There was a good series here. It's gone now.

Rating: 3/10 (23 April 2006)

*Be forewarned, spoilers herein* As a fan of the series, I was excited about seeing this movie. I've always been fascinated by the plot lines of the Silent Hill games (especially 2), and was intrigued about what this movie would bring to the Silent Hill universe.
I sat down and loved the first half-hour. It was tense, but not over the-top. It had beautifully, absolutely stunning cinematography, and a plot that could have gone somewhere interesting. Aside from a soundtrack (taken almost completely from the Silent Hill video games), it was all downhill from there. Quite simply, I hated this movie for the very reason that I'm sure many fan-boys will love it. It's intense, gory, pulse-pounding, sports familiar locales and enemies, and is in-your-face.
The plot is, in large part, taken from the original Silent Hill video game, which, in turn, took most of its plot from classic horror movies like Rosemary's Baby. Echoes from past horror movies have, of course, been completely removed, such that the plot is gutted, and almost completely revamped. While this does not bother me immensely as I was never terribly attached to the Silent Hill 1 plot, it is troublesome in that it is replaced by something far worse. I was never captured by the plot of the original, but the one in the film was a shadowy reflection of the first game's depth.
Many of the creatures from throughout the games pop up, especially from 2, for some inexplicable reason. The most memorable of these is Pyramid Head, who quite literally destroys a character in possibly iconic scene, in his attempts to hunt and kill the lead. But wait. Pyramid Head was an executioner, wasn't he? This is more like torture. And wasn't he supposed to hunt those who have sin or some sort of inner guilt? The main character just doesn't have that.
In fact, the main character has just about nothing going on, personality-wise, except for her drive to find her daughter. In fact, I didn't feel any real connection to any of the characters, which I should have, even if only to make their gruesome deaths somehow important or impacting for anything other than shock value. For a series that is all about interesting characters that have a purpose, the ones in this movie sure did disappoint.
For the main character, there is little to no character development, really, other than the fact that she is willing to make a deal with the devil to save her daughter. Who is also the devil. Except not. Sound confusing? Well, yes and no. It's easy to figure out what it means, except once you do, you're very let down. Forget the hours of thinking back, trying to figure out what it meant; all it does is take things from past games and splice them, clunkily I might add, together.
Basically, the intention of the movie is for the audience to absorb the atmosphere, some of which, I will admit, they got right. But they added one unforgivable thing, beyond any other flaw in the entire film: gore. The Silent Hill series, at heart, is not a gore-fest. When James sees Maria executed by Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2, it shows almost nothing, focusing more on, for example, how her hand goes limp as she tries to reach through the elevator door. In the film, characters can be burned alive, ripped in half by barbwire-like metal vines, grabbed by said vines and wrapped in them until the character dies, stabbed in the throat, or have their skin literally ripped from their bodies.
Let me tell you, folks, this was not fun to watch. Silent Hill should be a psychological horror, focusing on how the atmosphere itself is unnerving, and what will be done to the characters if they're caught, but without actually showing it. Less is always more in a horror movie. And with a movie like Silent Hill, it could have been terrifying and still pushed its limits, without copping out by avoiding the gore.
For my money, it didn't evoke any legitimate thought, was too much about the gore, and just plain didn't captivate me. Three out of ten stars. Save your money and go buy a used copy of Silent Hill 2 on PS2, XBOX, or PC: it'll cost you a couple about the same as a movie ticket, and you'll get an experience, rather than this ill-equipped knockoff.