In a corner of a cavernous west Toronto warehouse, about a dozen people are sitting on folding chairs staring at side-by-side JVC television monitors. We’re on the set of the action-horror movie Silent Hill Revelation 3-D. The scene on the monitors, which is being filmed a few feet away, behind a partition, involves a bunch of objects, including a Styrofoam head, repeatedly falling off a shelf. Every few minutes, a buzzer sounds, signalling a new take.

Glamorous movie-making, this is not.

Among the spectators, observing with the calm and steady gaze of a visiting surgeon in an operating theatre, is Canadian producer Don Carmody, as casually dressed as one of his crew, brown hair falling over his square face.

If you’re thinking “small-time Canadian movie,” it’s time to change your mental lens. The first Silent Hill, released in 2006 and based on a video game, earned more than $100-million worldwide.