Silent Hill

***SPOILERS***

















I never played the Silent Hill video game, and maybe I would appreciate this movie more if I had, but I would give this movie about a 1 out of 5. When the movie ends and about 20 strangers stand in the theatre lobby for 10 minutes afterwards trying to figure out what the heck just happened, you know something is wrong. As far as i can tell, this movie is about a group of religious fanatic ghost people (or something) who are forced to live in hell because they burned a little girl who they thought was sinful. The girl survives the burning, and makes a deal with the devil (or something) so that the people who burned her are forced to live in hell. Only they arent really in hell, they are still in their town of Silent Hill, and anybody who goes to Silent Hill has to join them in hell (or something). And somewhere along the line the girl who was burned has a daughter, only the daughter has a twin that is actually the devil (or something).
So yeah, if you are someone who likes movies with a coherent plot, stay away from this one. My other complaint about this movie was that the dialogue is beyond laughable. It sounds like the kind of cheesy, poorly executed dialogue you would expect from a video game. There is at least one unintentionally funny line every 10 minutes, which pretty much kills any chance the movie may have had of being scary. There may have actually been a few scary moments, and I just couldnt see or hear them through the laughter.
The 1 point that the movie does get is for atmosphere, because there is certainly plenty of that. In a few scenes, Silent Hill melts away to reveal hell (?) underneath, and these scenes are done fairly well (think of the images of hell from Constantine, because they arent much different).
The creatures that inhabit this world, although also having the feel of being directly lifted from a video game (a blob in the shape of a person that shoots acid from its chest) offer up a few BOO! moments. By far the best scene in the movie comes right at the end, when Burned Girl (i was too busy trying to figure out the plot to remember character names) takes revenge on the religious ghost people. This is the only time in the movie when there is enough blood and guts to make you forget that you have no idea what is actually going on and allows you to just sit back and enjoy the carnage.
I guess i would only recommed this movie if you are a big fan of the video game. There isnt enough bodily fluids to satisfy the gorehounds, and not much else to entertain the rest of us. If you like your movies with good dialogue, sharp writing, a decent plot, or characters that you actually care about, skip this.

Well, being a fan of the series I have a much different take on this movie. I'm not sure what was so confusing for you about the movie, perhaps you missed the notion that Silent Hill is representative of purgatory.

The dialogue is hard to watch in the opening scenes and the little girl is especially bad at acting, but the focal point of this movie is the directing which was done fantastically. When the mother enters Silent Hill it immediately becomes a run and gun terror.The siren sounds were eerie and the backdrops were very true to the game. The CGI sucked mostly as per usual in movies these days. The scenes with Pyramid Head were short but intense and the final bloodbath scene was sheer insanity.

It's not without its plotholes and quarks, but it's still interesting enough to contemplate and loads of fun to watch.

7/10

I got lucky and was personally able to enjoy it, I concede that there were moments of painful line recital, and a somewhat unsatisifying ending, but the imagery, mood, and finally some fresh death scenes were the hearts of this movies success for me.

All the nods to the video game and the gamers who played it are indeed plusses for those who experienced them. Even the town maps, camera angles, and of course music were plucked directly from fond memories.

But something I really liked as well was the representation of the town's dirty secrets, the corruption of the minds of a people lost in their "faith", the witch hunts of the past are lessons that should never be forgotten, it should act as a sobering reminder to those who would judge in fear, especially in fear of their god.

More than just fear, this movie's intensity came from hate and anger, some didn't care about the main characters as much as a movie should demand, but the Female Cop and Alessa were so wronged that it could easily be made up for.

I'll keep this vague for spoilers sake, but the death scene with Pyramid Head on the chruch steps, that was freakin awsome.