Not a horror film, like some people here would have you believe...

Rating: 8/10 (21 April 2006)

However, this is one of the most intense psycho thrillers I have EVER seen. Actually... it's more like an intense psycho "gore" thriller, which kinda makes it something new and in a genre of its own. Here-in lies the main downside to the film; it wont appeal to everyone! Let me make one thing clear first off, this is not a review of a great game>film adaptation (I never really played the games); this is a review of a motion picture, something new and fresh, something exhilarating and downright unnerving. New and fresh is where 'Silent Hill' succeeds and in which it maintains a steady radioactive pace from start to finish (well steady-ish), with scenes that will invoke so much mental anguish and fear into your psyche that it will be as though you were placed strait into the film making you believe it's YOU running from ol' Pyramid head and not the poor Radha Mitchell (stunning acting btw).
I do have minor quibbles with the pace and the dialogue, however I think they're so minor, so irrelevant and inconsequential, that to mention them would seem rather unfair to the hard work Avary and Gans have put into this project. Unfortunately, the major pyramid steak to the heart of Gans is the critical backlash the film has received. Ebert is someone that needs some mental help (and a new job), especially if he didn't understand the ending... How simple can an ending be? Gans manages to explain the conclusion with suave images, fx and camera techniques -- not one single word is uttered as to the explanation-- but its obviously there and not too subtle in my honest opinion.
So... apart from the two instances where the film falters, like the rather computer game like, find this, go there, see crazy women about a dog and to rescue my daughter from evil last act , this is, without a doubt one of the best MOVIES of the year! And when I say BEST, I don't use the word lightly and I don't mean one of the best game>film adaptations... actually come to mention it, WOW came to mind a few times throughout the film.
8 out of 10 stars. I've taken two points away due to the fact that some people just wont grasp what's on display here and that my friends is a real shame:( Christophe Gans, please make Metal Gear Solid!