Silent Hill (2006)
Silent Hill (2006)
Bringing video games to life has been a struggle for filmmakers over the years. How do you take a game that might be 20 or more hours in length, into a two hour or under film, and make it watchable? Some films stray so far from the video game that they are hard to recognize as an adaptation of the game, other times the films try to capture the feel of the game but develop their own stories, and others attempt to stay as true to the game as possible. However a film will always be a film, and never truly be the same as the game. Director Christophe Gans was a huge fan of the Silent Hill game, and he made a video interview that he sent to Konami, the developer of the Silent Hill games, telling why and how he wanted to do a film adaptation. Konami was impressed enough that they gave Gans the rights to the film adaptation of the Silent Hill game. Gans went the extra mile, and brought a 40 inch television and his Playstation 2 on to the set and he would have the cast and crew watch him play through the game, so that he could show them the camera angles and the visuals that he wanted to capture in his film. What Christophe Gans attempted to do was to make as true as possible of a film adaptation of the game as he could. He brought in most of his favourite elements, visuals, and creatures of the game, and even attempted to capture the way that the camera moves in the game. The results were one of the most dark and beautiful modern horror films. Like the video game this is a truly terrifying film, and it works very well, however the critics were not very impressed, and like most video game films, it received generally negative reviews. But I want to look at this film, because I think the critics are wrong on this one, but maybe it is because this is a film for true fans of visual horror and for gamers who want the game playing experience captured on film.
Silent Hill was directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary, Christophe Gans, and Nicolas Boukhrief. The film was produced in part by Konami, and was distributed by TriStar Pictures and Metropolitan Filmexport (France), and it was a box office success making $100.6 million against a budget of $50 million, however received generally negative reviews from the critics, and holds quite a low score of film review sites like Rotten Tomatoes.
The film is unique in that it features mainly a strong female cast playing the leads, with no heroic men, or really male dominated presences in the film, and the male characters are mostly characters in more minor or supporting roles, rather than the leading roles. Silent Hill stars Radha Mitchell as Rose Da Silva, Sean Bean plays her husband Christopher Da Silva, Jodelle Ferland plays their adopted daughter Sharon as well as the role of Alessa Gillespie as well as the role of Dark Alessa, Laurie Holden plays officer Cybil Bennett, Deborah Kara Unger plays Dahlia Gillespie (Alyssa's mother), and Alice Krige plays Christabella (the high priestess of the Brethren). The two lead characters of Rose and Cybil are well done, and serve as great heroic characters, but the real star of this film is young Jodelle Ferland in her playing of multiple roles, and playing them really really really well. Christophe Gans wanted to cast her after seeing her in Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital, Jodelle Ferland is this sweet adorable little girl that has this amazing ability to play very dark characters very well. The lines of dialogue that she delivers, and the haunting way that she delivers them would be challenging for even the best adult actors, and she does it so naturally. I truly feel that Jodelle Ferland should have received an academy award for her roles that she played in Silent Hill, and she should be recognized as one of the best child actors of all time for how well she not only played this part, but in her other roles she's done as well, this is one hell of a talented kid.
For the setting of Silent Hill, writer Roger Avary was inspired by the real-life town of Centralia Pennsylvania, where the town was abandoned because of dangerous coal fires that are burning in the coal veins and mines beneath the town. Silent Hill was however filmed in Ontario on location and in sound stages in Brantford and Hamilton Ontario. The two things that really stand out in this film, and even the critics who game it negative reviews, have praised it for are the sets and the creature designs. The sets are otherworldly and very effective, they do an amazing job at bringing the settings of the game to life, and it is absolutely beautiful and terrifying how amazing the sets look. The creature designs, which were modeled on the creature designs in the game bring to life some of the most terrifying creatures ever in a film, ranking up there with the likes of the Cenobites in Hellraiser. The great thing is most of the creature designs are done through practical effects. The sets and the creature designs alone make Silent Hill one of the greatest horror films of all time. Then having strong powerful women as the main characters, both the heroes and the villains is also something that makes this film truly amazing. Another great thing about this film is the soundtrack, and other than Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire, all of the music is from the Silent Hill video game series.
But if this film looks as amazing as I am saying, how could it have received such negative reviews you might be wondering? The main criticisms of the film are directed at the dialogue, the long runtime, and the plot (which many critics found to be confusing). It is often said about this film that the plot gets lost, but I honestly don't see it. I don't see how this plot is confusing or lacking in anyway, maybe it is because I am a gamer and I understand video game stories, maybe that is also why I don't think that there is a problem with the dialogue either. I just think that this is an all around great film, I think it has a great plot with a great twist at the end that explains everything. I think the dialogue works for the film, I like that at the beginning Rose is terrified and in shock, but once she gets a hold of herself and settles into the world, she becomes a very strong character who will do anything to save her daughter.
I absolutely love this film and I highly recommend it to horror fans, especially those who love a dark horror with breathtaking and hellish visuals, I also highly recommend it to fans of horror video games. This film is a love letter to fans of horror films and horror video games. I think that this is one of the best films at bringing to life the truly dark and horrifying world of Silent Hill, whereas Resident Evil went from being a terrifying video game to an action film series (that just happens to have zombies), Silent Hill however never casts aside the horror elements that made the game so amazing. I haven't seen the sequel to Silent Hill, but it is on my list of films I would like to see, even though it seems to have been received even more negatively. It is important to remember thought that critics, are nothing more than people who are passionate about films and who have opinions that they want to share, no one can tell you what is great, or what YOU like, so I think Silent Hill is one of the best modern horror films and one of the most visually stunning and terrifying films ever made, where as other critics have little good to say about it, so the important question is what did YOU think about it. I strongly feel that this is a must-see film and that if you are a fan of horror films and/or horror video games that you should check out this film and add it to your film collection.
Silent Hill was directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary, Christophe Gans, and Nicolas Boukhrief. The film was produced in part by Konami, and was distributed by TriStar Pictures and Metropolitan Filmexport (France), and it was a box office success making $100.6 million against a budget of $50 million, however received generally negative reviews from the critics, and holds quite a low score of film review sites like Rotten Tomatoes.
The film is unique in that it features mainly a strong female cast playing the leads, with no heroic men, or really male dominated presences in the film, and the male characters are mostly characters in more minor or supporting roles, rather than the leading roles. Silent Hill stars Radha Mitchell as Rose Da Silva, Sean Bean plays her husband Christopher Da Silva, Jodelle Ferland plays their adopted daughter Sharon as well as the role of Alessa Gillespie as well as the role of Dark Alessa, Laurie Holden plays officer Cybil Bennett, Deborah Kara Unger plays Dahlia Gillespie (Alyssa's mother), and Alice Krige plays Christabella (the high priestess of the Brethren). The two lead characters of Rose and Cybil are well done, and serve as great heroic characters, but the real star of this film is young Jodelle Ferland in her playing of multiple roles, and playing them really really really well. Christophe Gans wanted to cast her after seeing her in Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital, Jodelle Ferland is this sweet adorable little girl that has this amazing ability to play very dark characters very well. The lines of dialogue that she delivers, and the haunting way that she delivers them would be challenging for even the best adult actors, and she does it so naturally. I truly feel that Jodelle Ferland should have received an academy award for her roles that she played in Silent Hill, and she should be recognized as one of the best child actors of all time for how well she not only played this part, but in her other roles she's done as well, this is one hell of a talented kid.
For the setting of Silent Hill, writer Roger Avary was inspired by the real-life town of Centralia Pennsylvania, where the town was abandoned because of dangerous coal fires that are burning in the coal veins and mines beneath the town. Silent Hill was however filmed in Ontario on location and in sound stages in Brantford and Hamilton Ontario. The two things that really stand out in this film, and even the critics who game it negative reviews, have praised it for are the sets and the creature designs. The sets are otherworldly and very effective, they do an amazing job at bringing the settings of the game to life, and it is absolutely beautiful and terrifying how amazing the sets look. The creature designs, which were modeled on the creature designs in the game bring to life some of the most terrifying creatures ever in a film, ranking up there with the likes of the Cenobites in Hellraiser. The great thing is most of the creature designs are done through practical effects. The sets and the creature designs alone make Silent Hill one of the greatest horror films of all time. Then having strong powerful women as the main characters, both the heroes and the villains is also something that makes this film truly amazing. Another great thing about this film is the soundtrack, and other than Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire, all of the music is from the Silent Hill video game series.
But if this film looks as amazing as I am saying, how could it have received such negative reviews you might be wondering? The main criticisms of the film are directed at the dialogue, the long runtime, and the plot (which many critics found to be confusing). It is often said about this film that the plot gets lost, but I honestly don't see it. I don't see how this plot is confusing or lacking in anyway, maybe it is because I am a gamer and I understand video game stories, maybe that is also why I don't think that there is a problem with the dialogue either. I just think that this is an all around great film, I think it has a great plot with a great twist at the end that explains everything. I think the dialogue works for the film, I like that at the beginning Rose is terrified and in shock, but once she gets a hold of herself and settles into the world, she becomes a very strong character who will do anything to save her daughter.
I absolutely love this film and I highly recommend it to horror fans, especially those who love a dark horror with breathtaking and hellish visuals, I also highly recommend it to fans of horror video games. This film is a love letter to fans of horror films and horror video games. I think that this is one of the best films at bringing to life the truly dark and horrifying world of Silent Hill, whereas Resident Evil went from being a terrifying video game to an action film series (that just happens to have zombies), Silent Hill however never casts aside the horror elements that made the game so amazing. I haven't seen the sequel to Silent Hill, but it is on my list of films I would like to see, even though it seems to have been received even more negatively. It is important to remember thought that critics, are nothing more than people who are passionate about films and who have opinions that they want to share, no one can tell you what is great, or what YOU like, so I think Silent Hill is one of the best modern horror films and one of the most visually stunning and terrifying films ever made, where as other critics have little good to say about it, so the important question is what did YOU think about it. I strongly feel that this is a must-see film and that if you are a fan of horror films and/or horror video games that you should check out this film and add it to your film collection.
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