Silent Hill
Movie Review
"Silent Hill"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: C-
Rating: R
Released: Friday, April 21, 2006
Directed by:
Cast:
First things first: Why in the name of Sony Playstation is "Silent Hill" 127 minutes long? Cheap, nearly plot-less horror movies based on video games should be 100 minutes AT THE MOST. Cracking the two-hour mark does not endear you to anyone, especially if you're going to fill those two hours with nothing but repetition and chaos.
Now then. Written by Tarantino associate Roger Avary and directed by Christophe Gans (of the admirably over-the-top cult hit "Brotherhood of the Wolf"), "Silent Hill" has a pedigree better than most game adaptations, and I jotted in my notes that it starts off with an air of respectability, even legitimacy. There is no before-the-credits opening slaughter, and we're 20 minutes in before anyone even gets attacked by mutants! What is this, a Merchant-Ivory production?!
The mutants, when they do arrive, are on the heels of Rose De Silva (Radha Mitchell), who is searching the West Virginia ghost town of Silent Hill for her 9-year-old daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland). Once a mining village, Silent Hill shut down in 1974 after an accident, and a coal fire still burns below the ground, filling the air with ashes and soot. Rose and Sharon came here because the child keeps having nightmares about the place, but a car accident on the way knocked Rose unconscious. When she woke up, Sharon was gone, apparently lost within the town itself.
Rose's husband, Christopher (Sean Bean), was opposed to the idea of visiting a dead town that his daughter has nightmares about (seems like a no-brainer, really), but Rose took off without telling him. He has several scenes with unhelpful police officers as he tries to locate his wife and daughter. You could remove every one of those scenes without losing any of the story, while cutting probably 10 minutes off the running time. (I'm just sayin'.)
In the town, Rose wanders from one dusty, dilapidated building to the next, yelling "Sharon!" a lot and looking intense and frantic (and, occasionally, blood-spattered). She encounters a sexy leather-clad motorcycle cop (Laurie Holden) who alternates between helping and hindering her, and they both meet various zombie nurses (I think), burning mutant children (I think) and, finally, a Christian cult of zealots who like to call heretics "witches" and set them on fire.
(By the way, it is impossible to see an angry mob yell "Witch!" and "Burn her!" without 1) thinking of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and 2) laughing.)
These neo-puritans hold the key to all of Silent Hill's spooky goings-on, and it is eventually explained -- that is to say, someone tells the whole story. It doesn't make any sense, and it doesn't justify all the random eeriness that has preceded it, nor does it excuse what comes after. But the movie considers it an explanation, and the characters seem satisfied with it, so I guess that's enough. Maybe you had to be there, i.e., actually IN the movie.
It is paradoxical that while the film begins so non-graphically, it ends in exactly the opposite manner, with possessed barbed wire emerging from the floor to rip apart, dissect and generally eviscerate everyone in its path. It does this in full view of poor little Sharon -- CLASSY, movie. Classy.
Gans can evoke atmosphere like nobody's business, and I do admire the way he hints at Christopher's investigation and Rose's search for Sharon being in different dimensions (or something), with his scenes being sunny and hers overcast. I would admire it a lot more, however, if it amounted to something scary, creepy or original.
Note: I'm told that if you are intimately familiar with the "Silent Hill" video game, the film makes a lot more sense. That may be true. But sensical or not, it would still be repetitive and dull. SO THERE.
Grade: C-
Rated R, some harsh profanity, some very graphic gory violence
2 hrs., 7 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 7 comments
January 1, 2007 at 3:13 pm
(Long-time reader, first time responding. Big fan of your reviews.)
Supposedly, a lot of the scenes with Sean Bean (in the "true" Silent Hill) really ARE utterly superfluous, added at the demands of the money-people. (Eric probably knows this by now, actually....) The article I read said their response to intial screenings was "There are no men!" and then the apparently-extraneous scenes were shot. Of course there's no telling if such is true, but it certainly makes sense, as it FEELS like those scenes were added in as padding.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie, as I am indeed a huge fan of the Silent Hill games (as well as a gorehound in general), but I definitely concur the movie needed some trimming precisely where it was noted above.
January 1, 2007 at 6:03 pm
I heard the same thing as Brad. That said, my friends and I are fairly familiar with the stories of the series and we all thought this movie SUCKED. Basically seemed like they tried to combine all the stories together in one big mess. And this is coming from someone who thinks the Resident Evil movies are rather enjoyable.
November 22, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I have to say they totally friggin ruined the movie game wise. In all transferences of game to movie I've never seen such an [terrible thing]. I seriously was confounded by how they had to make it so dreadful. First off, there was no 'mob' or 'crowd' or anything like that. The spookiness of silent hill was emphasized in how dreadfully alone the main character was. I don't care how much of it they were trying to combine, it could have worked if they really tried. They didn't try to do half of what they could've to make it a good movie. The things they changed were what gave the movie some of it's spark.
January 13, 2008 at 4:08 am
This was, no lie, the worst effing movie i've ever seen. It made no sense, and those stupid monsters were ridiculous. At one point (*spoiler*) this thing with a metal triangle on it's head comes and rips this girl's skin off for no reason. This is never explained or mentioned again and this monster thing is never seen again. WTF?!?!
March 31, 2008 at 8:27 am
That monster (Pyramid Head for fans of the game series) was taken from the second game in the series and was probably put in there as fanservice. It actually makes less sense if you've played the game though,
[spoilers ahead]
because Pyramid Head was a manifestation from the protagonist's consciousness and didn't appear to anyone else. Really, I suppose they just cribbed the design from the game and otherwise it doesn't have any relation to that Pyramid Head, but it's no excuse for shoehorning him in to appeal to the Silent Hill fanbase.
If they wanted to make a good movie they should have based it off of the second game, instead of being an alternate version of the first where the worst parts of the story (ie. the cult) are even more prominent.
I will say one good thing though: alternate Silent Hill (the nasty one where the walls peel off and everything is brown) was really well done and true to the games. I fear this is the one time the phrase "true to the games" isn't meant in a derogatory sense, but hey.
June 10, 2008 at 3:09 am
ok i liked this movie a lot, purely because it scared the jeebus out of me! but theres one thing i dont get. How come at the end of the movie when sharon and rose return to their house, they are still in that creepy foggy atmosphere and cant see their husband who is still in the same house, but not in that haunting foggy setting?
i thought everything went back to normal? but why cant they see each other in the house and why do they keep living in two seperate settings in the same house? talking about settings and visuals i must say they were impressive. the cinematography and the graphics were creepy and successfully set that spooky mood! The religious fanatics added an even more scary mood to the already creepy atmosphere!
i thank anyone who can help me to understand the one thing i didnt get at the end!
what a fantastic movie adaption of the creepy game!
September 17, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I liked the movie. I never knew there was a video game. I guess I live under a rock. I'm confused about exactly what was "Alisa" in the end with all those vines and stuff? And how did she end up in the basement of the hotel when that policeman took her to the hospital?
And the ending left it open. What happened to all those people "fanatics" after Rose and "Alisa" killed the fanatic leaders? Or was this done so there will be a sequel.