Good Direction Leads to Nearly Perfect Adaptation

Rating: 9/10 (21 April 2006)

Video game to movie adaptations are very rarely as successful as one would hope. For the most part I blame the directors of these movies, especially Uwe Boll, for their lack of adherence to what makes the games so enthralling. Christophe Gans, however, adheres almost perfectly to the roots of the Silent Hill video games. The use of suspense and sound combined with eerily lit surroundings had me on the edge of my seat the entire movie, and his decision to use actors in latex costumes as opposed to Computer Generated Images is something that I applaud him for. There some touch ups done to the creatures with the use of computers, but the effect one can achieve from the use of actual people playing these creatures is phenomenal. The imagination shown in this movie was also a wonder- there were two particular deaths which were so well done that my comrades and I lept from our seats crying out exclamations not suitable for children.
There were a few minor things that were not "perfect" in this film. For instance the subplot featuring Sean Bean did not add much to the film, but on the other hand it didn't really take away either. I suppose one can only blame the studio for this- as I understand it they rejected the original script because there were no male leads.
Even the end credits adhered closely to the roots of Silent Hill- there were parts that actually looked just like the video games, and considering how far some of the games have advanced technically this is not a bad thing. What we have here is a wonderfully realized movie, and an absolutely perfect adaptation of one of the most popular survival horror titles of all time. In short, if you want a good horror movie, a perfect video game adaptation, an example of how to make the most effective movie creatures you can or just a pleasant way to kill a few hours, Silent Hill is what you need to see.