Silent Hill [Blu-ray]

(Note: The first portion of this review was written regarding the original 2006 Blu-Ray release. An edit at the bottom will discuss the 2019 Shout Factory Collector's Edition.)In the world of video-game to film adaptations, there are sadly few success stories. "Mortal Kombat" usually comes to mind as the best example of a video-game done right on the big screen. And the most recent "Tomb Raider" film, while a bit shallow, is a fairly good representation of its source material.But the one video-game film that sharply divides audiences is director Christoph Gans' 2006 release "Silent Hill," based of course on the best-selling survival-horror franchise. While it was initially met with mixed reviews, it has garnered a strong cult-following in the ten-or-so years that have passed since its release. This is in no small part thanks to its wonderful visuals and keen use of atmosphere. And yet, despite this, there are still many that bemoan it as a failure. It's a film you either love or loathe, with no in-between.My thoughts? Well to me, the "Silent Hill" movie is a mixture of both good and bad. More specifically, as an adaptation it is a bit of a failure, simply because of how much it changes in the story and the characters. But as a stand-alone film that's more "inspired by" than "based on" the video-games? In that sense, I really enjoy the film. It's a movie clearly made by fans of the games, who are giving it their all. They just didn't quite understand how important the things they changed were to the fanbase.The film follows Rose de Silva, a mother desperate for answers. Her adopted daughter Sharon has been struggling with nightmarish visions of a town known as "Silent Hill." Deciding to nip the problem in the bud, Rose takes Sharon to the town to find out why it haunts her so... only to discover that it's a literal ghost-town. After an accident separates the two, Rose must go on the hunt to save her daughter... But she will soon learn the dreaded secrets of Silent Hill, and begin to encounter the strange and twisted creatures that roam its streets...The film's greatest strengths are for sure its wondrous direction and visuals. Aesthetically, this movie really nails the look and feeling of the games, and it does a good job building tension. The performances also work quite well, with no sore-thumb amongst the entire cast. Combined with some fun twists and turns and some genuinely effective scares, and you have a darned entertaining and often eerie excursion into the unknown.The problem is how much it changes from the source material. While I won't give out too many spoilers, those who are fans of the franchise may find themselves a bit miffed at the liberties Gans' and writer Roger Avery take with the story. If you're looking for the classic cult of the games, out to birth their dark god... you won't get that here. Instead, the film plays the terror as more the result of witchcraft and fanatical Christian cultists. It's a bit sad, as the film nails the look and feeling of the game so well, and with a rewrite or two could have perfectly captured the game's narrative. But Gans and Avery felt the need to rework the story for whatever reason.It comes down to this... if you want a perfect adaptation, you won't get that here. But if you want a fun, frightening film that shares similar visuals and themes with the games, you'll more than likely enjoy the "Silent Hill" film. It's not a perfect film, and it doesn't 100% work as an adaptation. But as a stand-alone movie? It's pretty good!As for the Blu-Ray. It looks and sounds fantastic, with great sharp detail. Unfortunately it lacks the in-depth making-of documentary from the DVD special edition. So you may wanna pick up the DVD in addition to the Blu-Ray if you're a completionist like me.2020 EDIT:I recently had the opportunity to upgrade my disc to the 2019 Shout Factory Collector's Edition. And in every way, it is a vast improvement over the prior 2006 Blu-Ray release. I especially have to commend them for the new 2K remaster, which looks fantastic. The image is sharper, crisper and more vibrant than ever before in a home-video release.And the special features really knock it out of the park. From a new audio commentary with cinematographer Dan Laustsen, to hours and hours worth of new in-depth interviews with the director and various other cast and crew members, to the inclusion of the delightful making-of feature from the original DVD... this set is filled to burst with great bonus content.I'm going ahead and bumping up my score to a perfect 5 out of 5 because of this delightful new edition. It's worth every penny. If you're a fan of this film, you owe it to yourself to pick up Shout Factory's Collector's Edition.

Silent Hill is hands down one of the best horror films out there—a true cult classic. The eerie atmosphere, unsettling creatures, and mysterious storyline make it an unforgettable experience. From the moment the town's fog rolls in, the film pulls you into its nightmarish world, blending psychological horror with intense visuals. The creature design and makeup effects are top-notch, making every encounter feel disturbingly real. The acting is solid, adding depth to the story, and the thrilling climax ties everything together perfectly. If you love horror that’s both creepy and captivating, this one is a must-watch!

Lovely and creative music, film and game series.

Very weird and gruesome movie! You have to pay attention or you will be lost

The first - but hopefully not the last - movie based on the groundbreaking series of video games, "Silent Hill" is an utterly riveting, horrific, eerie, and pyschologically and conceptually deep film, one that may take multiple watches to really 'get' all the facets within it, particularly if one isn't familiar with the games.An adopted little girl named Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) is plagued by violent night terrors and sleepwalking in which she seems to be frantically searching for something. She's unaided by conventional medicine, and after one night's nightmare-driven excursions nearly prove fatal, the girl's mother Rose (Radha Mitchell from "Pitch Black" and "Man On Fire") decides to seek out what her daughter screams for in her sleep - 'Silent Hill!!' - and upon discovering that Silent Hill is the name of an old town, heads off with Sharon in search or relief for her daughter, in what form she doesn't even know. Her husband (Sean Bean, of the criminally under-noticed "The Dark" as well as "Lord Of The Rings", "Equilibrium" and "Flightplan") fears this is just going to do more harm than good and takes off after them.Upon arriving in the abandoned town, Rose becomes separated from Sharon and with the help of a policewoman attempts to find her, and the true terror begins. Silent Hill is a town like no other, of which multiple versions exist concurrently, and which sometimes shifts between them. It's a place of nightmares and monsters - brought to life with amazingly disturbing imagery and visuals - and the ancestral home of a Very twisted, corrupted version of religion. And many of its old secrets focus right on the little girl.To touch briefly on the psychological and conceptual depth of the movie, I'm going to have to give away more than I normally do, so I'll preface the rest of this with*WARNING: SEMI-SPOILERS AHEAD**Okay, there's a lot here open to interpretation, so the way I see some of the things toward the end of the film isn't neceasrily how everybody else is going to see it (and a lot of it is just hinted at, hopefully for possible expansion should they do a sequel), but there seem to be an awful lot of strange and fascinating undercurrents here. Basically - it never states this outright, but this is my take - there are places on Earth where if enough human cruelty and hatred comes out, it can open the door for those things to draw 'entities' or states-of-existance to come into contact with our world. But this is a really interesting part - the demon Pyramid Head, from a certain point of view, seems to have come to empathize with the innocent more than with the cruel, and to be acting as an avenger of certain victims in the town's history. That's not to say Pyramid Head is a 'good guy' rather than the 'bad guy' of the game, but it raises questions. Can a demon come to feel compassion?, for example. This goes with the whole flow of the video games, which has brought in questions of basically 'what horrors can twist the good into the abominable?', and has also played with the flip side of the equation.If there is a sequel, I don't know whether this angle will be followed up on, or whether it'll be left stand as an 'even the most evil can have some occasional virtue in there' thing without taking Pyramid Head from his 'terrifying villain' role, but either way has its merits. "Silent Hill" is chock-full of revenge, evil characters, blood-ripping/bone-crushing horror, and the most ghastly visual imagery, and it's also loaded up under the surface with themes of love, compassion, and justice. There's a strong interplay between characters, as with the games - you're never playing just a character out to save their own skin in the video games, there's always something of a group dynamic where there's someone your character is out to protect, and simultaneously where your character needs to take a chance on trusting other, possibly duplicitous, characters as well.It all combines brilliantly, and in this case gives us one of the best movies of the year. A true great.