8.20.2006
Silent Hill (2006) 
If my kid is having dark visions of a decrepit town and making satanic drawings of the town as we are driving into that goddamn town, I would bring my flamethrower. Hell, if I'm going anywhere with my kid that flags the possibly of "dark and mysterious", then rest assured that I would not bring anything less than a hand grenade and an air horn. So how is it that Rose (Radha Mitchell) takes her daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) into a haunted town, with no weapons, no credit card, and no husband? Sharon is the one having these inexplicable visions that send her into near-suicidal trances, but I think it's mom who's the crazy bitch here. The two nutbags drive off to Silent Hill, and outrun a lesbian cop in the process, but end up crashing because Rose is an idiot who didn't buy a German car.
When Rose wakes up from the crash, Sharon is missing, so Rose does what any crazy adoptive mother would do: actually go look for her crazy adopted child. Remember, 'adopted' means "you cannot have children because God thinks you're an unfit guardian and yet you still defy nature to fill your own selfish emotional void." She should have gotten a dog.
The lesbian cop, Cybil (Laurie Holden), crashes her bike and gets stuck in Silent Hill with Rose. Here, the town's atmosphere does a fantastic job of putting you into a state of abandonment - it's creepy. The two women roam through town looking for Sharon, but instead they find a variety of dangerous monsters with twisted human resemblances. Rose is able to defeat these monsters by screaming, falling down, and running into walls. As they uncover more of Silent Hill, Rose gradually learns why Sharon brought her here. Seriously, little orphan girls filled with nightmares should be sent back to the pound. I know a few orphanages that offer 30-day trials.
Spoiler Warning! Minor plot twist will be exposed from here on out.
Rose and Cybil go on to find other people living in this town - actually, I don't think filthy, squatting hippies can be called people, but the two are forced to befriend them anyway so that they'll help find Rose's zany little daughter. Things get bloody when Christabella (Alice Krige), the cult leader with plastic lips, discovers that little missing Sharon is really the daughter of Alessa, yet another female whackjob from back in the day, and the granddaughter of Dahlia (Deborah Kara Unger). Rose continues onward by herself into 'the place where darkness lies.' This is a place of unimaginable torture, where the blood runs fresh and pain is delivered by the blink. This is room B151. Whooo. When Rose makes it into the room, everyone in the movie theater shields their eyes and cusses. The movie is consistently dark, and then out of nowhere we get this big white screen so bright that the back of your eyeballs itch.
Now, I do like the twist of the plot while the demon was explaining it to Rose through gory flashbacks with eerie audio. However, I did not like the narration script. The demon spoon-fed Rose and the audience with so much backstory through un-poetic detail that it was almost insulting. This basically leads us to the conclusion of the movie, which obviously (like most horror movies these days) leaves some questions open. Who dies? Who lives? We'll never know; just wait for Silent Hill 2, when Rose discovers that Pyramid Head is her biological father who was also a NASCAR driver! (Leaked Silent Hill 2 movie image!)
The best things this movie has going for it are the atmosphere, the art, the raw gore, and the audio. By no means do I dislike this movie; in fact, I loved watching but the typical horror elements run rampant. I think this is a great movie to be made out of a video game, and it's such a wet earful to hear other critics bash it because it came from a game. Saying "because it came from a game, it's bound to be bad" seems to be what a lot of critics like to use as the basis for a bad review. Is it okay to say that all movies based on comic books are going to be bad too? However, I can see their perspective on why they're convinced. To be honest, there are a lot of uncreative idiots that have made awful shitstorm movies out of video games. On the other hand I'm not whole-heartedly supporting the fact that video games have the most compelling plots either but Christ, can they could try a little harder? Or at least not show up to the set riddled on coke and smelling like hookers?
Pyramid Head did not make enough appearances, but his performance was top-notch and classy. In a way, I'm grateful that he didn't show up too much: any more screen time for him would probably end up being stupid, like him tripping over his skin dress and killing himself on Rose's vintage flashlight, or, worse, his life would flash before his eyes and we'd see that he was actually a real NASCAR driver.
Overall I really enjoy Christophe Gans' movies, and Silent Hill gave me the same excitement and fear as Brotherhood of the Wolf. Gans' direction was noble in trying to please both the general audience and the hardcore fans, as stated in his interviews. Roger Avary wrote this alongside with Gans, and together I think they pulled off a good show. I wasn't too keen on some of the terribly cheesy dialogue, but thank god for those gory scenes to neutralize that crap. If they do make another Silent Hill then maybe they should get a different writer, but definitely keep Gans. Don't get me wrong, I think Roger Avary is amazing; he's responsible for such films as Reservoir Dogs, Killing Zoe (one of my all-time favorites), Pulp Fiction, and more. His ideas are sick, yes, but they seem more suited for mind-bending crime plots rather than a horror movie.
In conclusion: if you're a big fan of the games, then you'll dig this. If you're a blood-lusting horror junkie, then you'll really love the visuals. If you're looking for a movie about the magic between mother and child, then this movie fucking sucks.
Sique Rating: 7.3
Director and Cast
Director: Christophe Gans
Widescreen DVDWriter: Roger Avary
Rose DaSilva: Radha Mitchell
Cybil Bennett: Laurie Holden
Christopher DaSilva: Sean Bean
Sharon DaSilva / Alessa Gillespie: Jodelle Ferland
Dahlia Gillespie: Deborah Kara Unger
Christabella / Claudia Wolf: Alice Krige
Anna: Tanya Allen
Related Links
Official website: www.welcometosilenthill.comMovie Information: IMDB Page
My art 1: Pyramid Head digital painting w/ wallpaper
My art 2: Pyramid Head Sketch
My art 3: Pyramid Head Sketch 2
Old article: Anticipation Article
Pyramid Head clip
Additional Images and Wallpaper
Screenshots
