Half way there...

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2006)

Like many other people, you really have to split this film into different bits: First third The first 1/3 of the film the director has got almost everything perfect, the plot, the visuals, the acting was not perfect but definitely believable. Perhaps the best example was the chase scene where Rose follows a Sharon look-alike only to be attacked by many deformed baby-like creatures. The fact that the fog horns led to complete darkness, gave us a clue as to what to expect and be terrified of it, e.g. the bass just sent shivers down my spine. The high pitched tone after Rose collapsed on the floor added to the feel, similar to the effect used in Saving Private Ryan.
Many people up to this point believed there were plot holes in the film, i.e. why did Rose go to Silent Hill? Well from what I understand Sharon has been going "Crazy lately", they've consulted the psychiatrist and as Rose said, "the meds aren't working", and as the character of Rose reveals, she's a person of motherly instinct and followed her daughters sayings to go to Silent Hill. I've read reviews about cancer, but nothing of the sort was mentioned in the film.
The second time the fog horn sounded the audience were prepared for more horror, and it did deliver. The cockroaches eating the miners alive were very disturbing. The appearance of Pyramid head was met without fright rather: "Wow! Awesome knife!" Friends would later mention it in a situation similar to the one met in Crocodile Dundee, "you call that a knife?" Very entertaining.
Second Third It began to feel a bit corny in many places, for example, how the characters found clues along the way like at the hotel.
Cybil finds the picture, the mother asks "which box did you pick that from", in which Cybil replies "room 111". We don't need a further line to say "we have to go to room 111" from Rose! You really are tempted to say...."No $*** Sherlock!". All she needed to do was walk away in which Cybil would say "Where are you going..." and follows. Some of the new character acting was a bit rubbish as well, like the woman throwing the stones at Alessa's mother at the hotel talking about the first burning.
I really did not like how the piano score, Promise (reprise) song was used. It came on all of a sudden every time she finds picture clue. A different score or perfects one that doesn't have as much a sudden onset would be better. I can understand what Gans has tried to do but it just didn't work well. However, you still get the terrible feeling something was going to happen. You do learn more about the story as it develops. Sean's appearances throughout didn't entirely break the atmosphere, but I would prefer if they left some bits out or merge some of them together. I guess a thing about timing was the main focus of Gans, trying to make sure each character has enough time to travel from one place to another.
Last Third Going to meet the demon was very clichÃ©, but then again it did seem like the next logical thing to do by Rose. I think that the scene with the map was a bit video game like, but the beating up part was very realistic. It gave a sense of insecurity because these cult people were not messing when it comes to killing people for their faith. I felt that this part was good.
The nurse scene was OK, but does not have the same feel as the other sections. Here we then enter the film strip scene with the narrative from the girl. I think the dialogue, the girl directly talking to rose, was okay and you did feel sorry for the girl especially when they showed you her scarred and toasted body. But the atmosphere was not completely there. There was something missing which I can't seem to understand and explain. Perhaps the second third build up to this scene put me off a bit.
The main actors were probably tired towards the end and lost their accent. You can tell that Rose was Australian since her accent died completely when preaching at the church. Maybe they were running out of time to film the thing and so just didn't redo the scene again.
The ending parts scenes were great as an ending, but exactly what the girl wanted before hand was not exactly clear until perhaps right at the very end, but some explanation could have been added. Being stuck in the grey world perhaps gave clues as to exactly what Alessa wanted but again the meaning of it is not clear. Perhaps Gans wanted to create a cliff-hanger feeling. He did mention that he took on the film but realised that in order to explain everything, this would require a sequel at least. Perhaps this was in his mind all the time and therefore tried to not explain everything to its entirety. In any case because of this, the film ending was not the greatest and leads to major problems with understanding from the audience but I personally interpret this as part of the feel to the film.
Conclusion I would rate the parts of the film separately: 9.5/5.0/5.5 respectively, which is why I the combined score I gave of 6 was appropriate. I've only ever played 5 minutes of a demo of the game so I was not clued up about this beforehand but I still understood the film. The jist of the plot was there; in areas there was too much explanation, whilst others had too little. It wasn't meant to be 100% scare, just highly disturbing and it was. Overall as many have said this film was half way there but didn't quite make it. We could only wish it had.