The best standalone video game adaptation to date

Rating: 8/10 (27 April 2006)

This was a good movie. After reading reviews talking about how confusing the plot was, I am beginning to wonder about the intelligence of those viewers. Really, I don't think it boiled down to intelligence as it did willingness to pay attention. If a person of average intelligence were to pay attention to the whole movie, they would have understood the core narrative, with the exception of the last 10 minutes of the film (but horror movies are supposed to end enigmatically, aren't they?) The Sets and costumes (yes, they were costumes...) were incredible, the acting of Rose and Christopher was great, and Sharon / Alessa was mostly good (except for that "Silent Hiiiiiill!" part at the beginning) and the monsters were incredible. I especially loved the Grey Children. That introduction to the town was bliss.
Now, what people may have trouble understanding is the logic to the dark world. That's just it. There is none. It's a nightmare. If you recall, Alessa said she would put everyone into her nightmare, so it has dream logic because she pulled them into her dream. Plain and simple. The logic to the events? While Alessa's power is never completely explained, she basically split into 3 parts (her real self in the bed, the "demon", and Sharon, which was her good half) She wanted to preserve herself, so she let the part of her that wasn't filled with hate become a child again. Of course, this is all SAID in the film, but people tend to ignore it.
One big complaint is that, unlike the games, they explain pretty much everything. This is not nearly as enigmatic as the games, and yet people were still confused. That boggles my mind.
Now, this wasn't scary. A lot of horror fans went into this wanting to be scared. Don't think of this as a horror movie. Think of it as a supernatural fantasy adventure movie with a Horror motif. If your only desire is to be scared, you'll be disappointed. If you want to experience a great movie with incredible scenery, a good simple fantasy plot (if you actually pay attention, and the best imagery of a nightmare (since when are those abstract nightmares scary in the retelling? Almost never) you'll find in any movie, watch Silent Hill.