Let’s face some facts here. Movies spawned from games generally don’t work. Doom was terrible, Bloodrayne was awful, and Resident Evil made gamers turn away in droves. Necks twinge and anxiety wells whenever Hollywood and movie studio execs get an idea in their heads to convert a much-loved game into a movie. So, Sony Pictures buys up the rights to a much-loved Konami (game production studio) game called ‘Silent Hill’ and many a gamer wonders what fate will befall such a classic series of games. Is it “Doom”-ed, so to speak? Or, can a movie be made from a game that stays true to the subject matter and instead deliver a great movie that can win over cynical gamers and movie goers alike?
Welcome To Silent Hill
The original Silent Hill game was released on the first Sony Playstation in 1999 and rapidly became a cult gaming classic. It was a third-person perspective puzzle/action game which combined genuinely scary, unnerving “survival horror” (ala Resident Evil) with a series of simple to complex puzzles. The premise of the Silent Games (of which there are now four) was to survive in a small, seemingly deserted, and isolated American town while finding someone or something that has been lost.
The characters in each of the games would find themselves surrounded by fog once they have entered Silent Hill. The player can enter buildings and explore this shabby, ramshackle town. But the world of Silent Hill is not all it seems. Darkness will suddenly fall with the eerie blast of an air raid style siren. The Silent Hill world changes dramatically. For instance, what was once a rundown old school becomes a dark, monster-infested hellhole; it’s an almost alternative reality.
Wikipedia has an excellent history of Silent Hill, but we shall borrow an excellent quote to summarize the key elements that made the game so strong:
“The games’ visual design has come in for strong praise, depicting dark, fog-enshrouded, decaying environments enhanced by chilling (and very sudden) sound effects and thoroughly unnatural and disturbing creature designs. Composer Akira Yamaoka has provided atmospheric and blue-smurf emotional music for the series, which ranges from the first game’s post-industrial noise music to more traditional melancholy piano solos to heavy rock pieces. Many fans and reviewers have referred to the Silent Hill games as among the most disturbing ever made.
Gameplay elements that create the unique atmosphere in the game are the dense fogpitch black settings, limiting visibility to about a three foot diameter about the character, coupled with the use of a radio that emits some of the so-called ‘chilling sound effects’ whenever a monster comes close to the main character. This creates a general feeling of paranoia in the player. One finds themselves dreading hearing the noises that indicate the presence of the monsters roaming the streets. Being unable to see them the player is forced to either run or hope they are facing in the correct direction for attack. This element is what distinguishes the series from other horror video games, which usually resort to simple surprise tactics, as opposed to suspense.”
How can that be translated to the big screen successfully? Anyone who has played the game (including this reviewer) will take note of its intense atmosphere and beautiful, decayed visuals. Can it be done?
The Silent Hill Story
The plot of the movie is a combination of pieces primarily from Silent Hill games 1 and 2. A central plot runs through the movie: A young girl (named Sharon Da Silva) sleepwalks at night and often into dangerous situations. Her frantic parents (Rose & Chris Da Silva) try desperately to understand what is troubling their young daughter. Rose, at her wits’ end, decides to seek out the town of Silent Hill that Sharon talks about in her sleepwalks and takes her there. Rose crashes the car while on route to Silent Hill after a run-in with a local police officer (Cybil Bennett). When Rose wakes up, Sharon is nowhere to be found. A dense fog surrounds her and she heads into Silent Hill to find her daughter.
Rose at first seems confused by the dense fog and ash flakes falling from the sky that resemble snow until a loud siren is heard and darkness falls rapidly. The Silent Hill world changes for the first of multiple times in the movie.
The movie also contains an interesting subplot involving Rose’s husband Chris, who decides to follow his wife and child to Silent Hill when he can no longer contact Rose. He finds a different Silent Hill to what Rose sees and his exploration around the surrounding town reveals a lot of critically important information later in the movie.
The plot is strong, well thought out, and cleverly pieced together over the two-hour-plus runtime (rather long for a horror/gore movie). The tension builds long before the story truly starts to make complete sense. This provides a great sense of mystery rather than simply confusion. Just enough information is given when needed as the story slowly unravel. This is a style taken directly from the games. The final pieces only truly fit together near the end. There are some minor plot holes, but these are few and far between. None of them affect the strength of the story telling and Silent Hill fans will love the blanks that the movie fills in. It stays true to the Silent Hill games storyline and does not attempt in any way to alter it (unlike Doom). The non-gaming moviegoer may find some parts lacking in detail, but this shouldn’t detract much as the story is very
complete.
Hearing Silent Hill
The main actors are:
- Sean Bean – Chris Da Silva (Sharon’s father)
- Radha Mitchell – Rose Da Silva (Sharon’s mother)
- Laurie Holden – Cybil Bennet (local police officer)
- Jodelle Ferland – Sharon Da Silva (young girl)
Radha Mitchell’s character Rose is the core of the movie. The movie follows her path through the buildings and streets of Silent Hill as previously mentioned. Radha’s performance in this movie is stellar. Her acting is strong and believable. You really believe she is scared when she is faced with the horrors and monsters of the alternative Silent Hill. The look of terror on her face when she realizes her daughter is missing is equally as convincing. She certainly appears to have been given good, strong guidance by director Christophe Gans. She holds her own on screen even during some of the more visceral and brutal scenes of the movie.
Radha’s character is strongly supported by Laurie Holden in the part of the local no-nonsense cop Cybil Bennett. A strong-minded character, she becomes a strong ally to Rose in the madness, even if at first she is wary of the distressed Rose. Laurie Holden delivers a great performance as Cybil, who is a true character from the Silent Hill games. She breathes life into the once 3D pixelated model fans will remember dearly.
Sean Beans performance as Chris is good but definitely the weakest of the movie. An English actor playing an American can be done but the accent he uses here is, quite frankly, awful. While playing a convincing character distraught at the sudden disappearance of his wife and daughter he is good, but his character is not given so much to work with in comparison to Radha, Laurie and Jodelle.
Jodelle Ferland plays the role of Sharon with gusto, never quite revealing everything about her character. She delivers a fabulous performance for a young actress. Flicking between terrified and wide eyes in one easy swoop, she really does look like the ‘little girl lost’. In later scenes (during a flashback storyboard), she delivers a performance that must have been tough to film. It is incredible to watch.
The other assembled members of the cast all pull off their parts with ease and there is no real “deadwood” acting in the movie at all. Excellent!
Seeing Silent Hill
Avid fans of the SH series will remember the incredible attention to detail in the various worlds of Silent Hill, especially the normal, the foggy, and the hell. Straying from the classic elements would have been the kiss of death to this movie. Thankfully this was not the case.
Gans and his team faithfully recreate every nook and cranny of Silent Hill in its true glory. I cannot stress enough just how amazing the set design for this movie is. It looks EXACTLY like the game. From the streets with deserted shops to the decaying, dying walls in the hospital, Gans produced a living breathing version of SH bar-none.
The camera movement, direction and placement are as equally as good. There are so many parts of the movie that are faithfully copied from the game. One good example is in the first segment when the world goes into darkness. The camera angles, lighting, and sounds are almost carbon copy replicas from the first Silent Hill game. It’s outstanding to watch regardless of whether you’re a fan of the game or not. The direction is tight and punchy. It sends chills every time that air-raid siren goes off and Silent Hill is plunged into darkness. This movies sets are direction are stellar. No corners are cut and it all works to help create a taut and frightening world.
The special effects in this movie are a joy to behold. The real time transforming from light to dark Silent Hill is jawdroppingingly good. It is spectacular when the walls peel and rust appears over pristine railings. Watching the Silent Hill world change before your eyes in breathtaking. But there is more than just making the world dark and foreboding. You feel consumed into the dark world instantly. The CGI is very good and I didn’t spot any visual flaws or obvious examples where it was clearly computer generated. Subtle, but powerful, work.
Gans and his team needed to introduce the assorted malformed creatures of alternative Silent Hill. This is where the special effects really catch you. All of the creatures created for the movie come from the game. We have the mites (tiny little bugs that will climb onto your body in a swarm), the mummified nurses in the hospital and, my personal favourite, Pyramid Head. It’s truly a special moment (as a fan of the game) to see Pyramid Head brought to life on camera: an imposing tall, muscularly built body with a metal pyramid for a head. Pyramid Head carries/drags a huge machete that is almost the same size of his body. He looks purely evil and utterly menacing. One particular scene has another character caught by Pyramid Head and is visually skinned in one swift movement. It’s a gory but intense scene.
Fans of the games will love the authentic look of the town while those who are unfamiliar with the game should find the town equally engaging. It is a beautiful created world which leads you in. Desolate at first, it is cold to the eyes before the siren calls and darkness descends so quickly onto Silent Hill.
Cold Silent Hill
Silent Hill is gory in places. Very gory. This movie does not follow recent tradition of movies with close up camera shots, fast editing and moving away from the horror just before it happens. The horror is placed directly in front of you. The skinning scene is brutal but engaging as it’s not drawn out and happens swiftly. Those who are squeamish should perhaps stay away though. Horror aficionados should love this. I know I certainly enjoyed the pace of the action and visual spectacle. The moody music is recycled straight from the game and fits perfectly. Another bonus point for game-to-movie conversion. Hint: listen to the song playing on the radio in Chris Da Silvas’ car.
I was initially going to summarise this movie into sections for Silent Hill game fans and for movie-only viewers, but the movie is so engaging that both groups will gain equal enjoyment from this film. Silent Hill is a shot in the arm for all game-to-movie conversions. Gans has executed a masterfully faithful conversion that is a sight to behold. Visually amazing, strong script, excellent performances and a well thought out production. This has restored my faith in the possibility that a much-loved game can be made into a movie that will appeal to gamers and moviegoers alike. There is no divide with this movie.
This reviewer does not tend to “gush” over movies often but this is an exception; I absolutely love this film. It’s equally as strong even if you aren’t familiar with the source material. I feel this film will go on to become a cult classic. If you are a horror fan, Silent Hill fan, or just want something different to see at the flicks, see Silent Hill. I don’t think you will disappointed.
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