Fans of the series will like this

Rating: 8/10 (21 April 2006)

As a horror movie alone, its not really all that great unfortunately. I will give it points for not relying too much on loud, sudden noises to scare the audience though. It seems every other horror movie employs this tactic and frankly, its pretty lame. I don't pay the kid who drops the heavy book in a quiet classroom 6 bucks to scare me :P. The Silent Hill games rely on disturbing, more psychological means of scaring the audience and the movie at least tries to live up to this. The horrible creatures/features aren't afraid to slowly creep up and stare you in the face so to speak. Sometimes its creepy, sometimes its not but few things are going to try to get a cheap scare out of you by jumping out suddenly and going "boo!".
Still, without knowing the background of the Silent Hill series you may find yourself a little lost. If you've played through the first Silent Hill you'll likely recognize a lot of the familiar faces, characters, and plot features. Like all other Silent Hills, some things simply won't be spelled out for you and you'll have to think long and hard after you're done with it to figure out just what it meant/what happened. Fans of the series will have something to look forward to since at least a few loose ends of the series are tied during the movie.
Anywho, if you're a big enough fan of the series like myself you may even recognize some of the music scattered throughout the movie. The movie really tries to capture the atmosphere of the game and it does a decent job of doing it. If you like the game, see this movie. If haven't played it, might want to read up on it a little before stepping into the theater :)