A good Silent Hill movie

Silent Hill films and TV have had a poor track record. The 2006 movie received negative reviews for slapping plot elements from various games together and a main character change (for a sexist reason). The second film reviewed even worse due to similar issues and excessive exposition. Silent Hill: Ascension? Pft.

So much was changed when it really didn’t need to be. The first and third games could make for a good two part saga on their own. They’re literally about cults, human sacrifice, and demons born of one’s psyche running around. Very popular horror tropes, if I do say so myself. But, if I were to make a single standalone film, I would probably pick Silent Hill 2. Since it’s not a direct sequel, it has a story that stands up on its own. The only thing one needs to know about Silent Hill going into the second game is that the town itself is a demonic reality warper. And, of course, SH2 has the one and only Pyramid Head, who somehow keeps making it into the other movies and games even though it doesn’t make sense in context.

SH: Homecoming would make a good movie, too, if all the references to Silent Hill were removed. The game mostly takes place in a town called Shepherd’s Glen, and focuses on a cult that split off from the one in Silent Hill. But, if the movie adaptation was just about a man who returns home from the military to find that the town has been cursed, with ritual sacrifice and his own lineage being involved, that would make a pretty cool horror movie.

Bone: The Movie

The Bone graphic novels ran from 1991 to 2004 and followed the three Bone cousins and their magical adventure of love, dragons, and necromancy. Due to the critical acclaim of the series, it seemed only natural that a movie adaptation would happen. But, it hasn’t. There have been numerous talks, greenlights, and abrupt cancellations of the Bone movie. Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, and Netflix have all had their hand in the Bone adaptation cookie jar, with the latter being the one with the current rights to it. But, since Netflix had their reorganization of their animation department, production has not gone forward.

Creator Jeff Smith wants a Bone movie or animated series to stick as close to the source material as possible without pop culture references or a Top 40 soundtrack. So, if I had my way, I’d aim to do that. There are 9 Bone volumes in total, so with 3-ish volumes per movie, we’d have a trilogy on our hands. If I were to make any changes to the story, I’d probably omit most of “The Great Cow Race” arc, since the only parts integral to the plot are Thorn’s recurring dreams about dragons and the old map the Bones found in the desert. Aside from that, it would be a Lord of the Rings-esque adventure, starting with meeting our characters and introducing the conflict, making their journey across the valley, and ending with the war against the Lord of Locusts. 

Rule of Rose (maybe a miniseries) 

The PS2 game Rule of Rose got mixed reviews on release. But, the game’s story was the most praised aspect. The plot follows a girl named Jennifer and her dog, Brown, during their time in an English orphanage in 1930. Jennifer must obey the “Rule of Rose” established by the Red Crayon Aristocrat Club and their leader, the Princess of the Rose. In reality, the girls in the orphanage use this hierarchy and “rules” to bully and torment Jennifer and the other “lower class” girls. Oh, by the way, there are monsters trying to kill her and Brown.

Even without getting into the nitty-gritty of the plot details or the ending, there’s potential for a movie. It’s basically “Lord of the Flies” meets “Downton Abbey.” There are already horror movies about evil kids, perverted teachers, and weird “are they hallucinating or not” psychological aspects. Sprinkled throughout the movie would be flashbacks of Jennifer’s time with Gregory the farmer, then her rescue by Wendy. We could show Wendy being the only girl to show Jennifer kindness in the Aristocrat Club, subtly hinting at her motivations throughout, instead of throwing it at us at the last second like in the game. We could even have some stuff going on in the background to the adults in the orphanage, hinting at the danger and guilt that some of them were experiencing.

The length of the game and its breakdown by chapters also would make for a good miniseries. Every 2-3 chapters could be its own episode in the series, where Jennifer faces both her real and perceived enemies. At the end of either the movie or miniseries could be an epilogue where we see the 19-year-old Jennifer (who we play as in the game) reflecting on surviving the numerous tragedies in her life.