The best movie-to-game adaptation ever

Rating: 7/10 (23 April 2006)

Silent Hill is easily the best video game adaptation ever made. Sadly, that isn't saying too much. Director Christophe Gans absolutely nails all of the cryptic mythology of the video game series, and from the art direction it's obvious that Akira Yamaoka, the creative genius behind the video game series, had a heavy hand in the movie's creation. It also fits nicely into the time line of the game series as a prequel to the first game. The movie irrefutably falters in the one area I had hoped it wouldn't, however. Silent Hill just isn't scary. It seems as though the writers and the director were so preoccupied with getting the twisted, byzantine back story right that no one ever stopped to ask, "This is a horror film, right? Shouldn't we at least try to make it a little scary?" It actually reminds me a little of why I disliked the first Silent Hill game so much. There's potential for a good story there, but it gets lost among the copious bizarro, metaphysical, go-nowhere exposition. That's why most fans of the series agree that the second game has the best story. Silent Hill 2 is a much more personal tale as it pays little attention to the series' confusing mythology. Gans actually said in an interview (in EGM, I think) that he thinks the material from the second game would have made for a better movie than the first one. I agree. So here's hoping for a sequel.