Silent Hill Chat

[Sacred Jellybean]

For a second there, I thought you were talking about the director of the movies in your second post, but then I realized you were talking about the games again. It was definitely not Kojima behind it. He's actually new to the whole franchise. Silent Hills will be his first take on the series.

Huh, could have sworn he was involved with at least the first and second. Hopefully he doesn't MGS this thing up too much then. MGS is bad, it's like MSG. No, I've actually not played many of those so I can't judge, but I hear it goes off the rails from the second game on.

I must admit, I watched Eraser Head and didn't much care for it. I tried, I really did. I walked away thinking of it as more... pretentious? Sorry, I saw it as the sort of thing an art student would make before telling me I'm an idiot for not "getting it".

The film's lead thought the same thing when he heard the premise. :D Then he and Lynch got to talking about... car roof racks, of all things. And they got to be good buddies. I don't know, something about that Jack Nance is compelling. Very odd duck for sure, and I think he had an atmosphere about him. I watched a documentary on him that was made post-mortem. Guy had a lot of trouble with alcohol.

But I digress, I think Lynch nails it with Eraserhead. The concept itself isn't necessarily deep. It's all about fear of childbirth and fatherhood. Lynch lived in Philadelphia and it inspired him (moreso than living in Europe, purportedly). I think Eraserhead is his masterpiece, but it's absolutely esoteric, so a good amount of people don't like it. For my money, I like the delivery, the long, slow shots, the mechanical soundtrack (Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails was inspired by this), the weird girlfriend. I try to noodle out meaning in the more surreal parts and there might be some imagery I don't get yet.

Most of all I think it's a sad film. I think the last time I posted about it here I called it "terrifying" but I was just getting caught up in the hype. It's more depressing than anything. I wish I could see it on the big screen, that's one of the greats like 2001 that's meant to be seen large, imposing, lending the feeling of overwhelming helplessness and filthy industrial drudgery.

I actually frequented message boards (the SomethingAwful forums) where the people hanging out in the cinema subforum would put on airs about David Lynch. "Hmmphh, either you get Lynch or you don't" . It kind of put me off to him, but having seen a full body of his work I have to admit he's very talented. Twin Peaks is a great show, for instance. It's almost... campy, but real. It starts off as kind of a corny soap opera but the actors give you the feels. The series is about the murder of a high school girl named Laura Palmer, and it does quite well in showing the parents grieving.

Anyway, this is getting off-track. I do see a similarity between Lynch's work and the first Silent Hill. It's about a small tourist town that has inexplicable evil underneath. Lynch plays on the same theme but in suburbia, less urban.

And dammit Falcon, colonists and Natives? That makes it the ultimate American horror story. :D C'mon, haven't you heard of suspension of disbelief? I mean, the plot is nothing but a vehicle for better things: atmosphere in the first game, character study in the next. You nuts, man.

Like the movie "Boyhood", it seems like it was made for someone else and I'm just "visiting".

The method is gimmicky but interesting. I want to see this. I like Linklater anyway. A Scanner Darkly in particular was sad but poignant.

Best Silent Hill movie? Jacob's Ladder.

Totally.