I finally saw Silent Hill on Saturday. If you read this site much, you’ll know that I have been very excited about this movie. I’ve basically been waiting for this movie since I first played the game years ago on a borrowed Playstation. Since then, I’ve been a fan. Needless to say, my expectations for the film were unreasonably high. As such, I feared there was no way I would walk out of the theatre with any sense of satisfaction. So, did Silent Hill deliver? For the most part, yes.
The basic plot of Silent Hill is fairly straightforward. Sharon, adopted daughter of Rose and Chris Da Silva, has a problem. She walks in her sleep. One night she nearly leaps to her death while sleep walking. When Rose pulls her from the brink, Sharon screams the name of a town: Silent Hill. Under the protests of her husband, Rose decides to find the town of Silent Hill and discover its connection to her daughter.
Silent Hill, of course, is no ordinary town. Just outside Silent Hill, Rose and Sharon have a car accident. When Rose comes to, Sharon is gone. Now it is up to Rose to find her daughter and uncover the mysteries of Silent Hill. Not long after Rose enters the town, she is transported to a world of darkness. This world is characterized by metal, rust, and grime. Strange creatures roam about. Random viscera hang from chain link fences. This dimension of Silent Hill is hell on earth.
Silent Hill is naturally hard to explain. That’s almost the point. This unknown quality is what generates most of the fear. Frankly, it’s the one element of this movie that was absolutely perfect. The dark, gritty world of Silent Hill translates surprisingly well. The first trip to the “Dark” world is especially frightening and disorienting. Of course, the second trip introduces the audience to Pyramid Head—whom the filmmakers have dubbed “The Red Pyramid”. If you are unfamiliar with this abomination, I won’t spoil it for you. The other monsters are great as well.
As director, Christophe Gans was quite competent. I especially enjoyed his portrayal of the different dimensions of Silent Hill, making it very clear that they are seperate. Whether or not this is true in the game, it was a good fit for the movie. I applaud the decision to use real people to portray the monsters as well. There are no wholly computer generated baddies—except some scarab-like insects—in this movie. This results in all the monsters being more real—and more frightening. The dialog was adequate, though some of the cult scenes were a little over the top. Radha Mitchell was a good choice as the protagonist, Rose. Even though I’m getting tired of the Ring inspired creepy little girl character, Jodelle Ferland did a great job playing two different roles. Sean Bean, though his role was mostly illustrative, played his part well as he always does.
My major complaint with the film is the climax. I’m not a horror afficianado, but I felt that it was too gruesome, and frankly it didn’t fit the world of Silent Hill. The climax was basically gore for gore’s sake. That’s not something I enjoy, and I felt it was unnecessary. Implied suffering would have been much more effective in my humble opinion. It’s a small complaint, but the amount of gore really did bother me.
The ending, on the other hand, is perfectly suited to the world of Silent Hill. If you had to classify the denoument, it would probably be the “neutral” ending of one of the games. It’s not the “good” ending, but it’s not the “bad” ending either. The end of the film exemplifies what it does best: illustrating the vague, unknowing desperation of the characters. Silent Hill is not a horror movie—or even a thriller—in the traditional sense. There is no “good guy”, no hero. Everyone has flaws. This concept is what sets Silent Hill apart from games like Resident Evil, and this is perhaps what will make Silent Hill a difficult film for many people. Unfortunately, I’m probably unable to quantify what this film would be like for someone completely unfamilar with the games. For the most part, however, the film does the game justice, and that is all I could have wished.
I’m really glad you liked it, and if I had been a more avid fan of the game I may have myself, but for me it just felt like such wasted potential. The story allows for free reign over the imagination, which is a rare trait in horror films which are usually confined to some degree of ‘the real world’, but Avary’s script kept undermining that, never letting it completely lose it (so to speak.)
It’s worth seeing just for the visuals alone, but I just can’t get over how much the script handicapped the rest of the film. :-\
That’s a good point. They could have done more with the “dark” world.
If you have the time, I’d suggest playing the games. At least the first two. You’ll spend plenty of time in the “dark” world. Scares the bejesus out of me.