More photos have been released from the set of the new Silent Hill Revelation 3D movie. These images were captured by professional photographer Sara Collaton using a long-exposure technique in order to avoid the use of a flash and maintain the dark tone. The pictures are all of an amusement park set. Lakeside Amusement Park was an important location in both the first and third Silent Hill games.
The photos themselves are quite neat, because the long-exposure method gives a sort of blurry flatness to all of the objects in the photograph, giving them an almost video game-like quality. Wait a minute... Did I just compliment somebody for making a photograph of real life look more like a video game? I think I just did!
Comparison to In-Game Environment
But, what if you compare the above images with some screen captures from the third game:
Notice any significant differences? How about that the entrance sign is made out of bricks! Or that the walkways are paved! Or that there are real buildings (also made out of bricks), and not just tents and booths!
From a game-to-movie translation point of view, the set photos are a bit disappointing. The park, itself, looks tiny and spread out, with only a handful of cheap, childish rides, some tents, and a few concession booths. It looks more like a seasonal carnival than a permanent amusement park and tourist destination. Where's the roller coaster? Where's the Borley Haunted Mansion?
Granted, the inclusion of exacting details like specific rides and visuals are not as important as maintaining the theme and story. It is also very possible that that darkness and fog will obscure visibility and/or additional rides and details will be added by CGI in post-processing to make the amusement park seem bigger than it actually is. But if this ends up being the whole amusement park, then it looks like the new movie is going to even further bastardise the history and backstory of the Silent Hill franchise with this attempt to haphazardly shoe-in a set based on scenes from the game. The Lakeside Amusement Park and the Lakeside Hotel are supposed to be major tourist attractions for the town of Silent Hill. But if what we see here is the full extent of the park in the movie, then there is no way that it will seem believable that people would come to Silent Hill from nearby cities to visit an "amusement park" that is no bigger or better than the sort of thing that gets set up in convention center parking lots of major cities every year.
Cast Announced for Leonard & Claudia Wolf
On the better side of the movie-news-spectrum, it has also been announced that Malcolm McDowell and Carrie-Ann Moss have been cast to portray some of the movie's new villians: Leonard and Claudia Wolf (respectively). Although my hopes for this movie are still very reserved, the addition of McDowell is exciting news! He's already been in quite a few very creepy roles in his life. Most notably, his portrayal of the main character Alex DeLarge in Stanley Kubrick's disturbing take on A Clockwork Orange, not to mention his role as Dr. Tolian Soran in the horrifyingly-bad Star Trek Generations. In the game, Silent Hill 3, Leonard was Claudia's father, and did not appear except as a monster in a boss fight. Thus, McDowell will probably only have minimal screen-time, which will likely come in the form of flashbacks and a possible appearance as a creature of some sort.
Malcolm McDowell |
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Leonard Wolf |
See the resemblance? Of course you do!
UPDATE [APRIL 16, 2011]: "Bogeyman" sighted in leaked photo?
I found this leaked photo from Silent Hill Revelation 3D tonight:
It appears to be an image of the "Bogeyman" monster.
Now, you might be thinking "wait, Bogeyman? Don't you mean Pyramid Head?"
The answer is NO! I refuse to call this creature "Pyramid Head" or "Red Pyramid Thing", as it deserves neither of those titles. Pyramid Head (or "Red Pyramid Thing", as it is officially named within Silent Hill 2) is a monster that was uniquely created by James Sunderland's subconscious, and served as his own personal tormentor, punisher, and a symbol of sexual repression.
The "Bogeyman" creature (as it appeared in the Silent Hill movie, and was named "Bogeyman" in Silent Hill Homecoming) is a totally different creature. Aside from having a totally different appearance (it is taller, more musculature, does not wear the butcher-like apron or gloves, and wears a helmet that is not even shaped or designed similarly to the Red Pyramid Thing's head, and it has a sword instead of a Great Knife), it has nothing at all to do with James Sunderland.