DIR: Christophe Gans • WRI: Roger Avary , Nicolas Boukhrief, Christophe Gans• PROD: Don Carmody , Samuel Hadida • DOP: Dan Laustsen • ED: Sébastien Prangère • DES: Carol Spier • CAST: Radha Mitchell, Jodelle Ferland, Deborah Kara Unger, Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Kim Coates, Tanya Allen, Alice Krige
Silent Hill follows in the footsteps of such past luminaries as Resident Evil, Final Fantasy and Doom – yet another computer game making the increasingly popular transition to film. Of the adaptations mentioned above, I have only seen the first instalment of Resident Evil, but I have heard few if any positive comments from friends or critics alike on such crossbreeds. Based on this I feel I can now offer gaming enthusiasts some good news: Silent Hill is not only a considerable deal better than the flaccid and silly Resident Evil, but it is in fact quite a good film. Well at least I think it is. Perhaps ‘good’ isn’t the right word, ‘interesting’ would be more accurate!
I never had the good fortune to play the Silent Hill games but I am led to believe by aficionados of the horror/survival genre that this latest gaming adaptation combines elements and characters from the four official Silent Hill releases. This film follows the story of Rose (Radha Mitchell whom I remember from the charming Aussie romcom Love and Other Catastrophes, her more recent work has seen her in Phone Booth and Finding Neverland) and her daughter Sharon. Sharon is suffering from a deteriorating mental condition, a sort of split personality that is expressed through her drawings (which vary between typical bright childish pictures and dark gothic sketches). Depite the protests of her husband (Sean Bean), Rose flees with Sharon in the hope of bringing her to Silent Hill, the place Sharon speaks of when she is her ‘other self’. Silent Hill is a ghost town, and when Rose makes tracks for the abandoned coal mining town, a curious police officer, Cybil (Laurie Holden), pursues. After an accident, Sharon vanishes into Silent Hill and Rose follows. It’s not long before Rose and Cybil realise that the seemingly derelict town is quite unlike any place on this earth. Without giving too much away, in essence, Rose must find her daughter while unravelling the mystery of this otherworldly place.
There are some weaknesses: firstly the always-engaging Sean Bean is underused, his parallel story is interesting and his conflict with the local police led by officer Gucci (Kim Coates) is again underplayed. Secondly I feel that many people will leave the cinema thinking the film made no sense: random occurrences and peculiar decisions undertaken by the main protagonist will confuse people, however I’m told that this was always a strong point of the games – they never really made any sense, embrace this and you will enjoy yourself more. As an advocate of natural landscapes rather than CGI, I feel I’m obliged to mention that Silent Hill feels a little too computer-generated, although I have subsequently learned that nearly all the creatures – despite moving in inhuman ways – are actors in heavy make up and latex. The town’s inhabitants are unsettling and the film is, by intention, creepy and not scary. The score is emotive; the prevalence of Trent Reznor-style industrial piano will garner many fans. Moreover it is cinematically breathtaking at times, particularly the ‘day’ scenes that are enveloped in the haze of falling ash – quite stunning even if unnaturally created. The darkness that descends and transforms the town is captivating, while the parallel realities lived by the parents echo the child’s mental state; both worlds are skilfully conceived and rendered.
At times I would prefer more subtly, but I always say that when ‘horror’ is involved. Yet I must admit that the living darkness befouling the city can be quite disturbing and undoubtedly ‘Pyramid Head’, as I believe he is known, will be an evil and sinister character I will not soon forget. The disturbing atmosphere the game created is maintained through the game-style camera angles used throughout, which are both clever and true to the game’s environ. The movie’s seemingly random sections recall the sheer madness of the final hour of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, if not quite as sweeping and arthouse. Nonetheless it is one of the movie’s benefits that some things don’t need to be explained. I feel Silent Hill is certain to become the first artistically and cinematically successful game-to-movie crossover.
While being flawed at times, and suffering from a slightly misguided closing half hour, Silent Hill is nonetheless worth seeing. Go to the cinema, have some popcorn, and make up your own mind – if nothing else, it has enough cinematic merit to earn this small reward. Forget about this review, evaluating this film seems trite, I advise you, at the risk of sounding exceptionally self-deprecating, to Go, See Silent Hill and Think for yourself!
Darragh Fingleton
Silent Hill is released on 21st April 2006.
