Roger Avary Is Returning To Silent Hill

There will be more shenanigans in Silent Hill. The 2006 film, directed by Christoph Gans didn't do terribly well, but Konami's game series is a perpetual seller, suggesting that there is room for another film. So screenwriter Roger Avary is re-teaming with producer Samuel Hadida to rebuild the foggy, freaky town. Or perhaps Konami is just jealous that Capcom will soon collect yet another Resident Evil licensing package when they've only nabbed one. (Hadida has the right idea; he produces both franchises.)

Can't say this is terribly exciting; Avary's script was arguably the real weak link in the original film. Gan brought fog and atmosphere, Carol Spier did some excellent production design work, and I liked some of the cast, which included Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Alige Krige and Tideland's Jodelle Ferland. But Avary's script had Mitchell running around yelling her daughter's name over and over again, and either his structure was lacking or the whole assembly was butchered in the edit bay, as a few characters were just left hanging. I know the film has its fans, but a justification like 'hey, for a video game movie it isn't that bad,' really isn't enough.

There's a lot we don't know about the sequel, however. Unfortunately it seems like Gans won't return, not that there's any shortage of directors willing to take a stab at a relatively high-profile (among geekdom, anyway) property. Will this film have anything to do with the first? Elements of the first three games (with a heavy reliance on Silent Hill 2, if I remember correctly) were cobbled together for the original film's storyline, but the game series has never been shy about shooting off in tangental directions. If Avary and Hadida want to do something 'new' but still use game inspiration, they'll have plenty of potential material. [THR]