It's all about the American Film Market this morning, a sinister, foggy side-street of which leads to Silent Hill 2**, and its just-signed director Michael J. Bassett.
Silent Hill: Revelations*, loosely based, like its predecessor, on the surreal horror videogame franchise, centres on the character of Heather Mason, a teenager who, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, starts having nightmares that lead her towards the titular town, and the mystery involving her father's disappearance.
Heather is a character from the third game in the series, a direct sequel to the first, set seventeen years later. She was the baby given over to the care of Harry, the first game's protagonist, at its conclusion, when the Silent Hill cult was - temporarily, it turned out - defeated. But with the first film playing so fast and loose with its source material, it's unclear as yet how close a fidelity the sequel will keep to the original story.
The first Silent Hill's director Christophe Gans came to Silent Hill following the fantasy/horror actioner Brotherhood of the Wolf, and Bassett will be following a similar trajectory, arriving at the sequel fresh from this year's rather good Robert E Howard adaptation Solomon Kane. Will he aim to emulate Gans' mad, nightmarish visuals (definitely the film's strong point), or find a way to put his own stamp on proceedings whilst adhering to the thoroughly unsettling atmosphere of the games? Will Sean Bean return? Will there be nurses?
Last we heard, Roger Avary had written the script (as he did first time around), and Samuel Hadida was producing. Their aim a year ago was to get Silent Hill 2 underway as soon as Resident Evil: Afterlife was finished with, so all seems to be going according to plan so far. Expect 3D.
*Same subtitle as Hellraiser 9, guys. Might want to think about that...