Posted by Eire Dreamer at 1:05am May 6 '06Well folks, it's official. Hollywood has run out of original ideas. Actually, I think this may have happened years ago, but no one wanted to actually tell the studios about it. As it stands, not one film that is coming out this year isn't based on something else. Nothing original, and Silent Hill is no exception.
The movie starts out well enough, with a great suspenseful chase, just like the games... Then it switches gears in what can only be described as bad editing (oh God, I *HOPE* it was the editing), and tries very hard to become a psychological thriller. It fails. Or, more accurately, it falls flat on its face.
If you are a fan of the console games, this will be at least mildly entertaining, even if not engaging. The special effects are seamless, and the make-up work is awesome. Relying on the same moments of adhrenaline that the games did, Silent Hill takes you through the twists and turns of a small town long since abandoned, for obvious reasons once you see it.
The plot is predictable, and the characters are shallow.... just like a video game. In truth, the film appeared to be little more than a two-hour FMV for one of the games. There is little character development, and not much in the way of anguish. There IS pain, however. Lots and lots of pain... agony, in fact. This film has everything along the gore gamut from the simple head-shot with a pistol to disemboweling and skinning alive. There's even a woman whose eyes bleed.
Yes, the blood and gore is there, but as the film gets messier, it also gets... well, messier! The story stops making much sense several times, and you will most likely be left at the end with a sense of nightmarish horror, but not from anything they said, or any "mindscrew" in the movie... Just from the sheer brutality.
If you're in the mood for something that will sate a hunger for gore (I know I am, sometimes), this is the perfect film. None of the violence is without cause, and while it IS gratuitous, sometimes films just NEED gratuitous violence... This is one of those. But, if you're looking for something to keep you awake at night, fill you with terror, and remind you that the Boogeyman IS real, save your $20 and go rent Event Horizon.
~Eire
The movie starts out well enough, with a great suspenseful chase, just like the games... Then it switches gears in what can only be described as bad editing (oh God, I *HOPE* it was the editing), and tries very hard to become a psychological thriller. It fails. Or, more accurately, it falls flat on its face.
If you are a fan of the console games, this will be at least mildly entertaining, even if not engaging. The special effects are seamless, and the make-up work is awesome. Relying on the same moments of adhrenaline that the games did, Silent Hill takes you through the twists and turns of a small town long since abandoned, for obvious reasons once you see it.
The plot is predictable, and the characters are shallow.... just like a video game. In truth, the film appeared to be little more than a two-hour FMV for one of the games. There is little character development, and not much in the way of anguish. There IS pain, however. Lots and lots of pain... agony, in fact. This film has everything along the gore gamut from the simple head-shot with a pistol to disemboweling and skinning alive. There's even a woman whose eyes bleed.
Yes, the blood and gore is there, but as the film gets messier, it also gets... well, messier! The story stops making much sense several times, and you will most likely be left at the end with a sense of nightmarish horror, but not from anything they said, or any "mindscrew" in the movie... Just from the sheer brutality.
If you're in the mood for something that will sate a hunger for gore (I know I am, sometimes), this is the perfect film. None of the violence is without cause, and while it IS gratuitous, sometimes films just NEED gratuitous violence... This is one of those. But, if you're looking for something to keep you awake at night, fill you with terror, and remind you that the Boogeyman IS real, save your $20 and go rent Event Horizon.
~Eire