... So when Rose hears Sharon talking about Silent Hill in her sleep, she resolves to find out what it means. Discovering it is a ghost town hit by a mysterious fire that still rages beneath the streets, Rose drives her little girl there. But on the road outside town, she crashes the car and comes ... Read review
A lot of movies can be described as "dripping with atmosphere," but in the case ofSilent ... more
Hillit's literally true. Faithfully adapted from the Konami video games by French director Christophe Gans andPulp Fictioncowriter 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 byPitch Blackheroine 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 withThe 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 ofSilent Hilland 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 onlySilent Hillgame-players can truly appreciate.--Jeff Shannon
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
A lot of movies can be described as "dripping with atmosphere," but in the case ofSilent ... more
Hillit's literally true. Faithfully adapted from the Konami video games by French director Christophe Gans andPulp Fictioncowriter 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 byPitch Blackheroine 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 withThe 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 ofSilent Hilland 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 onlySilent Hillgame-players can truly appreciate.--Jeff Shannon
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Nice end credits Disadvantages: Overlong, dull, unscary, riddled with plot holes and awful performances
...Rose hears Sharon talking about Silent Hill in her sleep, she resolves to find out what it means. Discovering it is a ghost town hit by a mysterious fire that still rages beneath the streets, Rose drives her little girl there. But on the road outside town, she crashes the car and comes round to find her daughter missing. Once she reaches the city limits, she discovers that it isn't just memories that stalk the streets.
I wish people ... ...specious reason for going to Silent Hill in the first place and then every building Rose enters is a new level, complete with situation specific bad guys and an end-of-level baddie she must defeat to continue to the next part. She even gets a reward for completing all the levels. Character development is non-existent, with a credulous lead that turns from snivelling screamer to full-on action heroine in the blink of an eye. Her policewoman counterpart ... more
When their adopted daughter takes to sleepwalking herself into danger, Rose and Christopher want to get to the bottom of it. So when Rose hears Sharon talking about Silent Hill in her sleep, she resolves to find out what it means. Discovering it is a ghost town hit by a mysterious fire that still rages beneath the streets, Rose drives her little girl there. But on the road outside town, she crashes the car and comes round to find her daughter missing. Once she reaches the city limits, she discovers that it isn't just memories that stalk the streets.
I wish people would stop making computer game adaptations. I know the law of averages says a decent one must appear at some point, but I can't bear to sit through all the dross until that occurs. French director Christophe Gans has pretty good pedigree. He was at the helm of "Brotherhood of the Wolf", the best French language period martial arts horror movie you're ever likely to see. I know he can do fast-paced special effects enhanced action and he can scare the watcher. So god knows what went wrong with "Silent Hill"; a turgid pot-boiler devoid of scares. It is at least half-an-hour too long, flabbily clocking in at over two backside and brain-numbing hours.
The director clearly has no regard for the characters and this shows; merely using them as a series of scream queens thrust into uncomfortable scenarios or dead-eyed villains. However, his main error comes in his use of bad guys. There are all manner of freaky-looking nasties nestled away in the cursed town, but the majority aren't very well rendered in terms of special effects. The first to turn up are a series of melty-faced baby Gollums. But it never looks as though they're actually in the room with the actress they're supposed to be menacing. The blind but murderous scalpel-wielding nurses at the hospital look like extras from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video thanks to their jerky break-dancing. The other issue is that they can be killed too easily, thanks to Gans' insistence on sticking to the computer game's logic. And when it becomes apparent that they aren't a real threat to the characters, they lose any ability to scare. Each has a screen life of about three minutes and every time it looks like the characters are for the chop, a klaxon sounds and they conveniently depart. It doesn't help that it never becomes clear what they are.
The movie tries to be a triumph of style over substance, but doesn't work because the effects and production design don't stand up. Besides which, Gans has decided, like many other horror directors that loud is the same as scary. So we get creepy creatures accompanied by various bangs, squeals, screeches and orchestral spikes. It feels like a lot of cheap, unimaginative tricks that would be more at home on a ghost train than in a film. The back-story is presented in scratchy cinefilm that only looks like a throwback to the seventies because of the awful costumes and Hammer Horror acting. The only innovative thing about the whole debacle is the end credits and odds are you won't see them because you'll have got bored and left half-way through.
I can't believe Roger Avary, the writer of the censor-baiting "Rules of Attraction" wrote this pile of drivel. Half the problem is that he's followed the format of the game too closely. There's a bit of confusing exposition at the start, a specious reason for going to Silent Hill in the first place and then every building Rose enters is a new level, complete with situation specific bad guys and an end-of-level baddie she must defeat to continue to the next part. She even gets a reward for completing all the levels. Character development is non-existent, with a credulous lead that turns from snivelling screamer to full-on action heroine in the blink of an eye. Her policewoman counterpart is little more than an action heroine archetype in tight leather trousers. The strange characters in Silent Hill may work as twenty second bites in the game, but have so little personality they don't stand up in a film. The town's shady back-story is laughable drivel that requires a leap in logic too ludicrous to make. The subplot involving Rose's husband is redundant and makes a tortuous attempt at plotting even more nonsensical. This is especially true of his dealings with a local detective, who was supposed to have attended the original fire in the town thirty years ago, despite being in his early forties at the latest. The script puts the "dire" into dialogue, with everyone talking in either self-evident truths or frustratingly oblique pseudo-mystical claptrap.
Radha Mitchell first came to prominence in the science fiction horror "Pitch Black", so I suppose this is a kind of homecoming for her. However, you can tell she's got one eye on her wage packet all the way through. She doesn't invest enough of herself in the part of Rose to be believable. But she isn't helped by a script that has her character development squashed into a very small time-frame; shifting from victim to heroine for no apparent reason and too quickly to convince.
It looks as though "Lord of the Rings" might be the one shining star in Sean Bean's CV. His performance here definitely isn't up to scratch; Christopher may be a peripheral player, but Bean could at least make some attempt at breathing life into him. It's basically a rerun of his turn in "The Dark" and that wasn't impressive either. Alice Krige goes completely over the top as the malevolent Christabella, giving a performance as big and bad as her hair. Deborah Kara Unger's take on the weird Dahlia is as scrappy as her ragged costume. She's never given the chance to do anything other than play mad. Jodelle Ferland is an oddly otherworldly looking child, so is well suited to the parts of Sharon and Alessa, playing two sides of the same coin effectively. But she isn't given enough time to develop the roles. I'll be interested to see her in Terry Gilliam's new project to see if she does better with stronger direction.
The overwhelming impression of Jeff Danna and Akira Yamaoka's score is that it is LOUD. Presumably it's trying to make up for Gans' lack of visual scares by throwing in lots of orchestral stabs in an attempt to prime the audience for horror. It doesn't work because it is incessant and you'll find yourself filtering it out after a while. It isn't very original either; using metallic percussion and weird piano melodies to unsettle the audience. The repetition of music from the game that comprises synthesizers and electronic squiggles is low quality music that is frankly annoying. The old horror standby of music box chimes is redundant and you'll be slapping your forehead in disbelief when the Hammer Horror organ music kicks in during the grand finale.
Patrick Tatopoulos' production design is rather a let-down for Alex Proyas' long-time collaborator. Though everything is very close to the game in terms of looks, it is perhaps too close. You can see the joins between pixels and people because the CGI isn't up to muster. When it is raining ash, only a single flake touches Rose. When the sirens sound and she is plunged into darkness in the school lavatories, the pulsating haemorrhoid walls are funny rather than scary. And the nightmarish people encountered in all the buildings feel out of place amidst the graphics. There's also some really duff burns make-up.
"Silent Hill" is very predictable in that it is yet another pointless and disappointing computer game adaptation. Where it stands out is that it takes so long to get from start to finish and manages to be unbelievably dull. There isn't enough action or character development to sustain it for one hundred and twenty-seven minutes. Considering it has a 15 certificate, it hasn't got anywhere near enough scares - in fact I'm not sure it has any. It's a total waste of time and energy and I've found more disturbing things in my lunch box.
Advantages: genuinely disturbing Disadvantages: perhaps a bit hackneyed
...cinema, I must admit that Silent Hill was not my first choice, and I was persuaded into going to see it by majority rule amongst the group I was with. However, I'm very glad of this turn of events, as I would say that Silent Hill is my favourite of the new releases I've seen so far this year. For those of you that don't know, Silent Hill is based on a PlayStation game. Now, computer games - particularly action games such as this - are not reknowned ... ...thing about the town of Silent Hill, which you would know if you have played the game, is that it sort of slips back and forth between Hell and limbo. When it is in Hell, the few remaining townsfolk must take refuge in the church from the unspeakable monsters that roam the town, whereas when it is in limbo they have free reign over the town, apart from the occasional escaped or left-behind beastie. It is the mother's encounter with one such escaped ...
Pyrokeet 12.07.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Silent Hill DVD
Advantages: good acting, no need to know/like video game, special effects Disadvantages: some unbelievable moments, false screaming
"Silent Hill" is one of those films that women are likely to dismiss as a pure bloke's film. Based on a video game and obviously part of the horror genre, it does not exactly seem inviting to the female species. In addition, "Silent Hill" suffers from the fact that so many previous films that have been based on video games ended up being rather catastrophically bad.
I really did not consider "Silent Hill" to be worth the money to be seen at the ... ...four star rating on a news programme, I was utterly surprised. I also quite enjoyed the little excerpt of the film. And as I had dragged my other half to see a chick flick the previous week, it was only fair that I should tag along to this screening.
***The plot***
Rose (Radha Mitchell) and Christopher (Sean Bean) Da Silva adopt a little girl names Sharon. Sharon suffers from terrible nightmares during which she sleepwalks and talks about a place ...
Delicate_Orchid 28.04.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Silent Hill DVD
Advantages: A decent idea and a cast that with a better script would have worked well Disadvantages: A disappointingly drawn out script and and criminal underuse of Sean Bean
...this prejudice my opinion of Silent Hill the movie though and so headed of to see it Saturday night. I was vaguely familiar with the games on the Playstation and thought it might be quite good. The idea seemed to have some promise, but whether it could live up to it was a different matter.
For any parent finding your daughter sleep walking to the edge of a cliff would be a very concerning event. For Rose (Radha Mitchell) this is becoming a regular ... ...their adopted daughter to find Silent Hill and try and get some answers. When she arrives in Silent Hill her daughter goes missing and things start to become incredibly weird. Now Rose has to search the eerie town of Silent Hill for her daughter, there are however a number of strange events and happenings and she also has to battle to stay alive.
I did go into the film with an open mind, especially having read so many positive reviews of the latest ...
Andy.mack 17.05.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Silent Hill DVD
Advantages: Gory, Good special effects Disadvantages: Not for the squeamish
Silent Hill is a movie based on a Japanese game franchise from Konami with the same title, a game which I've never played so the story was completely new to me. I saw the movie at the cinema. The movie begins with a Rose (Radha Mitchell) and her adopted Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) but Sharon sleep walks, and keeps calling out the "Silent Hill", as well as defacing her own drawings with creepy and sadistic features like blood. After some Google'ing by ... ...decides to take Sharon to Silent Hill without the father's (Sean Bean) consent. However, once they reached Silent Hill, they end up separated and the movie becomes a quest to find Sharon. Will she find her and get out of the town alive with all the encounters with monsters roaming the town?
The movie takes you through Rose's journey to finding her daughter, with some help, and slowly unravels the truth behind how Silent Hill became the ghost town ...
Deru 06.05.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Silent Hill DVD
Advantages: Very true to the games, best game-to-film adapation there is Disadvantages: Useless subplot, poor acting, script weak in areas
...foggy, desolate ghost town of Silent Hill. Silent Hill is the name of the town her daughter would shout during her sleep walks. Against her husbands' wishes, Rose takes Sharon to the haunted location in the hope of finding some answers. However, during a brief encounter with a rather hostile police officer named Cybil, Rose crashes the car and is knocked unconscious. Upon waking she finds herself in Silent Hill but her daughter is nowhere to be seen.
... ...horrors that await her in Silent Hill.
CAST
=====
Radha Mitchell - Rose Da Silva
Sean bean - Christopher Da Silva
Laurie Holden - Cybil Bennett
Jodelle Ferland - Sharon Da Silva / Alessa
Debra Kara Unger - Dahlia Gillespie
Tanya Allen - Anna
MY THOUGHTS
=============
I'm a huge fan of the games so I've been excited about seeing this movie for months. I love the creepiness of it all. The eerie and chilling atmosphere combined the gruesome ...
Heidious 04.05.2006 (13.07.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Silent Hill DVD
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Advantages: Looks Nice Disadvantages: But it's incredibly boring and has no substance and scares
but it feels like an afterthought and sadly not interesting. After about an hour I really began to grow tired as the film doesn't go anywhere and then just descends into arty farty nonsense with little resolution. I guess there is some hidden meaning in all of it but frankly I had lost all interest and didn't give a stuff about any of the characters, especially the daughter who is played by a girl who can't really convince.
For me SilentHill is just another terrible movie based on a video game and it's one of the worst as unlike Doom and Tomb Raider there's nothing to entertain or excite. In years to come the only thing I can see this fit for is as recommended viewing for insomniacs. It'd do the trick and have them off to the land of nod in no time.
- The DVD -
Like I said, SilentHill has one thing going for it and that ...
Advantages: Good horror, especially for gaming fans Disadvantages: The plot deamnds your full attention
features:
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* Note* This DVD was a rental version and may differ from the DVD released to buy, although it shouldn't in many cases.
Apart from the 50 minute documentary 'The Making Of' SilentHill, the special features that compliment this DVD is rather anorexic, boasting a Picture gallery and theatrical trailer.
The making of SilentHill documentary is interesting, and gives you more of an insight into the plot and the directors views on his adaptation from video game to movie. Worth viewing.
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Other DVD Details
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Genre: Horror/Thriller/Mystery/Suspense/Gore
Rating: 15
Running time of Main feature: 127 mins approx
Official Website: www.sonypictures.com/movies/silenthill
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My Overall Opinion ...
dempsey_review 20.09.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Silent Hill (DVD)
Advantages: A good watch, some interesting adaptaions. Disadvantages: Not entirly true to the video games.
THE MOVIE REVIEW RATHER THAN DVD FEATURES!
INTRO
The SilentHillDVD is a 2006 Horror film which was directed by Christoph Gans and was written by Roger Avary. The film takes its idea from the adaptation of Konami's SilentHill video game. The film takes its inspiration from numerous SilentHill video games including SilentHill, SilentHill 2 and SilentHill 3. However the main body of the movie has its own adaptation.
CAST
Radha Mitchell as Rose Da Silva,
Sean Bean as Christopher Da Silva
Jodelle Ferland as Sharon Da Silva and Alessa Gillespie
Laurie Holden as Cybil Bennett
Deborah Kara Unger as Dahlia Gillespie
Alice Krige as Christabella
PLOT
The movie depicts a mother who takes her daughter to SilentHill because of her out cries of "SILENTHILL" when sleeping. Having to bombard SilentHills gates ...
stevogarvey 14.04.2007 (21.04.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Silent Hill (DVD)
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