Overall a good film

Rating: 10/10 (24 April 2006)

In 1999 when Silent Hill was released on the PS1, I picked it up and my friends and I played and played the game. It was a game that pushed your mind to the edge, it made you think, made you jump and cringe, and it sucked you into its own eerie world. The storyline in the game was one that could amount to a perfect movie plot. Then came Silent Hill 2 which had an even better storyline.
After seeing the film version of the games, I am pretty much pleased. There were a couple of things in the film that I believe hurt it, but overall the film lived up to its expectations. One thing I found wrong was that they could have tried to explain a little better what was going on with the darkness in the town(for the viewers who never played the games). I mean, I pretty much understood because I've played all 4 games, but a lot of people who haven't are asking all kinda of questions that could have been answered and explained a little better and more thorough within the film. The film lasted more than a good 2 hours, which in my mind is perfectly fine. It strayed away from the usual 80-90 minute pop-horror trash that usually is spewed out this time of year. Still a lot of people are complaining about how long the film is, but if they only knew and understood how complex the games are..then they would better understand WHY the movie is so long. The games took a good chunk of time to complete, and they're not games for the average gamer who just wants to sit down and shoot things up. The games are hard to understand and they take sometime to stop and think about what exactly is going on. And I see the movie was trying to give the same feel, which is good because it sticks to the whole feel the world of Silent Hill has to offer. I don't know what people expect from this movie, I mean you cant put the name Silent Hill for the title and then fill it in with say...House of the Dead storyline/action. Overall if your a moviegoer and are looking for something easy to understand and for something to entertain you just for fun, then don't bother seeing this film because in most cases you're going to just put it down after seeing it because you don't understand it and never took the time to do so(how bout you Ebert) The only other things I would have changed were explaining the monsters which Rose encountered. I know they somewhat explained the tortured man in the bathroom stall(he was the school janitor who raped/attacked Alessa) but the others such as the burning gray-children the Rose encounters early on, the walkers that Cybil shot, and Pyramid Head. I know in the game the monsters are supposedly the result of the characters mind, but in the movie they never really show or say what they are and why they are there. It pretty much leaves the viewer to make his/her own decision on what they were and why they're there. Other than that I think the film was great, it brought back so many memories from when I first played the games(esp. the first time the siren rings and the darkness comes). See this movie if you are in the mood for something creepy, and for something that makes you think!