Silent Hill

Rating: R16 – Contains Horror Scenes & Violence.
Duration: 120 mins.
Genre: Horror.
Actors: Alice Krige, Kim Coates, Sean Bean, Radha Mitchell, Deborah Kara Unger, Laurie Holden, Jodelle Ferland, Tanya Allen.
Director: Christophe Gans.
Release Date: Available Now.

Having never played any of the Silent Hill video games I can’t comment on the transition to the big screen, but what I can say is that the film has some very good visual effects that look like they have been influenced by a game.

The movie revolves around Sharon, a child who has a dangerous habit of sleepwalking that is getting more and more dangerous. The one thing that keep reoccurring in these sleep walking episodes is the utterance form the little girl of Silent Hill.

Frustrated and obviously in conflict with her husband, Rose researches Silent Hill on Google (where else) and discovers that it’s an abandoned ghost town in the same county that their adopted sleepwalking daughter is from.

On a whim, borne out of desperation Rose decides to take Sharon on a road trip, without her husband’s knowledge.

On her way to Silent Hill however, Rose crashes her yuppie Jeep whilst avoiding a ghostly apparition on the road.

Knocked unconscious, Rose awakes only to discover that Sharon has disappeared and the weather had changed. What initially looks like snow, turns out to be a light blanket of falling ash.

Frantic, Rose runs towards the Ghost town, only to catch a glimpse of Sharon running down an alleyway. In pursuit, Rose gets lost in a system of dark tunnels and soon find herself surrounded by the burning, deformed children of the un-dead.

Just as we think Rose is done for, light returns to Silent Hill and the flesh hungry children of the dammed return to ash.

Rose has discovered that there are two realities in Silent Hill. The ash covered and relatively safe light, and the demonic controlled darkness. The darkness is heralded by the flight of animals or a wailing siren. The light by the evaporation of the demonic oppression.

Rose’s husband, Christopher, played by the often-underrated Sean Bean, is in hot pursuit with the uncanny knowledge that his wife and daughter are in mortal danger.

But alas, the community that surrounds the now abandoned Silent Hill are staying very silent – they don’t really like visitors. The local police chief however realises that he’ll have to show Christopher around the town before he can get rid of him. This brings with it the revelation that there is a third reality; the physical world is clear but raining.

Rose it would appear is trapped in a spiritual dimension, where good and evil duke it out in a spiritually physical realm.

These three completely different realities have their own very clear, and cleverly done visual clues and make it easy to follow what’s going on.

The spiritual dimensions are particularly well down, with visuals that are a pure delight to watch, as well as being damn right creepy.

The demonic horde are at times a little overdone for a non-gamer, but sit right at home for anyone who’s played any game with any type of ghoulish fiends. And the beauty is, that beside your brain telling you they don’t exist, they look so realistic that you don’t have any problem with them being as real as their human actor counterparts.

This coupled with some excellent set design make for a very compelling and believable supernatural thriller.

Radha Mitchell takes her role as a determined, back-against-the-wall Rose very seriously, and along with her uneasy side kick Cybil (Laurie Holden) provide some very credible acting that takes Silent Hill to a level rarely seen in the horror genre.

However, the big climax is rather cheesy and it’s reliance on CGI to bring the scene to life, takes what was looking like a cinematic masterpiece and relegates it to the top of a genre that isn’t taken seriously.

If horror or supernatural thriller is your thing, or you’re an avid gamer, then Silent Hill won’t disappoint. If you’ve been put off horrors etc because of bad acting/cheesy plot and effects then give Silent Hill a go, you’ll be pliantly surprised.

Food for thought:
Is there really a spiritual realm that offers life after death?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it. There’s a heap of special features I’m hanging out to explore, and another viewing is gaurenteed.