Silent Hill (DVD, 2006, Widescreen Edition)

I am a gamer who has played through the first 3 Silent Hill games that concern the visuals and plot within this moive. With that in mind, I can say that only the part where Rose (Radha Mitchell) first enters the town and chases the girl into the alleyway is exactly true to the first game. When I recognized the alleyway (from the same exact camera angles as in the game, bravo!) and knew that "the darkness" was coming, I literally got the same chills when I heard that air siren sound as when I first played the game! Unfourtunatley, this was the only clearly recognizable scene from the games, as the whole rest of the moive is a sloppy mismash of areas, monsters and plots from mostly the first and third games (note: the first is the beginning of the true mythology and the third is the direct sequel to that story, NOT the second game!). Most core elements of the first game's plot are used but some are reversed. For instance in the first game Dahlia is the villian, having knowingly burned her child Alessa and then forcibly possessing her with the soul of a powerful demon. In the movie that is totally changed as Dahlia is portrayed as a victim of the cult group that burned the girls. This cult, led by the fanatic Claudia, is part of the third game's plot which concerns the then teenage Alessa (real name is Cheryl being the same girl as in the first game) This strange hybrid of plots from two games really destroys any comprehension for the non-gamer and is a real letdown for the gamers who hoped to see the original plot transformed into a movie. The only bonus from this style is that music form all three games was used for the soundtrack (VERY cool!) and the cool monsters form the second game, like the spitting thing and Pyramid Head, are included, which if they had directly followed the first game couldn't have been there. I still think for the sake of a intelligent, coherent plot (which is a big part of what makes the games so interesting) that this "experimental" style of scripting should have given way to either a direct version of the first game or at least a condensed version of the entire plot from games one and three. I understand that the crew must have been stoked that Konami let them have such free liscense with all the various plots and monsters, but trying to use every plot and every monster from three games in one approx 2 hour moive can only lead to the result we got here: confusion. The graphics of the alternate reality were AWESOME, so I know they had the technical ability to take on any of the scences from the complete plots of the first or third game, and so could have really made the game into a big screen movie w/o compromising any details. As for some of the scripted diolague, I agree some of it was stilted at times, but I blame that mainly on the person who wrote this cut and paste script, NOT the actors. Anyone who has seen Pitch Black and the first two Lord of the Rings movies knows that Radha Mitchell and Sean Bean are great actors, capable of any role handed to them. One other thing that was true to the games was the use of sudden, viscreal violence and realistic gore instead of constant blood and guts. The bloody action has the effect it is meant to, to startle and disturb rather than to try and just gross us out. So overall, top marks for the corect use of violence and surreal imagery and for the actors who were victims of a poor script, and for the use of almost 100% game music for the soundtrack!

Silent Hill gets an average rating for its numerous plot holes and unanswered questions. Taking horror movies for what they are you can't really ask too much of them in the way of rational thought, BUT.. you can at least expect them to make some kind of sense. Silent Hill leaves a lot to stuff for you to just "Judge Ito" and forget about - keep right on going. The acting is bland and quite shallow too. Because of these things, the movie only gets an average rating. There are just too many questions.

What makes Silent Hill something to remember is its the fantastic scenery of a the ghost town Silent Hill, West Virginia. The scenes are definitely spooky, and they keep you locked into the mystery of the movie. Not only is the scenery in the city spooky, but so is when the "paint" is peeled back from every corner and crevis revealing an AWSOME portrayal of Hell. Woah, some of these images are downright gruesome! If you have never imagined or dreamt of the pit downstairs, this could be kinda close to it. These images are not for the kiddos, or sensitive adults.

As far as I've read, the movie sticks pretty close to the video game, and even without playing it you can tell that it was derived from a game of some sort. I want to give the movie a bette rating because of its awsome imagery, but I can't just because of its numerous plot holes, unanswered questions and a slim story line. Why does everything fall back to religious fanatics? And why does the protagonist overlook (and accept into her) the evil of the enemy to defeat the religious fanatics? I guess just like the Nazi's, everyone wants to see them get their due. And the witch had her daughter, so I guess she had to appease the witch to get her daughter back, but it didn't look like she was appeasing her. And what about the bird in the cage? .. AAAAAAGGGHHH!! I'm thinking about this too much!!! See what this movie does to you? Ha ha, Enjoy!

SOME BOZO said this was NOT helpful based on another review (The Hills Have Eyes) This has NOTHING to do with this! And I NEVER and WON'T provide SPOILERS! So that is how I conduct my reviews! So THERE! OK, Sorry about that for the rest of you, but with all that said...Here's the review for Silent Hill...

I have to hand it to Canada. Real smart folks in the horror movie world. Silent Hill puts them ahead (over hollywood) by a (bloody) nose. What Our Northern neighbors are doing in horror (that Hollywood isn't) is dumping the premium dollars into story line, special effect, costume, etc... NO CHEAP stuff! What they do to subsidize the cost is get 'High quality' acting and a cast without the necessarily 'designer' big names. Good talent but reasonable to budget and the actors REALLY want to do it!! That's what made Silent Hill awesome. Just review the commentary on the making of the film (extras) you'll see what I mean. Hey, Sarah Michelle Gellar could have played the lead role easy. It also would have cost the film an extra 10 million dollars! there goes the profit, the effects, the rest of cast, design. There goes a good horror. Nothing against the Hollywood superstars, but in Horror, we need to be lenient. LOWER YOUR acting PRICE! Did 'The Grudge' really sell that much?? NO. OK, I am NOT into the game of Silent Hill, so I only know the movie. It was great! Story, acting, cast, effects, it's got it all. Canada has my respect. They're on to something. I am also looking into all 4 games out on Silent Hill! This is probably music to the game company's ears (-: BUY the DVD!
David

Not knowing anything about the movie, I purchased this DVD because of it's graphic front cover design. However, it turned out not to be such a bad buy. The widescreen version is really great coverage display for your screen.
The movie started off strange, at first I was totally lost because I had not the slighest idea what this movie was going to be about. But as I continued to watch, it became more interesting. It's one of those movies, where you really need to watch of it to understand the story.This dark and grisly horror-fest is nothing if not a triumph of cinematography and production design, consisting of a minimal and mostly incoherent plot propped up by a mysterious maze of sets that literally seep, drip, and ooze with the atmospheric evil of past misdeeds. Welcome to the abandoned and perpetually foggy ghost town of Silent Hill, where grey ash falls like snow, a devastating coal-mine fire still burns in a hellish underground, and demons of various shapes and sizes make your worst nightmares seem like a walk in the park. GOOD BUY!

Silent Hill is the best game-to-movie adaptation there is - no doubt about it. Other people will tell you how different it was from the game, when Konami themselves had a hand in developing this. You will also read how "confusing" it is; if you honestly can't think and watch a movie at the same time, you shouldn't be allowed to review anything. Finally, the actual video game reviewers, such as Playstation's Joe Scalzi, will tell you that the acting and script is subpar. I'll give him that, since the little girl Alessa doesn't carry much emotion in her voice, but Sean Bean and Radha Mitchell more than compensated for it.

Now, for the meat of this review - the movie. It is a good movie that stays true to its roots in the horror genre. While it's not the best horror movie I've seen, it's the best I've seen in the past few years. The eerie "fog and static" atmosphere is constantly in effect, and the multitude of monsters are all pretty frightening, especially the two towards the end. The gist of the terror for me came at the end, when I deciphered the movie's message. This movie doesn't use excessive violence on the main protagonist's part, and I appreciate that. The casting was great, even though Radha Mitchell's character was a brunette in the game. I would have liked it more had there been more clues to figure out as the movie progressed, instead of the plot bombardment you experience towards the end.

Silent Hill is the best game-to-movie adaptation there is. If you're looking for a movie based on a game that stays true to it in every aspect, look no further. As a regular horror movie, it is still pretty good, but it somehow lacks dramatic flair in the spoken dialogue. It consistently retains a bone-chilling atmosphere, especially at night. I would still suggest you buy it despite its few flaws, unless you enjoy mindlessly staring at your television.