Ever hear the phrase "don't choke on the pig's tail"...?

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2006)

As a major fan of both horror movies and games, this movie was a stunning experience for me. They really kept true to the feel of the game on so many levels; those crazy camera angles (how many times did I die because I couldn't see what I was shooting...?), the apparent links between monsters and events that had transpired to create them, and they even had a few puzzles, albeit fairly simple ones. And the sets! Good lord, it's like SH became a real place! I couldn't stop giggling with glee every time I saw a location I had played at. The graphics were just beautiful (the world rusting and peeling away, floating up like ash- I got chills!), and the music, naturally, was perfect (love you, Yamaoka!). I even enjoyed the "memory" bit, with the blinding white screen and the scratchy film quality (it felt a little like SH1). So much just went so right with this movie, I was ecstatic.
...And then, about a third of the way through, it's like they ran out of steam. Admittedly, there's not much that could have been done with the endings from the games in terms of a transfer to film. But going on what felt like a never-ending gore-fest like that... I dunno. It just felt like a cop-out to me. I just kept wondering "Sooooo, she's raping Christabella... why?". And the dancing in the blood thing... maybe a touch over the top. It just came across as silly to me. Also, as many people pointed out, Bean's character felt like a last minute addition, mostly because it was, but it had it's uses (digging up background info on SH, showing that Rose is permanently trapped within Sharon/Alessa/the demon's dreams in the end...).
Nonetheless, I highly recommend this movie to fans of the game- all your favorite locations and landmarks, all your favorite monsters, all those feelings of anxiety and terror in the Otherworld, it's all there. I, for one, plan on buying the DVD so I can get some subtitles on this thing, and to catch some of the writings on the walls. I just hope they'll have some good extras on it to make up for that ending...