Silent Hill

Christophe Gans spent years persuading Konami to give up the rights, taking its board a long subtitled video of his approach. The game is led by a father, Harry Mason; the film makes the searching parent a mother, Rose. Screenwriter Roger Avary calls his method reinterpretation: the game is the game, and now a film is made. Sean Bean’s husband role grew because the studio wanted more male presence. Gans explains the creatures himself: all are dancers in costumes, filmed in reverse or at altered speeds so the movement comes out wrong, choreographed by Roberto Campanella. The fog it is known for is not practical: smoke and fog came from Maya fluids, the falling ash from a particle system. The sets are real, 108 built for the interiors. Akira Yamaoka, who scored the games, carried his music into the film. A Canada, France and Japan co production shot in Ontario, it cost 50 million dollars and took 100.6 million. The telling holds its explanation back, then pays it out in one late flashback of Alessa’s past, before the finale tears the cult apart with razor wire. A good fit if you will carry the horror unexplained and accept the account settled at the end. Not for anyone wanting the uncertainty kept, since the film finally puts that past into words.