ChristopheGans Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's easy to make a movie look good, if the budget is right, but it's hard to make one look straight-up beautiful. French director Christophe Gans is part of the small group of filmmakers who seems to be able to do the latter on a regular basis. His Silent Hill made absolutely no sense, but was it ever gorgeous; I could have watched it without sound. I'd gladly sit through countless video game adaptations if they all looked like that. As we reported a year ago, Gans was going to oblige with an elaborate $70 million version of the martial arts fantasy Onimusha, but that may not happen after all, at least not soon: according to Variety, Gans may be putting the logistically-troubled project on the back burner in favor of The Swedish Cavalier, an adaptation of a 1936 novel by Czech writer Leo Perutz.

The book is about a penniless thief who steals the identity of a noble-born army deserter, taking over his estate, marrying his unassuming fiancee (who hasn't seen "him" since childhood), and forcing the nobleman to become a foundry worker. The action takes place in the 18th century, taking Gans back to his Brotherhood of the Wolf period piece roots. Except, I guess, with fewer homicidal were-beasts.

Out of the 77 film critics polled at Rotten Tomatoes, only 20 of 'em would give a Thumbs Up to Christophe Gans and Roger Avary's video game adaptation Silent Hill. I proudly count myself among that 26% minority. No, I don't think it's any sort of "hidden classic" or anything like that, and the flick's more notable missteps tread dangerously close to Guilty Pleasure territory, but for the most part I quite enjoyed the flick's tone, mood and ultra-icky visual sensibility. I think it's probably the best "video game movie" yet, but I also enjoyed the first Resident Evil, so feel free to take these opinions with a geeky grain of salt.

So I told you all that just so I could tell you this: Gans seems pretty damn close to starting in on a Silent Hill sequel. I know, I know; I was as surprised as you are right now -- but the flick did gross just under $100m worldwide, so I guess it's not that big a shock. In a recent interview with DVDRama.com, Gans spilled all sorts of sequel-style beans, but since it's a French website, we rely (once again) on Bloody-Disgusting.com for our gore-soaked news giblets.

Check out the interview for the filmmaker's statements the Silent Hill theatrical release, DVD quality, critical reaction, box office results and sequel plans. Hell, if he sticks closely to the game series, his sequel's already half written!

Those who love movies and video games in equal measure have had a red circle scrawled around the release date for Silent Hill for quite some time. Sure, there's nothing new about a horror flick based on a popular game series, but not many of those movies come attached to names like Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) and Roger Avary (The Rules of Attraction, Killing Zoe). With filmmakers like these on board, the odds of a half-decent movie being produced increase exponentially. And let's give the gamers a break. One can only take so many Dooms and BloodRaynes and Resident Evil: Apocalypses (sue me, I liked the first one) before starting to get a little desperate. So the hopes pinned upon Silent Hill were pretty high, if only those of a small-yet-passionate fanbase.

And then came word that Sony wouldn't be pre-screening the flick for press, which automatically placed Silent Hill in a "sight-unseen" garbage bin, alongside cinematic detritus like When a Stranger Calls, Stay Alive, BloodRayne, and Underworld: Evolution. (A note to Sony and the other studios: I'd quit it with the "no press screenings" approach; the moviegoers are getting wise to this gimmick.) Needless to say, the "press blackout" strategy didn't do a whole hell of a lot to generate excitement among the loyal Hill fans, but ...