Disturbing

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2009)

And this is in a good way. I'm often wary of "horror" films nowadays because just not scary anymore. This I think hit the nail on the head (at least in my view) where there is something so much more frightening about a film featuring visions like those twisted right out of a nightmare then mindlessly splashing blood around a screen.
I'll give you a few examples: "The Hills Have Eyes" remake for me was terrifying, this film creeped me out, even the "Blair Witch" to an extent. Something about being helpless makes it all the more frightening. I've never played the games either.
Little girl & mother get separated and lost in the world of "Silent Hill." Mother spends duration of movie searching for daughter, and on the way encounters a ghost town, a sky raining ash, and unexplained periods of complete darkness preceded by an air raid siren. Encountered in the darkness are some of the most twisted and terrifying creatures ever imagined. Small "damned" people, an acidic spouting twisted creature, murderous nurses, the barbed wire finale and my favorites "Pyramid Head" and "Colin the janitor."
What really impressed me about this movie is that a great deal of the creatures and effects are NOT CGI'd! Of course some of it is out of necessity, but the "creatures" and "nurses" are dancers costumed in latex & makeup, they have the limberness and contortion needed for the part. Watching the special on how they made this movie is really quite fascinating.
I still am not quite certain as to what exactly happened at the end of this movie though, and with certain scenes throughout with the husband trying to find her, but they couldn't see or hear each other b/c of alternate dimension thing. Still worth the watch and highly recommended though.
BTW-Interesting "factoid" the town "Silent Hill" is based on the real life town of Centralia, PA, which has had a coal fire burning underneath for over 40 years, and has virtually rendered it a ghost town. I've been to Centralia and can verify this is true. Creepy.