Silent Hill (2006) Review
Written by: Aidan13
For the most part movies made that are based on video games are terrible…I don’t think I am going to get too much disagreement there. That being said I remember being very excited to see Silent Hill because not only was it a great and scary game, it was going to be helmed by Christophe Gans who brought us the great film “Brotherhood of the Wolf”. I just watched Silent Hill again recently because of all the talk going round that a sequel may never see the light of day…I am hoping this review will spark some attention to this great little film and potential franchise.
Rose’s daughter Sharon suffers from sleepwalking and nightmares where she frequently shouts out the words Silent Hill. Fearing for her daughters condition she embarks on a journey to the mysterious town of Silent Hill with her daughter in tow in hopes of finding answers to the littler girls seemingly troubled past. However, unbeknownst to Rose Silent Hill exists in a different plain of reality, the remaining towns people living in a nightmare world created by their past evils committed behind a shroud of religious righteousness…and once you enter this plain of reality…you can never go back.
This is a great horror film…and a great adaptation of the game itself, right on down to the production value, camera work, and music. The atmosphere alone in this film you can cut with a knife. The direction, acting, cinematography and production value all get high marks. I would have to say the weakest part of this film was the ending in the church that was bit overboard with the CGI and Hellraiser esk carnage that ensues. Aside from that the films strongest aspect is the story that exists within parallel universes. I loved scenes where Rose’s frantic Husband is trying to find her, yet he is in one version of Silent Hill while she is in another. Her entity, soul, whatever…passes through him and he smells her perfume knowing that she is there somewhere…good stuff. Scientists today theorize that there are different plains of reality all around us and other dimensions to be discovered…still waiting for them to throw on the Hydron Collider in the UK!
If you haven’t seen this film please do…it is a tour de force in modern horror cinema and I truly hope they are able to bring us another chapter in the story at some point down the road. It seems that sophisticated horror stories are few and far between these days and that is a sad reflection for those of us who live and breathe the genre.