Silent Hill follows Rose (played by Radha Mitchell), beleaguered parent of adopted young daughter Sharon, a troubled girl prone to episodes of dangerous sleepwalking and screaming fits. She seems to be plagued by dreams of a place called Silent Hill, drawing twisted pictures, but never remembering it. Rose decides that the only way to cure her is to return to what must be Sharon's birthplace. Things don't go smoothly as they roll into the now deserted town; they crash the car trying to escape a nosy cop named Cybil Bennett (yes finally, an actual character from the game!) and Sharon goes missing. Things only go downhill as poor Rose searches for her child in a town that is always foggy, snows ash continually, and is filled to capacity with creepy creatures the likes of which the silver screen has never seen.
While Silent Hill the movie doesn't exactly follow the storyline of any iteration of the game, it utilizes heavy doses of the game elements throughout, such as characters like Cybil Bennett, Dahlia and Allessa Gillespie, along with lots of baddies from the game. As Rose desperately searches for Sharon, the town around her begins to degrade, becoming a corpse-ridden, rusted out area of despair and horror. Apparently, there are a few remaining survivors in Silent Hill who have formed a cult and they take refuge in the church. Those who don't face fan favorites from the game like deranged nurses who wield blades but have no faces, a terrifying guy named Red Pyramid who wields a giant blade, and vicious imps, among other things. Basically, the storyline here makes no more sense than the ones in the game, but as a horror film, it works. What's more, there are many times when you will swear you are looking at a scene straight from the game, since many areas were effectively duplicated with frightening effect.
There's a small bit of star power in Silent Hill, however the filmmakers opted for actors from mostly indie films, and I think it worked very well. Super badass cop Cybil Bennett is played by Laurie Holden and let me tell you, this girl IS Cybil. She is fantastic in the role and very believable. It also doesn't hurt that I was always a fan of hers from her role in X Files as Mulder's informant, Marita Covarrubias. Then there's Sean Bean, as Sharon's dad Chris, who has played in everything from National Treasure to Lord of the Rings. Sean does a good job of playing the tormented father, however this is overall a female-driven film, so his is simply a cursory role.
This movie is R rated for a reason as the gore is very graphic and definitely not for the kiddies or the squeamish. It's, shall we say, "creative" to say the least. Silent Hill will leave you disturbed on many levels, and will also have you questioning what exactly did happen at the end of the movie. However, it's a good videogame adaptation for a movie and a good stand-alone horror film as well. Those who aren't familiar with the game will only be slightly more confused than those of us who are.
Special features include previews (Ghost Rider!) and a 6 part making-of featurette which I found very informative. I was completely stunned to find out that the creatures were all actual people in suits and not CG as I had assumed. If nothing else, simply to see these nightmarish creations is worth the price of admission... and the bad dreams that come with it. :P If you want to be creeped out by some of the most amazing movie characters ever, and some fantastic special effects, all the while being thoroughly disturbed and confused, give Silent Hill a spin. It's a good, gory, effed-up movie experience. But I cannot stress enough that this is for adults only.
