Silent Hill — he said, she said — movie review — screener!
Kris and I drove deep into the ghettos of Milpitas (Mill-pete-ass), braving hip-hop kids, speak-and-spell readers, and pretentious cinematic greenhorns (aka: film students) to catch a late evening screening of Silent Hill. Was it any good?
SHE SAID:
Thanks to my awesome awesome friend “CapnT”, Chris and I got to view this sneak preview. Now I know some of you are rolling your eyes at the thought of another poorly made videogame-to-film translation, but I have to tell you that Silent Hill is not one of them. A big fan of the videogame series, I have made it halfway through the recent SH4 and halfway through 1-3 (it’s that creepy!). I love collecting all the bloody notes from prior victims, squishing about on entrail encrusted floors, confronting dismembered demons and exsanguinated gimps with heavily bandaged, shrouded, or erased faces. Disturbing scenes on a palette of red red and more red, yah that’s the stuff. But it’s not just about the gore, Silent Hill is about uncovering secrets and the screenplay honors this.
The true villians of Silent Hill do not wield 20′ long swords like the famous triangle-hatcheted masked nemesis/”Pyramid Head” (pictured right); prayer beads are their weapons. The bible-thumpers believe they thwart herecy by implementing a strict staleness, ergo quickly pass judgement on newcomers who disrupt their little circle. They still believe in witch hunts, they still believe in stake burnings as cleansings, when really it is only to make themselves feel 
better. “Pew time” only briefly softens their religious rebellion. Who better to play their leader than Alice Krige, a perfect blend of civility and sadism, with her icy vocals and dark marble-like doll’s eyes. In this dusty little town, she epitomizes the sturdy little school marm from Hell.
Actually, all of the performances were true to the cinematic cut scenes from the video game and their over-the-top dramatic happenstance and posture. There’s the concerned wife/mother, the physically estranged husband (Sean Bean), the ballsy lady cop, the philosophical wackjob banshee (Debra Kara Unger). These actors are known for their mannequin-esque mannerisms and plasticine visages; it’s perfect! The soundtrack was awesome, drawing from the direct video game score meets Portishead (trip-hop) meets Michael Andrews (Donnie Darko soundtrack). It’s a tooth-grinding blend of industrial clanks and deep bass in lieu of the usual sweeping horror movie score cop-out. An unconventionally chilly ending is all we need to wrap up this pretty package and Roger Avary’s brilliant script delivers. Even though at times it dragged, I think those moments helped solidify the story and ensure balance. Don’t worry.. there’s enough shockers to make even hardcore horror fanatics gasp. I’d definitely make a return trip to Silent Hill.
HE SAID:
Silent Hill is one of the single most unnervingly creepy gaming experiences of the past decade. It’s disorienting camera, insanely effective use of sound, the pervasive fog, and just plain creepy visuals had me on the edge of my seat well into the late-late hours of the night. It was the type of game whose horrors were so effective, and so raw, they could easily manifest themselves in your dreams.
As a game adaptation Silent Hill definitely sets a new standard, but to relegate it to video game adaptation status is to marginalize its achievements. Silent Hill is not just a great videogame adaptation, but a great horror film, as intelligent as it is edgy. Silent Hill is the type of horror film that hasn’t been made since the late 80’s; the sort of horror that relies on mood and atmosphere, a sense of mystery shrouded in oppressive danger rather than any sort of simple boogeyman. There are no “town has been infected and now everyone’s a zombie” or “watch a tape and you die” type of logical connectives at work here. Rather, everything and everyone is a potential threat, from narrow-minded church-people, to pyramid-headed behemoths, to the ever-changing landscape of the town. In short, it’s the stuff of nightmares.
In the interest of remaining spoiler free, I’ll try to provide the briefest possible synopsis. The story of Silent Hill, the movie, follows Rose (Rhada Mitchell) who takes her adopted daughter, Sharon, to the Virginia ghost town of Silent Hill in hopes of remedying her sleepwalking (Silent Hill being the name she speaks on her dangerous nightly strolls). Upon reaching the town, and incidentally during a run in with a local cop, Rose ends up crashing her car and blacking out. Upon awaking rose finds Sharon missing, and sets off across the cursed land in pursuit. If you’ve never played the game, that’s really all you need to know.
The Konami developers listed Jacob’s Ladder as a major influence on the overall look and feel of the game. The film, however, also borrows elements from all ranges of horror classics. The blood-thirsty cult of The Believers, the surreal mystery of Carnival of Souls, the dreamlogic nightmares of Posession, the barbed wirings of Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, and the herky-jerky female monsters of J-horror. Furthermore, the sort of stilted, dreamlike acting (sure to be the target of many a horror-hating critic) is as typical of the games as it is with many of the European horror films. Take any Dario Argento piece, Suspiria or Tenebre for instance, or a Ken Russel piece such as The Devils or Lair of the White Worm. If the film were cuisine it’d be dubbed “fusion.”
And then there are the visuals. Gans, whose amazing skill was evidenced in The Brotherhood of the Wolf, has got the look of the game down pat. The first major sequence in Silent Hill, as the protagonist chases her daughter through a pitch black alleyway, mimics the similar sequence of the first game right down to the fluid, arcing, twisting, over the streetlamp shot that so impressed me on my original playing of the game. It’s as if the Gans was saying “you know silent hill? Well I do too. And this is Silent Hill.” But don’t think he’s just aping the camera from the game, Gans makes sure to infuse the project with his own visual panache (a wonderful change from the lazy filmmaking that was Hostel, which I had watched just prior to this screening.) crafting some of the best filmed terror sequences in recent memory. And speaking of terror, some scenes are downright shocking, even to this jaded duo, such as when pyramid head decimates a woman with his bare hands.
Roger Avary (aka: the unsung talent behind Pulp Fiction and True Romance) delivers an amazingly literate script. First and foremost a fan of the series, Avary seems determined to do the video game film right. Pulling plot points from the first and second games, he has crafted a narrative that consistently intrigues. Opting to divulge only those elements necessary to further the plot, he does not bash the audience over the head with endless exposition and ad nauseam explanation. Instead elements are left unexplained, or merely alluded to. And then there’s Avary’s dialogue. Sure, there are a few awkward lines here and there, notably the monologue of the little girl, but for the most part it’s the type befitting a regular drama rather than than your average afternoon horror show. Granted, this combination of dialogue and story may serve to alienate the simpleminded legions who had trouble understanding the words of The Matrix’s architect, or those who found Mission Impossible impossible to understand, but I found it to
be quite refreshing. Lastly, there’s even a thread of political critique running through the mix, what with terrorist searches being the new witch hunts. The sort of sweeping, irrational, “If you’re not with us, you’ve obviously joined the ranks of the enemy,” sentiment that gave rise to the Patriot act, or the preemptive strikes that characterize our Iraq policy.
If anything Silent Hill may be too smart, and too innovative for its own good. Critics are bound to hate it. Religious fundamentalists will target its heavy violence content. Average Joe on the street probably won’t understand it. The fans, of the game and horror alike, however are bound to love this film. Me? I’m seeing it again.
Special note:
We’ve received a couple emails so far asking about the ending to the film. In the interest of remaining spoiler free we won’t provide our explanation here. However, you may email us and we will help you out.
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