[thumb:6:l]That’s right. I saw it. Saturday night. Found myself buddy-less and without any to hang with so I took my mom to the movies since my father was busy. And you know what? I enjoyed the damn movie. I really did. So if you want to read a review click the link and I’ll tell you what I think about this chick flick I willingly saw. 
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[thumb:20:l]As I said earlier, I saw Silent Hill last saturday.
Since the movie released, even before I saw it, I’ve heard extremely mixed reviews about it. Mainly this: Movie critics hated it, Fans loved it. Usually it’s vice versa or both think it sucks but this senario left me only wanting to see it more. I’ve been a fan of the video game series since the original debuted on Playstaion so regardless, my ass was guaranteed to be in a theater seat.
Changing History
Movies based on video game are notorious for horrible story lines (Super Mario Brothers: The Movie, Street Fighter, Double Dragon, etc.). Only recently with game based movies like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil has this genre finally been given an acceptable critique. Unfortunately still, like the bad ones, these films didn’t follow the story lines of the games closely, if at all. A lot of this has to do with the fact that the developers of the game have little to do with the filming process. Most times, the rights to make the film are sold off and studio writers whom have no experience with the actual game, jack up the story to be accepted by a general audience. This scenario has little chance to work because what made the game succeed will of course be what makes a movie adaption of it succeed.
Silent Hill finally breaks this tradition by allowing fans of the series to write and direct the film. Christophe Gans and Roger Avary, in many interviews, have been quoted as saying they are huge fanatics of the series and with video games in general. This alone helped ease worries that Silent Hill would fall into the “Bad Video Game Adaptions” category.
The Story: Similarities
The movie closely follows events of Silent Hill 1 with many aspects that encompass Silent Hill 2 to create a respectable adaption. Rose’s daughter Sharon begins to prophesize about a place called Silent Hill to dangerous degrees. In an effort to find an answer, she takes her to the abandoned town but crashes just before the town’s limits. When Rose awakens, Sharon is gone and the world she once knew is now the hell that has engulfed this mining town.
Just as the game plays, Rose walks into the white ash covered town as it snows from above to see what looks like her daughter running ahead in the distance. Running after her, she begins to follow some of the same back allies and caged areas remembered from the game, all the way up to the scene where she loses her daughters sight and finds a man strung up to the fence, murdered in crucifixion stance, and is then surrounded and overpowered by what seems like children from hell.
The Story: Differences
As the movie continues, many of the same places and scenarios from the games play out, even in the order they were originally contrived. Among this were the subtle differences and the main story line which made it unique. Throughout the story, many things were explained that took much time to find out or weren’t explained at all in the original game, such as the connection of her daughter to the town, the history behind Silent Hill, and even the falling ash. Much of what made Silent Hill in the past so compellingly creepy was it’s total mystery and unexplainable events. This, folks, is the line where Silent Hill’s story line could have been great and begins to fail.
The Bathroom scene from the games is a famous one towards fans where the main character, upon inspecting the stalls, comes across a horribly mangled person strung together with barbed wire. This wasn’t a major event in the game but in the movie, it’s used for Rose to find a hotel tag in it’s mouth. I mainly find this absurd because from what she pulled out, that broken piece of wood looked like anything but what could have been a key tag, let alone one for a hotel. Beyond that, she somehow knew that she would find her daughter there and the story just progressed on without any question as to why she’d assume this. The same happened for her thinking she was at the school. I understand in a game, you are left with little option when progressing it’s story along and that most of the time these answers, which can take much longer in a game, need to be shortened down for a movie’s sake. However, most of the time, the game’s main character revolves around logical reasoning, even if it’s absurd. There was little logic involved in many of the decisions that progressed the films story along and that easily could leave it’s viewers less interested in what happens next.
The Acting.. The Horrible Horrible Acting..
Besides certain shortcuts in the story, the acting is another low point. This is something I had trouble accepting seeing as how some of the actors are known for some previously great top billing. Here’s a quick example of the top 3 billed:
Radha Mitchell (Rose) - Man On Fire, Finding Neverland
Laurie Holden (Cybil Bennett) - The Majestic, The X-Files (TV)
Sean Bean (Christopher Da Silva) - National Treasure, The Lord of the Rings I II and III
With this in mind… what’s up with the acting? Well, one thing I do know is that even with the highest billed, seasoned actors, sometimes a large amount of takes are required to get the scene just right. In Silent Hill, it seems that scenes were accepted with maybe only 4 takes max. This could be on the head of the director (this being only his 5th film) or it could be on the side of production rushing the film for release. Either way, many of the scenes seem unacceptable and it’s amazing they were sent to print at all.It’s Savoir: The Special Effects
Besides the fan base, what really saved this movie was the special effects used. Drawing yet another comparison to previous video game films, a majority of the time, the sets, char actors, and special effects used look more like an “inspired by” creation, leaving most fans wondering why the initial design and style was scraped. Like the story line, Silent Hill stays true; Very true in fact. So true, it’s hard to believe you’re really seeing what you’re seeing.
From Cybil Bennett’s uniform to the immense presence Red Pyramid gives off, each character, whether human or creature, fit perfectly and exactly. Some of the creatures were incredibly brought to life and some so creepy, it really could make you cringe quite a bit (some say the nurse scene, I say the burning children in the beginning). The special effects that accompanied the creatures were the topping. From the crying children to each and every metallic scrap in Silent Hill’s underworld, it really left the viewer feeling very alone in the dark theater; Something very hard for a horror movie to do. If it wasn’t for the acting, it would have been a very constant and complete feeling.
One amazing fact about the films effects was the amount of CGI used… which is very little. That’s right, the majority of everything you’ll see on the screen was latex costume or animatronics. The little CGI used was said to only be some final polishing effects on some of the creatures and in the final scene. It also said it was used for the falling ash in the streets but after seeing some of the behind-the-scenes shots, it looks like it was there all along. Maybe it was only used for large scale falling ash? Regardless of that It’s quite amazing, especially seeing the sheer size of some of the sets used and the graphic nature of these effects.
OMGWTFBBQLOL?!!1
Speaking of graphic nature, some of the scenes in this movie aren’t for everyone. Yes, the majority of the movie can be pretty well excepted with a high level of creepiness but there were a few scenes that left people in cringing disgust. Particularly a scene where *_BLANK_* is burned alive. This was one long, solid shot of skin blistering up, peeling back and eventually catching fire. This coupled with scenes of people being bound and ripped apart by barbed wire, children screaming, blackened and burning alive, and the now famous scene where Red Pyramid rips the skin off a woman… let’s just say it’s not exactly a Disney film.
Overall
Just like the initial reviews confused me with ups and downs, my review has them too. Movie critics are like robots; regardless of the origin of the film, they’re still going to judge on the essentials like plot, dialogue, acting, cinematography, direction, special effects, and appeal. Given the fact that this movie only has pluses in two, maybe three of these categories for mainstream audiences, it’s a no-brainier why it got bad reviews.
On the other end, the majority of the people seeing this movie are 1) fans of the series, and 2) fans of horror films. This movie was made by a fan for the fans and it’s obvious from it’s direct scenario references to the spot-on detail in the graphics. One of the shortcomings of adaptions in the past has always been their inability to stick with the stories that made the games great. This on the other hand stuck so close to the story that major events needed to be shortened to fit a reasonable time frame. This took a toll on the story and eventually the flow of the plot. While this is a major downfall for critics, it doesn’t phase the fan much because of how much tribute has already gone into the film. As for the acting, we as gamers are very used to sub-par performances. We’ve taught ourselves to live with it in the games, so we are probably more tolerant of it in their film adaptions (most of the time). Although it wasn’t superb, it was obvious that scenes were accepted early before they could be polished to fit perfectly and in turn, it’s forgivable.
To put it as simply as possible:
If you’re a fan of the series or of the survival horror genre, go see it. Well worth the 9 bucks, multiple times.
If your a gamer in general or a horror fan, at the very least check out the matinee (before 4PM) for 1/2 price. It’s a worthy watch, even with all it’s downfalls.
If you’re none of the above, keep walking. This isn’t your cup of tea and it probably never will be.
Direction: 6
Story line: 6
Acting: 4
Sound Effects: 10
Visual Effects: 9
General Appeal: 2
Tilt- Fan Service: 9OVERALL: 6.5
The Review Zoo