It's a cool and cloudy day in this part of Maryland. Work was boring so I opted for a long lunch. I checked the local listings and found Silent Hill had been released. "What the hell," says I, "I liked the games - maybe this will be decent."
It was fair. A pretty good adaptation of the creepiness of the game, with lots of blood and gore and similar to keep the kiddies entertained. More than they've bargained for in some respects, I believe; I am sure there will be complaints about two scenes in particular.
Yet even given the level of horror presented, I feel that the games were far stronger in terms of psychological impact. They carry a weight that the film cannot. The games are actually /worse/ in terms of their content, their grotesqueries, than the film is (though viewers who've not compared will find this hard to believe).
I sorta wish they had done the movie a bit differently; about 2/3rds of the way through they go into sililoquy mode to explain things people who played the games already knew -- what exactly causes SH to behave as it does, what actions led to the twisted and distorted state of the environment, what's causing the nightmares that roam during darkness. I think it interrupted the flow of the film; audiences might not be stupid, they should have given them a chance to figure it out on their own.
bleh. Anyway, not going to overanalyze the film - I'd grade it a C, but easily the best video game adaptation yet done.
Favorite bit: As `light` Silent Hill shifts to `dark` Silent Hill, horns can be heard - the type used for fire alarms and air raid sirens. They've creeped me out since I was a kid and did a wonderful job here also.
Better; the horns themselves are strapped to a church. My mother told me that in the town she grew up in, the Catholic church 'round the corner from her would ring its bells promptly at 6pm. The kids in the neighborhood were generally supposed to come home at that time ("be inside before the 6 o'clock bells!") as it signaled the onset of evening.
Great stuff. If only the rest of the film could have followed suit. :)