Avert your eyes children!

Rating: 6/10 (22 April 2006)

Imagine if you will this situation: David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Dario Argento and Clive Barker all come together and do some bizarre sperm meld, they then fertilise with the egg of scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis and 9 months on a child is born. That child is brought up by a satanic cult. In then goes to film college and studies Russian expressionist cinema of the l940's and also Japanese and Italian horror. Then said child finds one of the dark lords home movies from the bowels of hell, he then brings it back to the surface and it disintegrates. Said child, now a young man had watched it while in the underworld though and decides to shoot his own version based of what he had seen. And there you have it Mr Christophe Gans born of fire and brimstone has re-created one of Satan's home movies, or at least that's what this film feels like. So critics naturally will hate this film because it's kind of warped and out there, and of course with the video game tag, they'd have made their mind up before even watching it. What many will fail to realise is that the Silent Hill games have a complex mythology, and some depth, it's not as Roger Ebert probably believes, something that the intellectually challenged will do, involving mindless hammering of buttons and blowing things up. Games have become quite intricate now, with some very filmic. Silent Hill was always a very filmic game and as such fans will appreciate this the most, while horror fans too will love the downright warped gruesomeness of this film. I'm not a big gamer and never really played SH much, but it's one I wanted to.
In some ways the fact that critics will generally hate this, makes it better for the genre fans the film is aiming for, because it means it's gone all out and hasn't held back. True to Gans' word he's made the film look just like the game and this film has an incredible attention to detail. The world of Silent hill has three dimensions, the real, the ghostly quiet covered in sooty fog, and the hellish version overcome by rank and rust and inhabited by evil creatures. It's at the start of the film that leads us into this strange world. Rose Da Silva's adopted daughter Sharon is ill, and suffers episodes of sleepwalking. The film open's with parental horror 101, with Rose and husband Christopher desperately searching in the darkness of their back yard for their daughter. Eventually she is found standing on a cliff edge about to jump, but is saved just in time. The young girl was adopted from an orphanage just outside of Silent Hill, and dreams of this place regularly, feeling inexorably drawn to it. Rose against her hubby's wishes takes Sharon for a kind of therapeutic walkabout. That's when the fun starts and when Gan's summons his memory of Satan's home movie.
While some critics have labelled the films plot nonsensical it's all pretty clear, in fact the few fuddys who had seen it before I went to view it myself have over-hyped the convolution and in the end I was expecting some Lynchian level of wha!? But no where close. Although there is plenty of Lynch coursing through this film, but mainly Cronenberg and Argento. If coming out the cinema feeling as if you've watched something you shouldn't have morally, and feeling like your eyes and ears have been abused by evil, then your gonna love this film. It seems some people went into this film intent not to listen, although in agreement the film is too long and some dialogue is whiffy.
Gans first and foremost does a great job. The film looks stunning. It's crisply shot and there's all range of tracking, crane, dolly shots that make the film feel fluid. Some of the shots are downright superb. Following the much enjoyed Crying Freeman and Brotherhood of the Wolf, with their beautifully shot antitheses to most mindless Hollywood action films, Gans will feel the critical burn for the first time with his first two films on the most part receiving positive reviews. However I think on this occasion the fans vote will be what matters. Similarly Dan Laustsen once again combines with Gan's to make something gorgeous but similarly disturbing and creepy. While the music comes from Akira Yamoaka who did it for the games. The music works superbly in this film and doesn't feel like a generic and boring horror score.
The cast are decent. Radha Mitchell is good as Rose, desperately searching for her daughter and she gives the movie a bit of heart. Elsewhere Laurie Holden is excellent as tough female cop Cybill. Also good support is added by a demented Alice Krige, and Kim Coates. Out of place somewhat is Sean Bean as Christopher. His character was certainly needed but still felt tacked in. The initial script didn't have him in and he was added at the studio's behest. Trouble is what could have been a 90 minute film is now a two hour film because of this, and while we needed that extra dimension and there were some interesting moments (such as Rose and Chris occupying the area in different dimensions and not seeing each other). Bean too gives his worst performance which is a shame cause he's always so reliable, but his American accent more than grates.
Overall though this is one of those films you need a bath and a prayer after watching. It's unique, but mostly won't be appreciated for being so, and it's plain creepy. My brother wants the much touted Nightmare on Elm Street remake to be done by Gans as he has done this film, with such a big scope and so damn out there and it would be great to see, rather than doing a plain old slasher re-make not nearly as good. ***1/2