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Silent Hill [2006]


RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £3.69 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

A lot of movies can be described as "dripping with atmosphere," but in the case of Silent Hill it's literally true. Faithfully adapted from the Konami video games by French director Christophe Gans and Pulp Fiction cowriter Roger Avary (both self-confessed video game addicts), this dark and grisly horror-fest is nothing if not a triumph of cinematography and production design, consisting of a minimal and mostly incoherent plot propped up by a mysterious maze of sets that literally seep, drip, and ooze with the atmospheric evil of past misdeeds. Welcome to the abandoned and perpetually foggy ghost town of Silent Hill, where grey ash falls like snow, a devastating coal-mine fire still burns in a hellish underground, and demons of various shapes and sizes make your worst nightmares seem like a walk in the park. It's here that distressed mother Rose (played by Pitch Black heroine Radha Mitchell) has taken her daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) in hopes of discovering the source of Sharon's sleepwalking nightmares. What they find instead is a burned-out legacy of unspeakable evil, as Silent Hill's dark secrets are revealed. As opposing denizens of Silent Hill's meta-morphing underworld, Canadian actresses Alice Krige and Deborah Kara Unger seem to be the only ones who recognize this morbid mess as campy comedy; Gans (who established his visual flair with The Brotherhood of the Wolf) and Avary take it far too seriously, and the entire movie is utterly devoid of any emotional hooks or plot logic that would make us care about anything that happens. In crafting a loyal big-screen rendition of Silent Hill and its Playstation sequels, they've forgotten that movies play by a different and more demanding set of rules. As a result, they've made an impressive-looking but ultimately hollow horror film that only Silent Hill game-players can truly appreciate. --Jeff Shannon


Sad and Bad Bad Bad ..............
Review date: 2008-11-29 Rating: 2 out of 10

Loved the games ?

Click away fast this movie is plain awfull , go and replay the games.

Or see Near Dark or Rec or any decent horror flick.

a v o i d

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Reviews


Lovely Silent Hill
Review date: 2008-10-17 Rating: 8 out of 10

I'm a big fan of the games so I was delighted to see they finally made a movie. Considering how difficult it must be to interpret what can be a bit of a complicated story, it didn't disappoint. As far as I can tell, they sort of amalgamated parts of SH 1 and to a lesser degree SH 3. The special effects are brilliant and perfectly capture that dreaded change over to the nightmarish hell world whenever the siren starts wailing. My favourite bit was the scene with the creepy crowd of bubble headed nurses. Fantastic chills!

A horror B-movie worth watching...
Review date: 2008-09-06 Rating: 10 out of 10

Blimey, some people just shouldn't be writing movie reviews if they're clearly not paying attention... So just in case, if you didn't understand the movie Contact with Jodie Foster (no she didn't go on a fantastic journey just to see her dead dad...), you may as well give up on this one as well. If, however, you do actually enjoy spending quality time watching a movie, then this one will pleasantly surprise you!

So, first off, I have to say that I haven't played any of the Silent Hill games but I am savvy to most FPS games. That said, I would say it's not critical to know the games to enjoy the movie (although it may give you a better understanding of the back-story). It is true that the acting isn't first class, and sometimes the dialogue is a bit shaky, but the cinematography is great. The beginning of the movie tries to build up the plot, but is ultimately sketchy. However, things really pick up when the mother and child enter Silent Hill. The visuals and sound effects are very effective and add greatly to the atmosphere. Note that the hellish underworld scenes are dark (minimal lighting). Also, please be aware that the movie is indeed based on a game, which should remind you that the movie is horror/suspense. This leaves me to wonder why some people were surprised to see, mutated creature/things, lots of gore, fit zombie nurses/policewoman (!?).

Sean Bean's character is minimal, but does serve a kind of contextual purpose to the story. It would be possible to watch the whole movie without his scenes, however, that would effect the impact of the ending in my opinion... The movie itself is dark, and pretty much all the protagonists meet an unhappy ending - this isn't necessarily a bad thing because it should put you in a reflective mood... There are multiple sub-stories in the movie, and perhaps a degree of imagination is needed to piece it all together (if you couldn't understand No country for old men, then you might have a hard time). For example, you have the father looking for his wife & daughter, you have the mother looking for her daughter, you have some witch-hunting action (think Arthur Miller's The Crucible), you have alternate realities, you have a story about the power of a mother's love, the power of revenge, and the evil that people do...

I'd give this movie 7/10

Has done the game justice!
Review date: 2008-08-11 Rating: 10 out of 10

For once I feel a film has done it game counterpart justice, there are some very disturbing and scary parts and it doesn't stray too far from the original plot (unlike res evil), definitly worth a watch even if you haven't played the game, in fact it might inspire you to do so.

Awful
Review date: 2008-08-09 Rating: 2 out of 10

I've only given it one star because you can't give a zero star rating. This is possibly the worst film I have ever seen. Poor script, poor story, poor acting, poor interpretation and, overall, one of the most appalling pieces of cinema I have ever seen and one of only 2 films I have ever walked out of the cinema from. The other was 'King Ralph' when I was 13.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Sean Bean
Alice Krige
Kim Coates
Radha Mitchell
Tanya Allen

Creators:
Radha Mitchell (Primary Contributor)
Sean Bean (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5060002834985
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL,
Release date: 2006-09-04
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 120 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2006
Language: English (Original Language)

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