With this being the last week of October and the approaching holiday of Halloween, it's time I talk about a film related to horror this week. I wasn't sure what to cover for a while, but I decided that I will review the two "Silent Hill" films based on the acclaimed video game franchise. Rosa and Christopher de Silva have recently adopted a young girl named Sharon as their daughter. When Sharon's frequent sleepwalking and night terrors about a place called Silent Hill take a toll on the family, Rosa takes Sharon to Silent Hill in order to get some answers. After a car accident, Sharon is missing and Rosa, along with a police officer, are stuck in this terrifying ghost town that is home to disturbing monsters and residents. Meanwhile, Christopher is trying to find his wife and learn the horrible history of Silent Hill. The film mainly adapts the events of the first game, but with some creatures that debuted in later games along with the changes to make the story a tad more grounded and different enough. In the game, Christopher (Henry in the game) is the one stuck in Silent Hill and the antagonistic group is toned down from a cult with complicated origins and goals revolving around Sharon to a more basic Christian extremists who burn down so-called witches. Personally, I find that the changes made to the games work as the story is still engaging and the film does carry enough of the identity to the franchise. The story manages to keep the viewer, much like the characters, enwrapped in mystery and dread as questions start piling up. While it makes for a great journey, it does result in a sloppy scene of exposition that has awkward narration and lasts for much too long. Regardless, it doesn't diminish the quality of the storytelling that much and the pacing and execution feels very much as if you were playing a game. The tone is also well-handled as the movie takes itself very seriously and fills the viewer up with dread and suspense as they are exploring this haunted town. I also didn't mind the pacing and runtime of the film. Sure, Christopher's side plot felt tacked-on so the character can have something to do, but I do like some moments in his storyline, namely the segment where he is in the burning town and feeling Rosa's presence despite they are in parallel worlds.
Radha Mitchell as Rose is very good as this woman who wants to save her daughter, but is initially terrified of the environment she just got herself into. However, she becomes more and more hardened as the story goes on and as she starts to learn what happened with the town and her daughter. Laurie Holden as Cybil Bennett, the police officer who partners with Rose after witnessing the horrors of the town, is also really good as this tough cop who feels more vulnerable in the haunted town. Sean Bean as Christopher, the husband and one of the few characters that Bean plays who doesn't die, is probably the biggest name in the cast, so his acting talent can be spoken for itself. Child actress Jodelle Ferland does a great job at playing the duel performance of Sharon and Alessa. While the characters themselves are a bit complicated in the narrative, the young Ferland has the talent to pull off these two characters with opposite personalities with such little effort that it's probably one of the best child performances in the genre. The way Ferland can play a vulnerable girl to a sinister vengeful spirit is really impressive. Lastly, there's Alice Karga as Christabella, the leader of the extremist cult known as Brethren, a fanatic group who burn witches in order to prevent the apocalypse. Karga nails the villainous lunatic and the hypocritical righteous state she is in that her actions of burning Alessa caused her and her followers to be stuck in Silent Hill, which is a metaphorical state of purgatory. There are a few side characters worth noting such as Dahlia, the mother of Alessa and is suffering from guilt of her daughter's fate, and Officer Gucci, the policeman who is trying to make Christopher to give up his ill-fated quest to find his wife, but they don't really do much in the overall narrative. What is so great about the cast is the fact that they take their performances as serious as possible. They never ham it up or do a lazy performance, which is a common trope of actors working on a video game adaptation. Instead, they stick to the tone and melodrama of the story and atmosphere that they create realistic characters. Even the villain performances of the vengeful Alessa and insane Christabella are much more restrained then they could have been and have a dynamic layer to them that the viewer connects with, which is thanks to how dedicated the actresses are to their performance.
Christophe Gans sounds like a typical European director that is hired only due to their cheap price-tag and lack of passion for creating a good adaptation of a beloved video-game. After all, many films based on video-games from that time period, even some in the last few years, has obscure directors attached to them namely due to studios wanting full involvement. However, Gans is nothing like these directors despite his limited filmography. Gans not only cared for the franchise and wanting to bring a special vision to life that respects said franchise and gaming roots, but also wanted to ensure that the movie he is making is of high quality. The first thing to take note would be the perfect recreation of the titular town. The production design should be congratulated for bringing the ash-filled wasteland that carries a dreadful atmosphere to life so well and with such level of restraint. There's both a sense of beauty and horror of the fog-covered town. Gans keeps the atmosphere so consistent that he never utilizes those fake jump-scares that horror films are so obsessed about. Any tension or horror presented is organic to the scene and what the characters are experiencing. Gans uses greys, whites, shadows, and rustic colours to the best effect. The film is never oversaturated with colour or uses just one primary colour to use throughout the movie. It uses all of the iconic imagery established in the games and replicate that exact emotion and atmosphere in live-action. Then, there's the cinematography by Dan Lausten. My god, Lausten tries to make sure every scene has some great use of dynamic camerawork and framing. There's a variety of tracking shots and one-takes in multiple scenes that it almost tries to make the film almost avant-garde quality. Even when the camerawork is less ambitious in other scenes, Lausten manages to get some iconic shots and framing that makes him one of the most best cinematographers of his generation. The cinematography is just purely excellent, both by filmmaking and the approach to make the movie feel like the video-game it is based on. The score by Jeff Danna and franchise composer, Akira Yamaoka, retains the memorable score and tracks of the franchise almost unchanged. There might be a bit of alterations here and there, but Yamaoka's iconic atmospheric music is faithfully used throughout the movie, again, making this one of the more faithful video-game adaptations. The visual effects are where some people might discredit the film, as the CGI isn't really rendered to be super realistic or convincing. However, given the decent production budget of $50 million (a huge amount for a horror film, mind you) and the source material, the CGI elements and creatures work for the film as they look very much like they were taken from the games. Speaking of the creatures, the monsters living in Silent Hill are fantastic to look upon. They are terrifying, but they look like they too were victims of some dark past or contorted beings of one's suffering. I also love the inclusion of Pyramid Head and the Nurses. Although they don't really fit into the narrative of the first game, they offer some great highlights in the movie, which is thanks to their designs being able to utilize practical effects and costumes, which make their appearances more riveting. The last thing to mention would be the deaths and kills. While the film is mainly aiming for atmosphere rather than a huge body count, the death scenes presented are so grotesque and unique that, regardless of the CGI being used, make for some of the most disturbing imagery that will never leave your memory.
What more can be said about "Silent Hill" that I and other fans haven't praised about? Although the narrative isn't as strong as it could have been with Christopher's sub-plot eating through the runtime and one of the worst exposition dumps in cinematic history, the films is overflowing with quality that it almost makes these things a non-factor. From the well-handled use of the first game's narrative, the great use of mystery throughout the film surrounding the lore of the town, the tone taking said narrative as seriously as possible, Ferland doing a great child performance as both Alessa and Sharon, Karga does a effortless job as the evil Christabella, the entire cast doing good jobs all around and taking their work seriously, the amazing production and set design that perfectly brings the town of Silent Hill to life, the wonderful cinematography by Lausten that goes over and beyond to make a visually-marvelling film, the score by Danna and Yamaoka uses the latter's excellent score from the games, the CGI works at making the monsters and grisly deaths look as disturbing as intended regardless of realism, and Gens as director accomplished his vision by not only creating a film that respects the game and the franchise, but perhaps the best video-game, movie adaptation that takes pride in its gaming roots. If you're a fan of the video game franchise, you probably enjoy the film, unless you wanted the movie to be a pure adaptation. If you want something to watch on Halloween that has amazing atmosphere and the right amount of disturbing content that one can stomach along with great performances and likeable characters, this is a great recommendation. For someone like myself to be both someone who's not a big fan of horror films or video-game adaptations, "Silent Hill" is the film that challenged my perception for both genres and made me refuel hope that both genres can prevail to a similar level of quality.
Verdict: 8.5/10. A great movie all around, only hampered by a messy exposition dump moment and pacing that can turn away some viewers. Watch this if you can on Halloween.
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