Silent Hill: A Retrospect

Rating: 10/10 (21 April 2006)

While generally bashed by reviewers and by disappoint teenagers with nothing better to do on a Friday night, Silent Hill is an excellent adaptation as well as horror film.
Many people complain about two things: 1) 'I don't get it!' 2) 'It wasn't scary!'
Well I'm going to address both: 1) You probably don't get it because you never actually sat down and played the games. When viewing a film with such a complex back story as Silent Hill, one really needs to review the source material before viewing the adaptation. There is only so much info they can squeeze into 2 hours and 5 minutes. Another reason you probably didn't get it is because not everything is spelled out in black and white from the get go. But honestly, in all of the games (1 and 2 especially, which the film draws heavily from), nothing is really spelled out. Even after you beat the games, it leaves you wondering "What the f--k was that?". But that's not necessarily a bad thing, because it lets your mind and imagination fill in the blanks, and that can be a lot better than some lousy tie in.
2)If you had played the games, you'd realize that Silent Hill was never meant to be scary. Silent Hill above all else placed a lot of emphasis on setting and mood, rather than the zombie-jumping-from-the-closet shock moments. It was meant to creep you out and let your imagination do the scaring, which this movies has in spades.
Great cinematography, music, story, and characters; Silent Hill is the thinking man's Resident Evil. If you aren't smart enough to either: A) Play the Games or B) Spell 'cat' correctly then stay away from this movie. Okay?