Since
I never played the game, I went into Silent Hill without any preconceived ideas
about how the film would or would not be like the video game. Actually, I did;
in reality I expected the movie to suck like a Kirby vacuum cleaner. At least
that has been my experience with Video Game movies in general. The few exceptions have been good, while the lousy ones seem to be in droves that would make a horde of Zombies look tiny.
Which is why I really enjoyed Silent Hill. Yes, I have read a bunch of the Comics put out by IDW but I did not expect what I saw on the screen.
Sharon (Jodelle Fernand) is a creepy little girl who tends to sleepwalk. When she does, she climbs hills and almost falls off cliffs, while muttering over and over "Silent Hill, Silent Hill". Her mother (Radha Mitchell, who really gets into her role) and father Chris (Sean Bean who plays the normal father figure in films of this nature, a goof who has no idea what to do or how to do it) have no idea how to handle the situation.
They have tried doctors and medication but nothing seems to help. Not wanting to move to a flat, desert area where there are no cliffs or waterfalls, Rose does the next best thing. Not wanting to accept the fact that her daughter could be dying, Rose takes a drive across country to find the town of Silent Hill and confront the problems Sharon is having.
We discover that Sharon is adopted, that nine years before she had been left at the door to a children's home where Rose and Christopher fall in love with her. Christopher beings to search through county records and orphanage records for some information about Sharon while Rose gets into an altercation with a motorcycle cop (Laurie Holden) who then proceeds to chase her along fog shrouded roads until Rose wrecks her car.. and loses Sharon.
Upon awakening, Rose finds Sharon gone and starts to frantically look for her. Her search through the town of Silent Hill will raise the hairs on the back of your neck
.
And that is about all I intend to say about the plot. This is NOT a horror movie. It is a real time nightmare, that you are privy to, going on in someone else's life. It is not simply the fact that her daughter is sick, it is that something else seems to have a control over her, causing Rose to be drawn deeper and deeper into a mystery that not only does she not understand but can't accept as reality either.
Christopher is pretty much ineffectual as a father. He finally drives to the town, but is stopped by the police (Kim Coates) who proceed to chop him off at the knees every time he tries to do anything. Maybe it is just the macho jerk in me, but if I had his apparent money, I would have headed into the 'big city' and hired myself a small army and came back to that town until I found my family.
Yes, he tries. I will give him that. He also quits way to easily for my taste.
Silent Hill is a frightening, nerve twisting, film that delves into the things that can truly frighten you; things like being not in control, worry about someone you love, the things that exist in the dark, the touch of something slimy on your skin. Yes, there is gore and blood. A lot of both. But it all seems to work together.
There have been few horror movies over the last few years that could be said to be worth of that title. The Ring, is one. And now Silent Hill comes to us. It is a scary movie, not a frightening one and if you don't know the difference you will when you come out of this one.
At the end of the movie, people actually applauded. They talked about it as they left the auditorium, and I heard few derogatory remarks. But be warned, the ending is pure down creepy.