Review of Silent Hill (2006) by Thequietgamer — 28 Aug 2014

Takes many aspects of the video game series, but sadly fails to capture the fear. That being said it's not bad and is definitely worth a look for any fan of the video games. They'll be the ones who will grin at all the references to the games like familiar locations, enemies, and characters. By far the best thing that was taken from the video game and applied to this movie is the soundtrack. Just like in the games it adds to the atmosphere and definitely takes the movie one step further to make it feel like it is Silent Hill.

As you might expect of a video game adaption many liberties were taken with the plot, which is loosely based on the first game. Despite an overall feeling of vagueness, which does clear up as it nears it's end, the plot is much more comprehensible than that of the first game, even if I didn't quite get the ending. Still fans will appreciate the many nods to the source material.

What ultimately hurts the movie is that it's just not scary. Meaning that while fans like myself will be eating up every little thing related to the game series, those unfamiliar with the source material will be left unimpressed and possibly bored. It tries hard to pull outsiders in, but this is a video game movie for the video game fans. Others might want to look elsewhere.

As it stands it's not a good horror movie, but it's good video game movie. One that will delight fans of the series. It's a great display of fan service for anyone familiar with the games, and they're the audience that should check this out. At the end of the day that's what a video game movie should do. Too often games are translated into movies that make mockeries of the games they're based on. Yeah, it might not be scary enough for most horror-movie buffs, but this is the first video game movie I've seen that actually comes pretty darn close to capturing the magic of the game and putting it on a DVD. IT's just a shame the scares aren't there. Still, as a huge fan of the game series I really enjoyed it, and I give it a 7.9/10.