Innocence Lost, at what cost?

Rating: 7/10 (24 April 2006)

A deliciously dark film of fear mongering, Silent Hill takes you on a terrifyingly absurd quest. Where to? That is a question this film doesn't answer, but enjoys twisting round you to find it.
Of course playing the game helps understand this film. I found the game itself to be relatively arbitrary and linear, rather like this film. However, the game is foreboding and visually gorgeous, much like this film.
The film contains fantastical set-pieces - demons tearing flesh, walls melting into grills and steam, men swimming in a sea of carnivorous cockroaches. All the time the fiend in question is embodied in the form of a child. Quite how such an assured performance is given by an actress of tender years is perturbing  perhaps Laurie Holden shows a deviant flash of malevolence that comes when you allow a child to get away with anything for one flash of the Bambi eyes?
Not quite the classic the trailer presented itself as being, and sets itself up for a sequel in a rather open-ended manner. But far better than any computer game conversion film you've seen yet.