kinospot: Silent Hill

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Directed by: Christophe Gans.

Starring: Radha Mitchell (as Rose Da Silva), Sean Bean (as Christopher Da Silva), Laurie Holden (as Cybil Bennett), Deborah Kara Unger (as Dahlia Gillespie), Kim Coates (as Officer Thomas Gucci), Tanya Allen (as Anna), Alice Krige (as Christabella), Jodelle Ferland (as Sharon Da Silva/Alessa Gillespie), Colleen Williams (as Archivist), Ron Gabriel (as Old Mechanic).

After the continuous sleep walking episodes of Sharon, the young daughter of Rose Da Silva, the decision is made to take Sharon to the place only mentioned in her restless dreams- Silent Hill. However, the road to Silent Hill is anything but easy to access, and Rose creates a high speed chase between herself and a police officer only to end in a crash for them both. When she wakes up, Sharon has disappeared and Rose is at the entrance to the deserted, dream-like town of Silent Hill. As Rose begins the search for her daughter, she does not realize the terror and mystery surrounding her. Rose is led on a blind search for her beloved daughter, finding herself getting more and more entwined into disturbing past of Silent Hill.

You have to approach any movie adaptation of a video game with extreme trepidation. Think of the other corkers we've all caught on TV in the past: Super Mario Bros., Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil. Stinkers, one and all. Doom was vapid, but at least got close to the source material.
So what about Silent Hill? The movie opens with music lifted straight from the game itself - in fact, the entire movie contains original tracks from the game as well as some remixed score. Just as it was a fantastic and brooding background when playing the game, it works very effectively on screen.
As for the film itself, the story is a composite of story elements from the first and second games, but the final act is a monstrous and highly original thirty minutes that kept me guessing (as well as being completely grossed out). Indeed, the violence is pretty gruesome.. clever mixtures of CGI and fully made-up monsters which really add to the foreboding atmosphere.
At first, I felt nervous watching this.. not because of the visuals (which are absolutely SPOT ON.. I've never seen ANY movie adaptation that is this close to the source material.. all the comic book movies from the past few years still stray furiously).. but because of the weak opening. After I'd resigned myself to the fact that the movie was going to be disappointing, I was pleasantly surprised as soon as the main character Rose gets to Silent Hill itself. If you're a fan of the game, you won't be disappointed. If you're a horror hound, you'll love the creatures and the visuals. If you're expecting a deep movie about the relationship between estranged mother and daughter.. you're in the wrong theatre.
Highly recommended. Best horror movie I've seen in a long time.