Very gory, confusing and very good

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2006)

Rose DaSilva (Radha Mitchell) has trouble with her adopted child Sharon (Jodelle Ferland). She keeps sleepwalking and yelling "Silent Hill!" Silent Hill was a town that was destroyed when a huge fire swept over it. Rose takes Sharon to Silent Hill but loses consciousness in an accident. When she comes to Sharon is gone and Rose goes to Silent Hill to find her...
I never played the video game so I can only review this as a movie. Visually it's very impressive with eerie locations and purposely washed out color. There's almost never a dull moment with monsters attacking (for some reason) left and right. Most of these things are never explained but certainly grab your attention. I assume they make sense in the video game. I do have to state it's a pretty sad state of affairs when you have to play a video game to fully understand a movie. Still I was never bored--I was trying to figure out the movie most of the time! There's also PLENTY of gore with people being ripped apart or torn open--this is not for the squeamish.
The acting is as good as it can be. Mitchell is good but a lot of her actions make no sense (again, they probably do in the game). Laurie Holden is very good as a police officer helping her. Sean Bean has a few good moments as Roses' husband. Alice Krige is exceptional as Christabelle--downright chilling. Ferland is wonderful as Sharon--this young girl has a bright career in front of her.
Basically I did like it but the plot was more than confusing and it got VERY upsetting towards the end. Also the ending was sort of ambiguous--I THINK it's meant to be that way. There's also a cute joke in the movie--the school in Silent Hill is called "Midwich". This is probably a direct pun on the book "Midwich Cuckoos" which became "Village of the Damned" about the evil kids--and that relates to this movie.
I give it a 9 because of the confusing bits and pieces and the ending. I do recommend it with some reservations. This is a must-see for gore fans.