Directed by:
Christophe GansScreenplay:
Roger AvaryCinematography:
Dan LaustsenCast:
Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Jodelle Ferland, Kim Coates, Deborah Kara Unger, Alice Krige, Nicky Guadagni, Laurie Holden, Roberto Campanella, Stephen R. Hart (more)Plots(1)
Unable to accept the fact that her daughter is dying, Rose (Radha Mitchell) decides to take the girl to a faith healer. On the way, the pair drive through a portal in reality, leading to an eerie town called Silent Hill. The town is surrounded by a potent darkness, and the human survivors fight a losing battle against it. (Umbrella Entertainment)
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Reviews (10)
Silent Hill is a visually captivating horror flick, particularly in the first half. It draws all of its power from its impressive sets, sound and solid acting. However, the more it reveals what’s hidden, the more predictable it becomes in terms of content, which is constructed only for effect. That said, it is the clear winner among game adaptations such as Resident Evil and Doom. It is, after all, a solid top-tier production.
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In Silent Hill, Christophe Gans didn’t set off down a path to a regular horror movie and at the beginning it turns in the direction of a psychological drama about a mother and her adoptive daughter and only later shows us hell in the real sense. At last somebody has given up on traditional (dumb) frights and Silent Hill relies on the bizarreness of deformed people - creatures (the walking...um, acid-spitting blob, Pyramid Head and the nurses). But the main thing this movie has is ATMOSPHERE in block letters and in bold. And in addition we are given a chillingly intelligent story (especially the very end will resound in your head long after) and excellent acting performances (particularly Radha Mitchell is breathtaking). I hope that the horror genre turns more this direction in the future, because this movie had me pinned to my seat with fear and sometimes I was using just one eye to watch, ostensibly using the other to read the subtitles. And that’s what horrors are meant to be.
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I'm not a fan of computer games, I didn't like Resident Evil, and I couldn't even adapt in the two hours after passing the Welcome to Silent Hill sign. It’s obvious that the film has been handled by the most competent people in the field and its technical aspect in particular is great and scary, not to mention the oppressive atmosphere brought by the dead city covered with falling ashes. But nothing about this film as horror can make up for a bunch of holes in the story (which I still wouldn't have minded) or my purely personal problem, namely that I couldn't find my way to it and even dozed off slightly at one point (although it might have been because I was fresh out of a graduation party). Either way, this, which in many people's opinion is the best adaptation of a computer game, didn't impress me much and I don't see any reason to revisit it.
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Another proof that the world of PC games and the world of film are not yet very compatible. Gans brilliantly portrays the oppressive atmosphere of the game, but you can sense the leaning towards the mainstream and the resulting somewhat sterile portrayal of the horrors of darkness. The few digital boogeymen and the very decent gore didn't save it (but Pyramid Head was impressive despite the small space). They should have pushed the envelope more, throw out the boring storyline with the completely useless Sean Bean, which diluted the dense atmosphere of the film unnecessarily and did not solve anything, and above all to make the unraveling of the mystery more clear. It was too overcomplicated and chatty at the end. But Radha Mitchell was great.
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In audiovisual terms - excellent. Almost everything from the book was included here, although that is paradoxically the biggest negative about it, because this way Silent Hill the movie seems just like another part of the game where, however, there is no opportunity for interaction - we move from level to level up until the finale. Literally like watching somebody playing one of the episodes of “Silent Hill" the game. The screenplay isn’t one of the strongest ever written, but it works for this picture and the ending fits exceptionally well with the overall mood. The actors are also well-chosen and even the little girl is bearable. Overall this is more of an unusual experience than an actually good movie. If nothing else, Christophe Gans proved that movies based on games don’t necessarily have to be C-movies, but can even be B-movie standard.
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Photo © Sony Pictures Entertainment
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