Thank god for the return of R-rated horror

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2006)

Wow. Silent Hill marks the return of well-written, well-acted, R-rated, balls-out, minimal use of CG horror. Did I mention it's R-rated? After months of PG-13 crap like Stay Alive, we finally got a movie that actually seems to stretch the limits of the R rating when it comes to gore. This movie drips and splatters blood. The use of CG is surprisingly low. Most creatures are really people in costumes, but it's so realistic yet strange that you almost think its CG. The movie is well-casted. Instead of, say Sarah Michelle Gellar they went on a limb and casted Radha Mitchell, who's biggest role so far has been in a minor Woody Allen movie. She carries the movie and does a fantastic job. They casted someone named Laurie Holden for the role of Cybil the cop, and she impressed me. Sean Bean as the husband is pretty much the only well-known actor in the movie, and he's basically a secondary character (though he does fine for his role).
Did I mention this movie has gore? In one lovely scene, Pyramid Head first rips off the clothes of a woman, then rips off her entire skin in one piece and hurls it at a closing door, which is just open enough that a spray of blood splatter the main characters. Oh yeah...Pyramid Head is awesome. When he first goes after Rose and Cybil, shoving that 10-foot sword of his through the door, I pretty much crapped myself. He really only has those two scenes, and they never do explain just what the heck he is, but as the movie already breaks 2 hours, they probably didn't have the time.
The whole movie is kind of like that. Most of the monsters you see just show up for no reason without explanation. And the story does get a little confusing near the end, but not too much.
The changing of Silent Hill between fog-time and Hell-time, is really well-done, and never fails to amaze and frighten, especially when it's preceded by that siren.
The movie ends with a bloodbath in a church that will shock all but the Japanese. The amount of blood, and the way in which it is sprayed around, is really quite nasty.