On Halloween, CD Media released the first look at “Silent Hill: Echoes,” a new fan film. The story follows James Sunderland (Michael Ciesla, “Halloween: Inferno II”) as he searches for his late wife, Maria (Kaylin Cervini, “Book of Evil”) in Silent Hill.
According to the filmmakers, “Silent Hill: Echoes” was made by fans, for fans. The movie promises to deliver strong horror while staying true to the franchise. Producer and Cinematographer Codey Dingfield (CD Media) came up with the concept. Says Codey, “Silent Hill 2 inspired me to get into horror. I remember staying up late at night, all alone with my PS2, walking around the apartment and being scared at all times! The atmosphere. The audio design. The soundtrack. The creature design… All of it is timeless and beautiful.”
The score for the movie is being created by composer Peter Wicher, who has been a huge fan of Silent Hill since the first game was released in 1999. “The subsequent cancellation of Silent Hills was actually what drove me to start writing music for video games, so I began searching the internet for projects that were in their early stages that I felt had the potential to be truly frightening. That’s how I became the composer for Visage,” says Peter; “I’ve put my 20 years of music/audio experience to work for a variety of Silent Hill inspired indie game projects such as Hollow Hills, RE77, and most recently Death of Rose.”
The movie will be released on November 27th. Co-director and producer Tim Davis (Nox Luna Films and Media), says “Our whole crew are fans of horror and scifi. From the beginning it was a project we knew that touched on all of the elements we enjoy working on. Before we had even written a line of the script, we knew we had a great crew ready to shoot. Most of us had worked together on other projects, but after the script was written, we added some amazing talent who made it all come together.” He added “I have no doubt that we created something amazing that will add to the Silent Hill mythos.”
The highlight of the movie is the attention to detail. In addition to the spooky set pieces created by Tim Davis and his team, the filmmakers recruited husband/wife SFX team of Ken Cosentino & Elizabeth Houlihan from Western New York Costumes and Props. Says Cosentino “It was a major undertaking to build Pyramid Head and two nurses in just two weeks. What made the experience truly special was the fact that legendary creature creator Steve Wang was cheering me on every night.” Steve Wang commented, saying “From what I saw of the process, Ken Cosentino created the pyramid head with so much love and care, and the final result shows!”
Cosentino continues, “To me, Pyramid Head is like the minotaur… he’s the executioner of Silent Hill. Liz and I worked late into the night, every night up until principal photography. We were also on set running SFX.”
Elizabeth Houlihan, who built Pyramid Head’s flesh apron as well as the nurse costumes, is a big fan of the franchise. ”Silent Hill has some of my favorite movie monsters,” says Liz, “scary for both their physical originality and their total loss of humanity. I was thrilled that we could create our own versions of these creatures; still true to the films and games, but within the world of ‘Silent Hill: Echoes’.” The husband/wife duo are also co-producers with their company White Lion Studios, LLC.
Topping off the expertise behind this production are two Executive Producers: Brothers James Coleman and Vince Coleman of Coleman Films. In addition to producing, James also co-directed and Vince was responsible for lighting the movie. Veterans of the horror genre, the Coleman Brothers are perhaps best known for their series “Halloween: Inferno,” third of which was just released on October 25th.
“Silent Hill: Echoes” will be available on the Coleman Brothers YouTube channel starting November 27th. For all announcements, please follow @silenthillechoes on Instagram.