Silent Hill the Movie
 

First off, I want to say, for better or worse I have played all 4 silent hill games. So I went into this movie with more than a little predjudice.

Not to mention its based on a videogame and we all know how that turns out normally.

Next, I wanna say that this movie IS NOT CHILDREN FRIENDLY AT ALL.

With that said I also wanna say, the gore was never over the top or more than was desired. The movie was truly creepy. It did not rely on the Resident Evil scares, such as something jumping out of a window at the main character. In fact the only kinds of those scares were the audience jumping at their own shadow when Annie (The Main Char) bumped into a trash can or a desk.

Nor did the movie rely on Shock value to scare or gross. In fact, you never really get a good look at any of the various torured souls laying around the vastly decaying Dark World. You get brief, quickly panning shots that force your mind to fill in most of the bits of the torture. The story relys on the characters actions to play with your mind as well as clues left behind by the Darkness as to what actually happened in Silent Hill 30 Years ago...

The story itself was never itself cheesy or hokey in any way to me. It was truly a sad tale of innocence lost, retribution, and sin. I walked into the theater with more than a little disdain for the fact that they were using the basic plot of the first game but included things, that to me did not belong. One example is the Pyramid Head. If any of you have played the 2nd Silent Hill then you know what they were.

<SILENT HILL 2 SPOILER> They were physical manifestations of the guilt that the Main character felt, his need to confront the guilt he had pushed out of his own mind, and into the deep recesses of hos soul.</SPOILER>

The movie was as true to the games as a movie can get. It wasn't a zombie slaughter movie with over the top fight scenes, in fact Annie was armed twice in the whole movie, and never for more than 4 minutes. In short, the movie was Silent Hill.

It had all the same charm, and atmosphere that makes us play the games, and quite possibly set a new standard (for me at least) for movies based on games, nay the whole horror genre.

9/10 Go see it tomorrow. You will thank me.

I guess I had the "benefit" of seeing it with a layman's eyes. Not mine though, but those of the guys behind me. So I can say, with some certainty, that to a person who doesn't play videogames and didn't know what "Silent Hill" was, it's terribly stupid.

However, I enjoyed it for what it was. It was a videogame movie. There were quite a few moments where, if I had someone to watch it with (*sniff*), I could've sang "You got the thing!" On a related note, when she was pulling on the drawers in the school, it wouldn't have been out of place to see a dialouge box saying "It's locked. You'll need a Key."

I liked the cop. She was cool. As soon as I realised that she was cool, however, I knew she was gonna die. The movie, sadly, did not disappoint. :(

I liked the atmosphere and all. The music, while a bit much at times, was fitting, and liked the mandolin or whatever it was. I also liked that, contrary to the previews, "the demon" wasn't voice modulated all to Hell.

As to el ending: So, they were still in limbo or wherever it is that los monsturos were? They're screwed, I assume? Sucks to be them.

On a related note, could someone explain the gameplay equivalent to the whole siren and associated darkness?

My final impression: kinda dumb, but right entertaining.

If I remember correctly there was a Siren that played in the first game everytime Harry entered the OTHER Silent Hill.

Also yeah, what happened to Cybil sucked. I hated that.

While I have someone's attention (thanks, Ness), remember those nurse zombie folk? Remember how they moved in the light?

There are folks who'd call that dancing.

Like the guys behind me...

JUST saw the movie, and I knew there would be a thread up before I returned. =P

Very very very creepy. And the movie didn't really have closure. In fact me, my sister and my friends were watching the credits in hope that something came up that would help explain. ^_^; One popular theory is that both Rose and her daughter are dead but I'm not so sure myself. It's not the type of open-endness that invites a second movie, though.

I believe they killed the cop lady so that the audience would have less sympathy for the massacre that would happen soon after. It still sucked though. =/

My verdict: If you liked the games, you'll like the movie.

Edit: They called that dancing, Phil? @@ Weird people....

egads. There's all kinds of crazy discussion going on about the movie over at OC Remix....I'll give you a little taste.

BA-BAM
Well, I just saw it, and it was pretty good.
I was a bit disappointed with the way that the audience is seemingly spoonfed the exlpanation. The explanation definitely did not need to be narrated.

The end, though cool, was less cryptic than I'd expected.

Spoilers HO!:
If I'd been masturbating during this movie, I would have ejaculated at the point at which Anna's clothes (and skin) go bye-bye.
Also, the ending was alright, but unnecessary. They should have ended the movie as soon as the car left the town. I think that the decision to make the 'fog dimension' separate from reality was a poor one, and thus we are left with the ultra ambiguous (and mildly disappointing) ending.

This movie is more like "Silent Hill Lite" than an addition to the series. It's more like an introduction to the series than an installment. (By series, I mean the games, obviously.)

It's pretty scary, but if you've played the games, and if you're desensitized to violence, you'll be pretty 'meh' about it.

I went to see it with Skit, actually. Unfortunately, she didn't see much of it, as she was cowering into my manly smelling shoulder.

In summation:
Uwe boll can sit on a spike. This IS the best game-to-movie adaptation out there. (Though, I hope it doesn't stay that way...)

edit (semi spoiler): yeah, the nurses did a bit of 50s style shimmy-ing ("JAZZ HANDS!")

Another edit/spoiler:
In light of my experience of the games, I completely reject the theory that Rose, Cybil, and Sharon all died in the crashes. It's a theme completely alien to the series, and simply an attempt by mainstream theater goers to decrease ambiguity with the 'It was aaaaalll a dreeeeaaaam' ending.
Furthermore, people are equating the two levels of silent hill with purgatory and hell. I reject this as well. This movie is not as metaphorically representative as people want to think it is.

Basically, I equate any crazy theories that try to make this film something less than it is as misguided attempts to decrease the ambiguity of the ending...

Well, I think that's all I can come up with without getting flamey and without randomly quoting waynes world 2, which I happen to be watching.

I saw it yesterday and really enjoyed it. And I've never played Silent Hill. It was just a really enjoyable movie, as far as horror goes. It set up the plot, had some tense moments, and was beautifully atmospheric. I love the idea of ash falling all over Silent Hill, and it looks great.

I'm also a sucker for films where the plot all comes together at the end, and although getting spoonfed the explanation at the end was a little irritating, I did feel it was neccesary. A lot of that I wouldn't have pieced together without it. But it did feel a little cheap, like the film was trying to be one of those puzzles that suddenly you solve/are shown (like The Village) but instead had to resort to narration to explain everything.

But the fact that the plot did come together well made it work. And I for one really liked the ambigious ending.

Although my interpritation of it was that the burnt girl wasn't letting them leave, after the general moral of the importance of motherhood and the fact that the child was actually that girl's daughter I imagined she was keeping them trapped in Silent Hill with her.

It was definitely the best computer game movie to date, and had I not have heard of the Silent Hill series, I probably wouldn't have even noticed it was a video game movie. I think it's definitely worth seeing.

Yeah, I heard it was good. Meh, even though I haven't played the games, I should still probably see it if what you say is true.

Anyway on to Uwe Boll. Now, I have one burning question I want answered. If this guy sucks sooooo much making movie adaptations of Video Games, then why the fuck are we letting him make more? Why not stop him after the first one? Why let him make a fool of himself with a few more?!??

....Cause we can't stop him

I really liked the movie, though I am a little biased since I really liked the first game. So I will throw this question out there, are the PS2 sequels any good? The movie sparked my interest in those games, and I am wondering if they would be worth my time. ;)