Great monsters, awesome set, pretty fine plot - shame about the dialogue

Rating: 6/10 (8 December 2006)

As a devotee of "creepy small town" stories, the story outline on the back of the DVD for this one was well-nigh irresistible. In many ways, I'm glad to say, Silent Hill does not disappoint. The town is, indeed marvellously creepy: ash drifting down from sinister coal fires, harsh sirens announcing the onset of "the Dark" and some fantastically rendered monsters.
However, the film is sadly let down by its very pedestrian dialogue. There's far too much yelling of "Sharon!" and "Rose!" at the beginning. Rose also keeps coming up with the most bleeding obvious there's-something-bad-about-this-type comments that you want to yell "Duh!" at the screen. There's also lots of awful cod-religious nonsense spouted by the leader of the cult in the church, who even, occasionally, has the decency to look embarrassed by the cheesy lines she has been given.
However, despite the atrocious dialogue, you do start to feel for the characters. Sean Bean plays Sharon's father in a pleasantly understated way and I felt genuinely sorry when the honourable female cop had to die. No good deed goes unpunished, I suppose. In fact, I felt that the cop's death was rather unnecessary and damn all gratitude she gets from Rose after all she did for her either.
The plot is clever enough; it features some interesting oriental ideas about people's dark and light sides and different levels of reality. Do Rose and Sharon die, or do they just ascend to a different plane? Though I occasionally lost patience with some over-long running-around scenes in the middle of the film, it's worth sticking out for the twists in the story, the excellent monsters and gore and the genuinely intriguing ending. Still feel sorry for that cop though.