Review of Silent Hill (2006) by Adam K — 04 Dec 2013

As a huge fan of the game series I was very VERY wary of this film. Would they ruin something I truly love? The answer is yes, they did; but they did manage to make something half decent.

As a film itself it isn't that bad, reasonable with its moments I'd say; and it does try to stay true to the game. There is just a few problems which looses it:

First of all the story, in the game the story is truly magnificent wrapped up in scores of mythology. The film tries to use this but confuses itself.

Second the atmosphere, possibly the best part of the game. The brilliant thing about Silent Hill is that absolutely nothing can happen and it will scare the life out of you far more than any scare tactics. The film misses this fact and suffers from Americanisation in that it tries to make you jump or shock you with gore.

Thirdly Sean Beans character, utterly pointless. The whole idea is that you follow a sole person on an unrelenting journey of horror, to the point where your nerves are shot but you must carry on. This side-plot distracts from that.

Finally the use of pyramid head, I'm guessing this was just the PR's attempt to use this now cult character that they just threw him in. He just didn't have the menace as he did in the games and the whole him being controlled thing, not good!

Besides these points and more the film stands alone as being quite good. The Sean Bean side plot is still pointless but Radha Mitchell does a very good job of portraying a desperate mother caught up up in a horrific world. Visually it's very impressive and graphically disturbing at times.

I did enjoy this film, even as a fan of the games. People who don't know the games may struggle to understand what's going on as it does help to view this with a "Silent Hill mindset"; the problem with this film is that it misses on several levels to become what it's trying to be.