Best one yet

Rating: 8/10 (21 April 2006)

Few horror films have ever left me anything other than bored. In a genre mainly progressed by developments in special effects, allowing for more visually vivid forms of evisceration and mutilation, something was generally missing: involvement in the characters plight. What if I was there? What could and would I do in that situation?
Then I played Silent Hill. A defining moment in my long history of gaming, one which manifested the dread, anticipation and raw fear I'd expected ever since playing Haunted House on the Atari 2600. What if I was there? What if I woke up in Silent Hill and had to face everything encountered by my game avatar - I'd have bloody well shot myself. Game Over.
So does the film bring the same sense of dread and terror no and yes. Not that it's a fault of the direction, script or acting but I just couldn't get too involved with the lead character, perhaps it's a gender issue or my lack of paternal instinct but I just didn't see the world through the eyes of Rose Da Silva or relate to her motivations.
The story is closest to the original game, drawing visual elements from throughout the series, most notably the foreboding character of Pyramid Head. It may be my cynicism but this inclusion seems like an attempt at crowd pleasing, none of the themes or purpose of the character being relevant to the plot. Still, the arbitrary incorporation of the knife wielding leviathan as a somewhat minor henchman didn't detract from the movie, it just didn't add to it as he would as a central character.
The 'world' of Silent Hill is beautiful in its corrupted splendour, so faithful to the game it'll have fans raising a smile as they recognise scenarios they've played through. The transitions between the light and dark versions of the town are superb, the artificiality akin to CG doesn't hinder, you can almost taste the rust and ash, smell the decay and rot. It's as good as it could ever have been.
S.H. purists will probably have a few gripes about missing plot points and the lack of certain 'creatures', sometimes we're handed exposition on a buffet size plate, especially in the "Idiots Guide To Why This All Happened" segment, yet I didn't find it to be of detriment to my overall enjoyment of the storytelling and perhaps it's essential for the casual cinema goer who's not fully versed the towns mythology.
I certainly applaud Roger Avary for many of his decisions in the direction the script takes. It's rare to see a movie with such a predominantly female cast, especially in horror where women are normally reserved for T&A shots or slaughter fodder, the male characters barely garner ten minutes of screen time and are rather ineffectual. I was also surprised that the "Reason This All Happened" was true to the original, as the core to why the game is genuinely disturbing I thought it may be considered too strong for the mainstream movie investor. Embellishments to the games outline also kicked against the pricks of conventional Hollywood, especially one event I considered very brave which left me cold and taken aback.
Perhaps it's a testament to the original story, perhaps its down to a well written script comprised of both homage and original elements, perhaps it's the well executed CG or competent direction, but Silent Hill is the first game adaptation I found to be worthwhile.
With the likes of Tomb Raider, Mario and Alone in the Dark it's easy to see why game/movie crossovers provoke a gag reflex of bad reviews from critics and gamers alike, hopefully Silent Hill will pave the way for the genre to be as accepted and incongruous as a book adaptation.