"Silent Hill" a hit for gamers and movie-goers alike

Rating: 7/10 (24 April 2006)

One of the important things to remember about "SILENT HILL" is that this film is based on a video game put out by Konami, on the Play Station. Seeing as though I am a huge fan of this game series (Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room) I was one of those people that had to see it on the first day, first show.
The majority of the audience did not know that this was a game before it was a movie. We all remember the attempt at video game cross-over years ago with Mario hit the screen in Super Mario Brothers. We were reminded again at the poor job of game crossovers when Final Fantasy came out, keeping very little for the original concept of the game. Recently, we were reminded of this event when both Resident Evils came to the silver screen.
BUT LET ME SAY THIS: SILENT HILL WAS DONE PERFECTLY, and that's why people don't like it! I've read countless reviews saying the music was done poorly, mixed poorly, and have even read that it "Sounds like video game music." It makes me wonder if anyone did any research into this film at all. The film makers used all original music from the game, even the first one that dates 7 years ago.
Much the same way Sin City was criticized for using strange cinematography; Silent Hill has been criticized for its abstract camera movement, and placement. Again, those that have played the games would tell you that several of the scenes are exact images from the game, including camera movement and style. Tthe monsters were all done with real people inside, something rarely done anymore. This brings a much more tangible aspect to the film. Pyramid Head wasn't just a CGI man walking around.
I don't really want to give much away from the movie, but I can say that the film is a rendition of the first three games: the story is a basic outline of the first and third games, and there are several characters (mostly monsters) from all three. The biggest to note, is the Pyramid Head monster, one of the main characters from the second game. He is somewhat of an undertaker, and is a constant threat in the film.
Silent Hill opens with the exact theme music from the game, and quickly develops into the story: a woman and her search for her daughter in the mysterious city of Silent Hill. Once there, she begins to have nightmarish visions of the world crumbling around her, and turning into a living-hell. She must find her daughter, and more importantly, she must discover the truth about her adopted daughter, and why she resembles the child demon Alyssa.
The point I want to make is that this film is going to get bad reviews. Judge for yourself. I personally, have to say that it's one of the best video game to silver screen adaptations ever done. It's got the violence in it, it's got the screen shots, and it kept pretty true to the actual storyline of the games. I would highly recommend you go see this if you're into horror, and video games. Keep in mind that it's based off of a 7 year old game, and that the film makers were so dedicated to it, that they refused to change even the music.
Though I enjoyed this film on such a high level, I do feel that I should comment on several things that I did not like. Though the film did stay true to the story as much as it could, there were several modifications that stuck out in the form of poor acting and exposition. There were several instances where the characters would start talking about things that happened years ago. Not that that's a bad thing: it just seems to happen a little more often than would be desired. The acting was pretty solid for this type of film, and mirrored the insanity demonstrated in the game.
Overall, I would say 7/10. It's a good film. As an adaptation from a video game, I've known no other film maker to do as good a job of bringing the game world to the screen. 10 of 10 in that department.