A must own for your collection next to The Grudge and War of the Worlds.

Rating: 10/10 (21 June 2006)

This Movie was visually disturbing and jaw drooping. I have seen it 3 times and I am still not sure about the ending. For a video game/horror movie it was very well written and visually appealing. The atmosphere it created made you feel like you were in the movie. I am hoping with the DVD release it well have comments from the writer and director about their take on the ending. So far I have heard many opinions about the story line and ending but nothing concrete.
However, some people complained about the plot. Come on it's a horror movie; and that is what a good horror movie does; it makes you really think about what is going on. Most horror movies don't do that you never really connect to the characters and the movie is all about sex, drugs and gore. Which is nice sometimes. Don't get me wrong this movie was extremely nightmarish (as Julia in Hellraiser II said as she looked at bloody body in a mirror.) but it also had that desperation and helplessness feeling to it. You really started to feel for the characters from the very start of the movie; for example. Laurie Holden character (Officer Cybil Bennett) . I started to feel emotional connected with her character in particular the moment she came up to Sharon in the car. He is an exert from the movie from that spefic scene.
Officer Bennett "hey there. Is everything all right?" Sharon "I don't talk to strangers" Officer Bennett "good girl"
Right there gives you depth about that specific character and later on in the movie you really have strong feelings for the characters and if you have seen the movie you know what I am talking about.
In my opinion the plot did its job it makes you really concentrate on the underlining meaning while making your jaw drop and freaking you out; To me that is what a really good movie is about.
If you haven't seen it, do so. Many, many people loved this movie, I for one. This movie is a great subject for discussion. Talk with others who have seen the movie; Get their views and opinions and find out what they thought the meaning of this movie was.
Unfortunately, Silent Hill is no longer in theaters; which is a shame because you don't get to hear the gasp or see the other audience members cringe and squirm in their seat. Once it is on DVD buy it, watch it with friends and talk about it after with them.
On a related note (yes I am well aware that I am rambling, but I am extremely fascinated and intrigued by this movie.)
I have tried to play some of the Silent Hill games; keyword "Tried". The game was very scary and very intense! However, it was extremely very hard. I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. All I had was this stupid pipe, had no clue what to do, were to go and I kept dying. The "beings" and "creatures" that killed me over and over again were very impressive, original and very disturbing. (I said to myself while playing Silent hill 2 "what were these people smoking when they made this game). However, you can only die so much before you give up. So I gave up and stopped playing (a big mistake on my part). Now that I have seen the movie I am running out to get them all and give it another go.
The one thing I really hated about this movie is that everyone loved it so much. I know what you are thinking, "that is a bad thing, why?" Here is what I am getting at. Now everyone and their mother went out and bought the Silent Hill games and now it is extremely hard to find 'Silent Hill 1' and if you do find it the game is way out of price range for most people so now I am majority bummed.
From what I have read online a lot of stuff was taken from Silent Hill 1 and 2 i.e. music, visuals, camera movements and disturbing images to name a few. I wish to experience what most of the gamers who played the series felt while they played Silent Hill.
I have read some of the reviews for this movie on the web site after I posted my first draft of this review. I was extremely impressed that before I even read one review many of them were almost identical to what I had written. Some of the negative reviews really got me ticked off. People saying, "oh the plot didn't make sense so they hated it or it wasn't like the game. First off if it was identical to the game you would know exactly what is going to happen. Think of the movie this way; Stonehenge is very appealing but no one understands what it is about or why it is the way it is. But people love it never the less and come from all over the world to see it. Some movies can still be really wired and messed up for example, Pulp Fiction. That movie was messed up as all hell but is still very popular and has won an Oscar! Some of the reviews stating if you never played the game you can't truly appreciate the movie. I never really played the game but I am sure there isn't as much of an emotional tie to the characters in the game as in the movie.