Oh good… here comes another video game movie. Actually it’s a video game movie that has been trying to get off the ground for years now and it appears it’s finally moving forward (is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’ll leave that up to you to decide).
The man behind the first couple of “Saw” movies and in recent days flicks like “Death Sentence” and “Dead Silence”, James Wan, has just signed on to co-write and direct the feature film adaptation of the video game “Castlevania“.
The good folks over at Bloody Disgusting give us this:
James Wan, the co-mastermind behind the Saw franchise, and director of Dead Silence and Death Sentence, will be co-writing and directing Castlevania for producer Paul W.S. Anderson. Inside you’ll find a tid-bit from Wan about his forthcoming adaptation. Sylvain White was originally slated to direct. Castlevania is an adaptation of the popular NES game from the 80’s that has since become a massive video game franchise.
“I’m very fresh on this project, so its early stages and I’m still trying to work things out, but the producers love my vision for it,” James Wan tells Bloody-Disgusting in an exclusive chat. “I’ll be working on the script with a writer to give it a new spin, different to the previous versions. This will have my stamp on it which Konami is very excited about.
I’m not sure how to feel about this.
First of all… it’s a video game movie… and we all know that they ALL suck. No exceptions.
Secondly… James Wan. The first Saw was pretty good. I didn’t mind the second one at all. But wow… Dead Silence was all kinds of terrible, and despite how cool Death Sentence looked, it ended up disappointing most people… including me.
Yeah… not much hope for this one.
i really think the whole genre is irrelevent, it doesn’t matter what it is, it could be taken from a video game, novel, comics, 80’s cartoons/tv series, reboot-remake etc. if the story sucks it sucks. most video game adaptation to the big screen seems to suck, thats what people say about superhero movies at first, then along came Spider-Man and it change the perception of it. so i guess we just need that one movie to change the perception of vgma(video game movie adaptation). however, i have no idea about castlevania tho, it might be worst than VanHelsing for all we know lol
I for one like James Wan’s style and am looking forward to it. I don’t understand why people always expect a videogame movie to be this oscar winning affair. They’re based on a medium where it’s all about the visuals and activities, not compelling characters and thought poignant plotlines. When it does happen, it’s just a happy side effect. Good gracious people, they’re just movies.
If they make it look like the new Castlevania game that Kojima is doing. Then I will at least check it out.
If they make it look like Van Hellsing or Underworld I’ll pass. I’m not into gimmicky action movies based on monsters. Although Underworld wasn’t bad at all.
If I see a love interest or female character who does nothing but get in the way or is anything but someone in need of being rescued I will boycott the movie. Castlevania is about the lone hero on a quest of some sort in Dracula’s Castle. There are plenty of other characters they could fill the movie with to keep it interesting. Death being the main one that comes to mind. But if Kate Beckinsale accompanies the hero on his quest it will be more then irritating.
agree 100%
HOLLYWOOD PLEASE BREAK THE MOLD
You know lots of game/movie fans always says their favorite games have great stories. Take for instance Metal Gear. Sure the story was better than the games before it. But the pace of the game and story always needed some editing. Thirty mins of talking in a game should be a crime in my book. In anycase Castlevania only needs a good look/style, Belmonts with whips, holy water, crosses etc. Many monsters and a dame good actor for the Count.
As a game collector who owns most of the Castlevania games I can say that this series probably has one of the greatest storylines ever written for a game series and the music is also phenomenal and pretty much breathtaking! It COULD make a great SERIES of movies if properly adapted.
BUT, as great as the story seems to be for a GAME or even a book, I consider it to be VERY unfilmable… I mean, sure, it’s one thing to show the whole genesis of the Belmont Clan and explain in dramatic dialogs how they’ve come to be the ones to lead the struggle against Lord Dracula, but HOW do you convincingly show hours and hours of just ONE man exploring a castle and killing random monsters without the viewers getting bored to death?
This needs great care in the adapting process in order to be believable and watchable. With the proper writer and budget…it EASILY has the potential to become the best video game movie ever made…or the worst…
For a sample of the game’s great music visit my Playlist and listen to the last 5 tracks (first one is rather old). http://www.playlist.com/beyonder
“I consider it to be VERY unfilmable”
Probably an unfair comparison, but that’s what they said about Watchmen, and it turned out (IMO) to be really good. I’m interested in this one. Wan hasn’t really proved though that he can do much outside of horror. The thing he will always be known for is Saw. Unless this has potentail to be awesome?
ya well from all that i read so far the producers are retarded and did not really share the same goal as any die hard game maker and story writer….anderson is a joke and has gotten lucky a few times but reality is that he does not take the essence of his subjects….that bieng said and the fact that this guy says konami shares his vision?…wtf if konami cared they would drop every one involved in this project and wait for the right time for this to be made…as for the fanboy castlevania people saying this and that about the series…lets be real the series has had some of the worst events in gaming history when givin to people who where not long time admirers or fans of the series….all i can do is hope for the best yet i dont see this being any good .
He better just re-write the entire script. I read the old one and it was terrible.
This is one of those video games that could break the ‘all video game movies suck’ genre. The games have a fully detailed story and history and has enough characters to flesh out a good adventure/horror film. But that is most likely not going to happen. =b
This is one of those game franchises I have fond memories of playing. Here’s to hoping for a miracle.
I actually liked Death Sentence for the most part. The first Saw was great. I loathed Dead Silence.
As for Castlevania…my hopes aren’t much higher than the rest of you.
i have n hope what so ever
Im hopeful now that Paul SW Anderson has no part in this film. I love SAW and Dead Silence was ok. Never seen Death Sentence but its possible to be better than Max Payne. Anyway…In the game community Castlevania has a new game in the works with Hideo Kojima and company working close with developers. It can be said that its possible Wan could be working with Kojima-san to get a solid story going. For some that dont know Kojima is the man responsable for the Metal Gear saga.
“Never seen Death Sentence”
Its okay….it was good at the beginning, but it got boring really fast.
There have been a few exceptions w/ video game flicks(to me anyway), but I really don’t know how I feel about this. I played a demo version of one of the games and it seemed fun, but I don’t know how its gonna translate into a feature film.