn great.

    Here's hoping, hoping, HOPING that the storyline in the game Silent Hill 2 is used. Best videogame story I've ever played through, and keep playing through from time to time.

  • XdarXideX #34 3 years ago

    I only read your responses to my posts. You may have misinterpreted what I meant about Pyramid Head. He is meant to be a figure of punishment, manifested/summoned by the fact James seeks punishment for what he did. I don't mean he only exists in James' mind. What would Sharon (in the movie) need punishment for? Or even Cybil and Anna (who appears to have grown up in the purgatory-like form of Silent Hill)?

    Sure the game didn't really speak much about the desertion of the town but even the means in which the town became the way it did were altered for the movie if I recall correctly. In the movie Alessa is approached as a young girl by a demon and given the ability to punish those who tried to kill her. As far as I can remember in the game (it's been a while) Alessa is burned in a ritual to bring about the birth of "God" but the ritual is interrupted and she isn't completely toasted. I could be wrong and I'll admit that.

    I think part of the reason it didn't feel like Silent Hill to me was the fact they based it on Centralia with the coal vein fires and ashes. That's nitpicking I know but to me the movie just wasn't Silent Hill and I hope that's fixed for the second attempt with a new cast and storyline based on SH2.