Peas in a Pod... Not
Opening Digital Life this morning, I caught an article about how the third installment of Resident Evil made the whole series so completely mind blowing that it tops "Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat, Silent Hill and Super Mario". Yes, to an extent, I do agree; Resident Evil has grossed comparatively more than movies like "Dead or Alive and Silent Hill (which) had only box office earnings of about $600,000 and $800,000 respectively". But still, is the amount it brings in enough to justify if a movie is "less than stellar"?
This ticks me off for so many reasons but the main ones surround Silent Hill. Let me tell you why.
Firstly, lets look at the target audience. Resident Evil is action and survival horror, open to those 16 years and above. On a scale, I'd say it's more action and less contemplatively scary. Silent Hill on the other hand would be pure survival horror. You had to be 18 to watch it when it came around and let's face it, it scared a few of us half to DEATH. If you look at just the audiences alone, it's pretty obvious that the action show would do better than the horror one. How many horror shows out there do better than action ones? Not many, aye?
Next, the "But why?" factor. You know sometimes after you watch a movie, you talk about it with your friends and you ask questions like "But why did so and so do this and that?" Those movies are real thought provokers and all. Granted, yes, you probably don't get the whole thing from the start but after thinking about it you do and the movie hits you again several times after you leave the cinema. In my opinion, Silent Hill had more of this factor than Resident Evil. Sure, you and I questioned Resident Evil but I'm pretty sure I questioned Silent Hill even more. Heck, it made me sit down in front of my computer for hours reading through the game scripts and production info. (Did you know that the man who played the Janitor did Pyramid Head as well? And he wasn't allowed to wear underwear so they spray painted his butt cheeks? Hehe.)
Finally, rewatchability. You could watch Resident Evil countless times. For the action, for the kickass Milla Jovovich, for Heroes' sexy Ali Larter or just to jump repeatedly at your friends every time a zombie pops out from the dark. Sadly, you can't quite do that for Silent Hill. It was a downright scary mind screw few people would want to subject themselves to more than once and Radha Mitchell running down the street looking for her daughter is pretty much not as appealing as Milla slicing up the undead.
That said, I'd like to conclude that the article I read was a reasonably good one. I'm taking that it was based solely on monetary figures which I won't dispute. Quotes are from the article itself.
This ticks me off for so many reasons but the main ones surround Silent Hill. Let me tell you why.
Firstly, lets look at the target audience. Resident Evil is action and survival horror, open to those 16 years and above. On a scale, I'd say it's more action and less contemplatively scary. Silent Hill on the other hand would be pure survival horror. You had to be 18 to watch it when it came around and let's face it, it scared a few of us half to DEATH. If you look at just the audiences alone, it's pretty obvious that the action show would do better than the horror one. How many horror shows out there do better than action ones? Not many, aye?
Next, the "But why?" factor. You know sometimes after you watch a movie, you talk about it with your friends and you ask questions like "But why did so and so do this and that?" Those movies are real thought provokers and all. Granted, yes, you probably don't get the whole thing from the start but after thinking about it you do and the movie hits you again several times after you leave the cinema. In my opinion, Silent Hill had more of this factor than Resident Evil. Sure, you and I questioned Resident Evil but I'm pretty sure I questioned Silent Hill even more. Heck, it made me sit down in front of my computer for hours reading through the game scripts and production info. (Did you know that the man who played the Janitor did Pyramid Head as well? And he wasn't allowed to wear underwear so they spray painted his butt cheeks? Hehe.)
Finally, rewatchability. You could watch Resident Evil countless times. For the action, for the kickass Milla Jovovich, for Heroes' sexy Ali Larter or just to jump repeatedly at your friends every time a zombie pops out from the dark. Sadly, you can't quite do that for Silent Hill. It was a downright scary mind screw few people would want to subject themselves to more than once and Radha Mitchell running down the street looking for her daughter is pretty much not as appealing as Milla slicing up the undead.
That said, I'd like to conclude that the article I read was a reasonably good one. I'm taking that it was based solely on monetary figures which I won't dispute. Quotes are from the article itself.