A sublimely dark fairy tale from Hell

Rating: 9/10 (27 May 2007)

I have little experience with the game, on account of the fact that I couldn't sit through even an hour of the damn thing, it was so disturbing, and this was the original on the primitive Playsation One. So I was obviously hesitant to waste my time on another offering from that most pitiful and forlorn of genres: the video game adaptation *shudder*. But based on my experience with that darned video game, I was actually terribly curious to see if a film could could somehow evoke even slightly the same sense of eerie ambiance, unease, and dread that stem from the otherworldly and hideously unnatural landscapes and creatures that characterize the games. Well it did, and beautifully so.
I will admit, the plot is borderline nonsensical and silly... almost. And this the ONLY TIME that I haver felt that the art direction, design, and effects actually outweighed the need for a traditionally cohesive screenplay in a film. I still don't quite understand the vagaries of Silent Hill's dense and loopy 'story', and for the first time also, I didn't really care either. I just got lost in the flow and feel of it. And it is to dark and odd places that these feelings will take you if you're anything like me. At best, I guess I could describe this mesmerizing film's story and imagery as some unholy mix of Lewis Carrol, H.P. lovecraft, and an aesthetic sense that could only be dreamed up in an insane asylum or Hell, or both.
From the foggy neither world of Silent hill to its even weirder 'dark side', you will never lose the sense that you have wondered down some god-forsaken rabbit hole when you watch this movie. It's all just so unique and odd and random, as though you were roaming the subconscious fantasies of a demon. It's hideous and horrible, but there is a splendor and beauty that lurks in the decrepitude at the same time. Like the games, the ambient lighting, colours, and especially the sounds will draw you deeper and deeper into it's bizarre world. It's overwhelming at times if you watch it alone in the dark. The wailing claxons that usher in the inky darkness is one example. Utterly chilling. Cuddos to the producers for choosing an oddball directer like Christopher Gans to bring this concept to screen with grand guignol art house like sensibilities, the only way this project could work.
So yes, I found the movie mesmerizing and unforgettable, but if you appreciate it like I did, I recommend going into this movie as an artistic and sensory experience, rather then get caught up the technicalities of traditional film narrative, because I think its real beauty lies outside of those parameters.
Like I said, just roll with it like you're a clueless child about to be whipped away into a bizarre fairytale that is clearly only for adults with a strong stomach and a limitless imagination for the dark and sublime.
A+