darkwonders
Posts: 19
Joined: 25/4/2006
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Silent_Bee
Before I begin.. there are alot of you who are reading this thinking "Ok, I never seen the game, but my friends say it's the scariest thing ever!"
And then again, there are those of you (bless 'em!) who played the games to death and have been waiting to see it, but want to read on what people think of it!
I just got back from watching the film this afternoon, and i must say, as with playing the game.. get a couple of friends in and watch a LATE showing in a GOOD cinema (one which is very dark, has NO chavs, and excellent sound etc).
I am going to describe this review firstly to a person who maybe hasn't seen or played the games. Here i go!
Rose and Christopher adopted a girl named Sharon, Sharon is ill and needs help. HEr medication isn't working and she has bad bouts of sleep-walking and mumbling and shouting out words in her sleep.
Her condition is worsening, and after Sharon shouts again the words Silent Hill, Rose decides that this place holds some sort of key to unlocking their daughters pain.
Rose takes Sharon to Silent Hill. Without the concent of Christopher.
During the journey to this abandoned town, things become more and more strange... Suddenly, they crash...
Rose wakes in her car, finding that Sharon is missing from her seat. And so Rose looks for her in the direction of Silent Hill. And things become very nasty...
Well, thats the plot layed out for you right there. The Plot is entirely confusing later on in the film. So don't go expecting some kind of "SIXTH SENSE" kind of reality twist, but SO expect the Sixth Sense's way of telling a story.
The character Sharon has a dark connection with Silent Hill, and eventually Rose will find out that their innocent adopted daughter isn't so innocent after all!
Or is she?
From the beginning, the film is slightly haunting. Always making you wonder who is doing what, and why. And it is very interesting to watch the characters in these situations. The acting is quite believable aswell, and essentially the main point of them is to be good enough to journey with them throught out this 2 hour story!
I found that the characters were well chosen and had wonderful reactions to the enviroments and events in the film. However, there are some things, as with most films, that make you think "Nah, maybe she should of said something funny there...". And in fact, most of the time you will wonder why they don't question enough or why they are alone there anyways!
But that's all part and parcel of the movie! Lord of the Rings this AINT, and that is a marvellous thing for me. Personally, like when Bruce Lee died, I never wanted another Bruce Lee! And so the past 30 years of Hong Kong cinema has been a bit of a waste ;)
What I mean is, because there are SO many similar films these days, it's nice to have something different to watch!
When you think of films such as House on Haunted HIll, or The Dark, or Hide and Seek.. they all have their typical scares, typical "he's behind you" kind of scares.. you know, cheap scares and jolts which just make it fun to have your friends around...
What people may not like about this film is that they are expecting a shock-fest. Silent Hill is not about providing theme-pak scares or anything of the sort. It's about luring you into this world of his.. and letting you go when IT want's you to!
From the get go, things aren't very happy. The story is quite sad, and horrific in most parts. It is intriguing to watch these characters do what they do. However, a normal horror flick this isn't, which is what may dissapoint people here...
Ultimately, if you are looking for a film to scare the heck out of you and your'e mates, then don't go and see this, go and see The Dark or something with some cheap scares thrown into the attraction. Silent Hill is definately disturbing, and it will have your'e heart racing at certain points, it's just not the kind of film people are expecting it to be.
Effects are absolutely awesome. I usually see films and say "wait, thats CGI.. thats a model.. thats not really there.." and it takes away the illusion completely. Silent Hill, in my view does NOT EVEN ONCE take you away from it's illusion. It keeps luring you in. Which is why the two hours may drag for some, but then can seem enjoyable for others, of they aren't taken in from the beginning, then there is no hope that by the time the half way mark is reached, that they will find an improvement.
And infact, the second half of the film is where it's a bit... different.
The search is always on, but then when you've found it.. what do you do with it? And the direction and pacing of thie film COULD of been improved slightly... not by cutting down the time of the film, but generally showing us the point of all this stuff! Giving us more to think about.
Really, my only problem with the film is that since going into the church and seeing this underground cult movement, your whole perception of the eerie monsters and things are taken away with just figuring out who the heck they are. And i feel that the less the film had to show, the better.
But thats just me.
A particularly good scene is when Rose meets the "janitor" monster, only one monster.. but a very terrifying scene indeed. Proving that the less you have, the more intriguing it is.
Right, and now for you gamers!
Im a MASSIVE Silent Hill fan, probably the biggest there is. (hah, only kidding), I feel rather a lot of nostalgia from the Orginal game (from which this film is based upon) and essentially this is why I enjoyed this film so much.
In the game, as you gamers would know, you exploer a lot, shoot a bit, and get un-nerved, a LOT.
You will be extremely pleased to know that the film completely replecates the games.
For fans of silent hill, you know what this means. It means the film has complete respect for the game. Sticks to its plot, sticks to its look. And heck, the entire musical score is from the games' too!
This is an extremely faithful re-telling of Silent Hill. And one i wish that the original game cleared up upon. I mean this literally, it is the perfect story to go next to Silent Hill.
For example, put resident Evil game next to Movie... A radical difference in shots, ar-work, scenes, characters, music.. heck even the zombies aren't even the same.
This isn't some scary film with the Silent Hill nme on it, it IS Silent Hill through and through. Wierd dialogue, religious talk near the end.. freaky monsters, exploration, meeting strange characters...
Everything is faithfully re-told. Heck, now you can guess what the Next-Gen Silent Hill games' would be like! it is THAT faithful to the game.
But whether you think that is a good thing... is entirely different.
The game was good because you were forced to go down that dark corridor yourself.. and you were forced to take 3 hours wandering round the town needlessly.. whether you think this it good to WATCH is another thing entirely aswell!
Because the game is SO close to film, and vise versa.. it is difficult for the audience to figure out what is good for a game, and what is good for a film..
The game wasn't even that special. It was simply the creepiness, the sounds, the places you went to that made it more of an exploration horror game, than a shooter etc.
But as a film, there aren't any films like the Silent Hill game around!
Sure, people say "hey, it was freaky, but not as scary as Silent Hill!".. they would only say that because SIlent Hill is in it's own world. But having gone to see Silent Hill the Movie, people would just turn around and say "Yeah, it's freaky but it's not freaky like Silent Hill".
Because it's a film, it HAS to wap up things much quicker. As you all know, SIlent Hill is wierd, cryptic in places, and genuinely disturbing. As a film, it is the same, except you are watching it.
All i have to say really is, as a fan, i am extremely pleased with it. Its a wonderful piece of work. Everyone i seen who saw it loves the style and the shots and the photography. But they always say "hmm.. what was it about though?"
It simply doesn't take you on a wild roller-coaster of sequences like most people expect it to. But then again, neither did the game!
The ending is pretty awesome, but again, audiences leaving the cinema won't really talk about it like "WOAH! Bruce Willis was dead after all that?!" they would more or less be saying "So.. the janitor... what he do again?" and that's about it.
It's a wonderful story by the way, if it had been told differently ALA RESIDENT EVIL MOVIE, it would be crap! But because Silent Hill holds such mythology, and is unique to anything out there today, it is exactly this which makes it a different kind of film.
Think Star Wars mythology for example, Star Wars ended on a climax explosion "we WON!" kind of thing, then that was that.
With Silent Hill, there is closure, but it is still open for more Mythology. Which is why I liked this film so much. It never reveals absolutely everything to you, and in the end Silent Hill is still a pretty freaky place.
Here's hoping a sequel is in order, and that everyone who worked on this one does it again. But also learns from their mistakes!
Now that this introduction to Silent Hill has been placed down, it would be awesome to have some more stories told about it. Expanding the freakiness of Silent Hill.
The only thing missing from the Movie really was a UFO ending!!
But heres hoping an alternate ending can be done for a DVD release, so that it would be a TRUE telling of Silent Hill! haha
Well, it took me a while to write down my thoughts..
I just hope that you go and see this film with an open mind. It's not a film which wants to scare you purposefully, it's just freaky and if you are easily scared, you will be terrified of some of the things in this.
But because of the nature of the film, it's not it's plan to do the stereotypical things like make the monsters a threat, kill the monsters and all that stuff..
You just have to understand Silent Hill, not why they didn't do this, and do that...
One thing I do urge you to think about is this- When Vincent Says to Heather in Silent Hill 3..
"They look like Monsters to you?"...
That was a great review. I really think that this movie will tons more enjoyable to the fans of the game then to people who are going into the movie thinking it's going to be like other scarey movies. When I found out that the music for the movie was being done bye Yamaoka, I was thrilled. From the moment the movie started, I just relaxed and let myself get soaked into the movie soley through the music. And when the movie finally reached silent hill, I was head over heels at the beauty of the town. Once again I really think you have to be a fan of the game to truely appreciate the work and beauty put into this film. Oh and the janitor explanation wasn't at all confusing. That bathroom scene w/ the janitor monster was my second favorite part of the movie. The creature was just so beautifully done. I was amazed and freaked out at the same time... I am definately going to see this movie again in theaters...(some other friends wanted to see it but couldn't go opening night)
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RE: Silent Brill - 
Silent Brill - 
Sharon & The Janitor!?! - 
RE: Sharon & The Janitor!?! - 
). Of course, the main question plaguing my mind is not one that I've noticed crop up on here yet, and that is why Sharon is only as old as she is. The plot indicated that Alessa's tragedy happened around thirty years before, and yet Sharon only appeared to be around the age of ten. Unless Alessa had been in the hospital for around twenty years, which is the only explanation I can conjur. 
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