Grinning from ear to ear...

Rating: 10/10 (15 August 2006)

I was a bit cheeky and decided to download a DVDRip of Silent Hill in my impatient anticipation of the Australian release of the film. I finally watched it last night and must say this is the best video game to movie transition I have seen. People who have played the games will most certainly recognize scenes/camera-work that is similar to the game. When Rose first ventures into Silent Hill and everything changes for the first time, it is scene for scene remade from the video game. The camera-work is the same, the events that occur are the same and the music is the same. As in the first game Sharon leaves clues lying around Silent Hill in the form of pages from her scrapbook which Rose must follow to find her. The movie is gleefully gory in small doses, as the film revolves more around Rose finding her daughter than the director trying to gross the viewers out. The movie is more of a horror/mystery than a full out horror film. There are scenes that cut back to Rose's husband trying to find both his wife and daughter and at the same time trying to unravel the mysteries of the ghost town, but never so many to make the viewer think, "come on, get back to Rose, her story is more interesting!" If you've never played the Silent Hill games, don't worry. You don't have to have played the games to know what's going on. If you have played the games, then you'll be grinning from ear to ear with the many references to the people, places and creatures that lurk within Silent Hill.
10/10