SH:R Director Michael J Bassett's blog

[CrypticIdentity]

Hey--here's the blog entry where the new director, Michael J. Bassett, announces his involvement with Silent Hill: Revelation:

http://michaeljbassett.wordpress.com/20 ... lent-hill/

I like his enthusiasm. I haven't seen any of his other films, though--thoughts?

EDIT: jdnation posted a link to a new page on Michael Bassett's blog, The Silent Hill Comments Page. Quote from the page:

I’ve made this page so you can leave comments and opinions about all things Silent Hill. I don’t promise to reply to everything comment but I assure you I do read them all. I respectfully ask you not to flame me - I’ll just delete and besides there are plenty of excellent SH forums where you can really rip into me if you want to – but considered thoughts and dialogue is always welcome.

[simeonalo]

He's promising a whole lot of things.

And he's bringing back monsters just because they're fan favorites from the first movie. That most likely means that Pyramid Head is going to be in it. At least he admires and understands the complex SH mythology. I just hope this isn't a movie with too much fan service Not going to get my hopes up, but I'm still excited! Especially since he wants to make this one scarier.

[kimjae19]

most important of all… just scaring the shit out of everyone.

The first movie wasn't really scary.

I'm pretty sure Silent Hill Revelation will have lots of cheap scares/monster pop-out (since it's in 3D) like what they did on Resident Evil Afterlife.

[jdnation]

I have hope that they will make good use of 3-D. Of course there will be a few pop out scares here and there, the first movie had them. But I hope they don't turn Silent Hill into Resident Evil. 3-D or no 3-D, I've always been worried they might do it to get more mainstream appeal...

I don't mind them bringing Pyramid Head back. He was relevant in the first film and the films can be free to be a bit different from the mythos of the games here and there providing they are better films for it. Though of course we don't want an oversaturation of Pyramid Head. And besides I'm more eager to see Valtiel being used instead given that this is based on SH3.

[CrypticIdentity]

If they manage a way to get the Closers on the big screen without them looking completely ridiculous, it'll be the scariest friggin thing ever.

Honestly, the fact that "3D" is in the title is what worries me the most about the 3D. I don't mind it if they decided to film it in 3D, but for it to be such a selling point that it's in the title--rather than letting "Silent Hill" be the primary selling point--sounds like either a lack of faith in the source material or just jumping on a bandwagon for better sales.

Just watched the trailers on IMDb for a couple of his other movies, "Deathwatch" and "Wilderness." The "Deathwatch" trailer was pretty shitty, although it did show that he has experience using barbed wire to kill people, so...he's got that going for him? "Wilderness" was a better produced trailer, but again, not really impressed by anything I saw. I saw the "Solomon Kane" trailer a while ago, and that looked cool enough; sort of like a medieval "Van Helsing." Although "Van Helsing" wasn't the greatest movie. (Hell, it was fun enough that I enjoyed it. And the soundtrack's great.)

Anyway, hopefully he'll have some better actors than what I saw in the trailers. I like his comment about "more nuanced characters," but of course there's a difference between saying something and actually doing it.

For the record, "Deathwatch" has a 5.9 on IMDb, "Wilderness" has a 6.3", and "Solomon Kane" has a 6.2. (I didn't bother checking the other movie it has, "Bugs," because it just looks stupid.)

[Fevered Dream]

Especially since he wants to make this one scarier.

I love the first movie, but it wasn`t really scary at all. Sure there are a few moments that might get your pulse going, but these moments are more intense rather than scary. So he really shouldn`t have much trouble achieving a ``scarier`` movie. Really he should have just said he wants to make it SCARY

Anyway, best of luck to his role as the new writer and director. He seems to have a lot of interest in the series and wants to make the sequel in a similar style as the first (which is good IMO), so I have faith in him. And I wonder what monsters he wants to incorporate into this one. I wouldn`t mind seeing good `ol PH return since his role could be more fleshed out.

[jdnation]

Having 3D in the title, is probably just for the posters to get people to watch the film. 3D is indeed a big draw, especially in horror. So just by having it on the poster is guaranteed to grab people's attention. I don't like it much either, but it does help, and the movie could use more attention that 3D brings in.

As for being classified as 'action-horror' I probably won't worry too much about that, as it's again just something to get mroe people interested. Technically there will be plenty of moments of action in the movie as there is in the games. So it isn't misleading to slap that classification on it. It all depends on what you think of as 'action'... and hopefully they're not thinking gunslinger bullet time resident evil action which is 'stylish-action'... as opposed to the normal violence we expect with this film.

[wonder's boy]

He sounds into it enough. I like what I'm hearing from him more than I did with the director/writer of the first film, though I do love the first film. Can't wait! Hope there's more updates soon...

[Matt S]

A lot of the issues with the first one had to do with the second half of the script, the studios lack of faith with a female lead, and budget.

For me, just get rid of people with that look like Hobos and I am already happier with the second movie

Title is lame, though

[DistantJ]

I'm not bothered if Pyramid Head is in it, I loved seeing him in the first movie, I don't care if it's nothing to do with James, I was thrilled to see a real life big screen version of him - and I'd be equally excited to see him in 3D - I mean imagine the giant's knife coming out of the screen at you...

I wasn't as welcoming of Pyramid Head in Homecoming, because it's in the continuity of the series so logically he shouldn't be there if we're to go with the "he was created by James' mind" thing, but the movies are a different continuity and missing him out altogether just because James wasn't in the movie would be like making an X-Men movie without Wolverine.

Anyway, I love the first movie, I think it's script is, while not on the level I'd want from a movie of Silent Hill 2, much better than that of the original game (yes, SH1's script was good for a game at the time, but it really isn't that special, and even the most profound games in the series' have pretty poor scripting but that's the nature of video games vs. movies). It's interesting though, it's much more of a mainstream horror script than the Twin Peaks-esque narrative most Silent Hill fans would ideally want from a movie, but I think it still works and since Silent Hill hasn't really been in that style since the development moved out of Japan, we shouldn't be upset by more mainstream scriptwriting.

I feel like for a lot of people in here nothing they will realistically make will be good enough, but for me I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it and enjoying the story on the big screen.

[jdnation]

Hey guys! Bassett has set up a specific page on his blog for us all to leave him comments. He'll try and answer any questions he can! So leave your comments here!
http://michaeljbassett.wordpress.com/th ... hill-page/

[JKristine35]

Haha *FIRST*! I'm seriously worried about him retconning Alessa's backstory to dumb it down, so I thought I'd go ahead and post that concern. I find it incredibly awesome that he's given us a page to comment on the film.

[jdnation]

Bassett has replied to our questions! And everything sounds good so far. He answered my bunch of questions:

1. He confirms that 3-D will be used to enhance the atmosphere and drama. It will not be used for gimmicky effects!

2. The movie is not retconning Gan's movie. Revelation will shed more light on Gans' film and will be a continuation of it and by the end of the movie, the films will be more closely tied to the stories of the games.

3. They're trying to get in touch with Akira Yamaoka and use his music in the film.

4. No plans yet for any cross promotion with Silent Hill 8.

5. Bassett has played the games and prefers the early ones. (I'm guessing this means 1-3, maybe 4)

So it looks like we've got a great director working on it who is also aware of criticisms regarding to what worked and didn't work with the first film, so there's every reason to be positive about how this will turn out! Can't wait!

[simeonalo]

He sounds into it enough. I like what I'm hearing from him more than I did with the director/writer of the first film, though I do love the first film. Can't wait! Hope there's more updates soon...

The same with the Resident Evil: Afterlife director, and that was a horrible movie.

Honestly, I can't help but feel that Michael J Bassett is going to make the movie really cliche'd and gimmicky.

[wonder's boy]

Guess we'll have to just wait and see.

Love the answers to his questions, too. I should think of some new good ones and post them.

"2. The movie is not retconning Gan's movie. Revelation will shed more light on Gans' film and will be a continuation of it and by the end of the movie, the films will be more closely tied to the stories of the games." <---kind of confused by this, though I think it's a good thing. I like that the first film will have more light shed on it and won't just be an old toy left behind, like some movie sequels make of their previous installments.

Glad to hear they want Akira's music. Glad he prefers the earlier games. Glad to hear the 3D isn't intended for cheap thrills. Glad to hear Heather Mason will be in it. I'm a happy camper at this point.

Also, I may look dumb by asking this, but I think I didn't understand the reply to the second question because I don't understand what "retconning" means. Can anyone provide a definition for me? Thanks.

[CrypticIdentity]

Wow. The fact that he's even making an effort to reply to people's questions about the film is pretty awesome in my book. I'll link to that page in the first post.

EDIT: Linked.

[JuriDawn]

Also, I may look dumb by asking this, but I think I didn't understand the reply to the second question because I don't understand what "retconning" means. Can anyone provide a definition for me? Thanks.

A retcon (short for "retroactive continuity") is more or less the alteration of previously established facts, usually to accommodate a future story.

Retcons often add information that effectively states "what you saw isn't what really happened" and then introduce a different version of the backstory. This is usually interpreted by the audience as an overt change rather than a mere addition. The most common form this takes is when a character shown to have died (sometimes explicitly) is later revealed to have survived somehow. This is well known in horror films, which may end with the death of the monster, but when the film becomes successful, the studio plans a sequel, revealing that the monster survived after all.

[wonder's boy]

Thanks, JuriDawn. That makes sense now! I'm glad to hear it, too, because it felt like almost every RE movie sequel has committed a retcon in some way or another. And we all know how that's muddied each sequel's respect.

The SH movie sequel and original both deserve the absence of this fatal "retcon." I wonder how often he'll update his blog...

[DistantJ]

The same with the Resident Evil: Afterlife director, and that was a horrible movie.

You mean you didn't like that movie.

Actually, don't get me started on this, I'll ruin the whole topic

[jdnation]

Resident Evil Afterlife is pretty much just like every Resident Evil movie before it. Sure I'm not a fan of how they handled that movie franchise, but that is that and this is this...