There's Value Here, but It Might be Worth it to Wait a Little Longer

Rating: 7/10 (25 April 2006)

The idea is that a child, Sharon, is terminally ill and sleepwalks, often talking of a town in West Virginia called Silent Hill. Her mother, Rose, played by Radha Mitchell, takes her to Silent Hill against the will of Sharon's father, played by Sean Bean. Along the way, police officer Cybil Bennet stops Rose. However, Rose speeds off as Cybil approaches the vehicle. She pursues Rose, and they both crash on the outskirts of Silent Hill. When they wake, a dense fog has fallen on the town, and Sharon has disappeared.
Gans does a superb job of translating the disturbing atmosphere of the games. I was pleased to see he doesn't resort to the "tap you on the shoulder" technique of quick frights as a monster suddenly leaps from the darkness or a loud crash sounds in the silent darkness. Contempory horror filmmakers seem to resort to such tactics, sometimes hurdling at you in every scene. Also, the film isn't that gory, which I was pleased to see. At some points, it reminds me of Hellraiser, but the tortured cenobites seem to be played down. Instead, the film is riddled with a disturbing atmosphere, especially when the siren sounds and Gans takes you to dark Silent Hill.
This one really is a unique horror film; however, the film's strong points seem to be the product of video game design, not great film production.
It's true. I am a fan of the video games, and I'm writing to tell you all that if you also are a fan of the games, you may be disappointed. Then again, apparently some fans are pleased.
Gans seems to have been afraid to change much superficially. Several of the scenes from the games are directly translated into the film. The film's score is song for song from the series, most notably from the award winning soundtrack of Silent Hill 3. While it was cool to see the scenes translated in such a way, I hoped for something new because as far as I'm concerned, in the Silent Hill universe, those things already happened, and the film is undermining that. The music, while it is great music, is completely recycled. A whole new score might not have been the way to go. I would rather have liked to hear variations on the original Silent Hill scores. Catching hints of familiar tunes would have been enough to take me back to those same feelings I had, playing the games in the dark.
Gans, however, had no problem with changing major plot points. I wouldn't have minded a whole new story that captured the feel and narrative truth of Silent Hill, but Gans seems to have used a conglomeration of the four games. The problem is the same as recycling scenes from the games that I mentioned above. These things already took place in the Silent Hill universe. In addition, Gans changed a major plot point of the Silent Hill mythology, which the average movie-goer may find sufficient at best. I found the history that the games offered much more effective.
Speaking of story, the script was not very well written. Often the characters' lines seemed ridiculous. For example, as can be seen in the trailer, Rose wipes a piece of ash off her cheek, and then, as if we could not tell, she says "ash." Another example occurs later as Rose and Cybil walk through a burned building. It has obviously been burned. The set designer saw to that; however, Gans insisted on having one of his characters say "looks like there's been a fire here." While realistically speaking someone may actually say that in such a situation, we start to regard the characters as stupid and obvious because we can see that the building has been burned very badly. This kind of thing is frowned upon in film-making for obvious reasons. It crosses a line of expected interpretation. On the highest level, it suggests Gans thinks we're stupid.
Speaking of set design, though, the special effects and make up are amazing. Most of the monsters are actually latex, and they look very good. Gans did not rely very heavily on CGI, which I was also happy to see.
The strong points of Silent Hill exist mostly in the visuals. While the general story is, simply put, unique, it's not something Gans and Roger Avary are responsible for. The script is just not well written, and therein lies Silent Hill's biggest weak point. I would recommend Silent Hill for fans of the game. While some may be disappointed, it is enough to see that world come to life in an extraordinarily well done fashion. I would also recommend it for the optimistic student or appreciator of horror films. There is value in this one. However, I wouldn't recommend it to the average scrutinizing movie goer. The weak spots are too easily exposed. I gave it a six out of ten because I couldn't quite give it a seven. If you can wait until video, you might be a little happier and a little less disappointed.