[SakSquash]

The movie is getting bombed. Don't say I didn't warn you.

[sethsez]

Originally Posted by Spiwak

Silent Hill a cult movie in the same league as Suspiria and David Cronenberg....well, I'll save my negative comments till I see it.

Actually, I'd say it's a fair assessment. I've seen it, and this movie has so much in common with Suspiria and Inferno that it's not even funny. Make no mistake, this is half Silent Hill games and half supernatural Argento movies. Hell, the main villain of Silent Hill just reeks of Miss Tanner from Suspiria, and the structure is very similar.

Critics will hate it, audiences won't know what to make of it, and a small portion of the population will embrace it.

[RemiO]

What sethsez said. I just came back from watching the movie, and the Argento meets the Silent Hill games comparison is spot on. Seeing that I like both, I also enjoyed the movie a lot. Nice and eerie stuff, and while I probably prefer some of the games, I'd say this is the best horror movie I've seen in a long time.

Also, how it goes from

Spoiler:

the creepy ending into "You're Not Here"'

wins.

[Orange Brat]

I saw it earlier tonight. It was excellent and probably 90-95% faithful to the source. They had to go and explain why there's always fog and the whole townsfolk thing was new(I think), but the look, music, sound, and vibe were all spot on. The demon children were creepy, Pyramid Head was great, and the use of one of the final bosses unexpected. Even the film grain and hyperstylized acting was intact. A monologue was even included and I think that's from the end of SH2(or one of the endings). None of that's too surprising given Roger Avary is crazy about the games.

[RemiO]

So is Gans. ; He had been working on getting the rights for the game since he played the first one in '99 or whatever.

[Lucien21]

See what I thought in the Recent movies seen thread.


Incase you can't be bothered.


It sucked.

[jjacob]

Too bad How enjoyable, would you say, is the film to someone who's not played any of the SH games (such as myself)?

[Lucien21]

I doubt you'll get it.

It an excellent recreation of elements of the game but unless you know the story I don't think you'll get what is going on.

The plot and dialogue are a dreadful mess

[sethsez]

Why do people keep saying it's hard to follow? All the elements needed to understand the story are presented in the movie, and even if you don't catch it all the first time, there's a big freakin' infodump near the end that lays everything on the table. And if that still ain't enough, the bible quotes slathered all over the film should be. The movie puts far more effort into explaining what the hell is going on than any of the games ever have.

The only part that's ambiguous is the ending, but playing the games won't help with that at all because it's not related to any of them.

[Orange Brat]

Yeah, the plot was a pretty cut and dry tale of well I can't say or that would spoil it. But, it was pretty perfect. Great dialogue and acting and everything. The music was the clincher.

[imichaelj]

I managed to catch Silent Hill at an evening showing last night. I haven't played any of the games, but I found it to be a damn good film anyway. I was pleased that Gans didn't make much use of "jump" moments--sudden screams and so on--but rather built up the intensity in each scene. I'd glance down the row just after a particularly intense scene would end, and everyone would be pressed as far back as possible in their seats.

[sethsez]

I would also say that everyone who enjoys this movie and hasn't played the games should play the first two, with 2 being a priority.

[imichaelj]

Originally Posted by sethsez

I would also say that everyone who enjoys this movie and hasn't played the games should play the first two, with 2 being a priority.

I'm definitely planning to. A few of the folks I saw the movie with were huge fans of the games and they suggested I play them if I liked the movie. I did play the demo of SH3 and liked it a lot. Something about the series resonates more with me than Resident Evil, assuming the movie is anything to go by.

[sethsez]

Well, there's a difference in feel between Silent Hill 2, and 1 & 3. 1 & 3 are just completely cracked, with intense imagery that goes for broke. 2 is more subdued at first glance, but due to the nature of the imagery it uses it's more successful at getting under your skin. 1 & 3 will scare the shit out of you, 2 will disturb you and make you feel dirty.

I also think 2 is one of the best games of the past decade.

[Melanie68]

Originally Posted by sethsez

Why do people keep saying it's hard to follow? All the elements needed to understand the story are presented in the movie, and even if you don't catch it all the first time, there's a big freakin' infodump near the end that lays everything on the table.

Not having seen the movie, I would say having a big 'infodump' at the end sounds sloppy to me. It sounds like the writer couldn't be bothered to write a screenplay that is followable throughout the movie and covered his ass by having that at the end.

[sethsez]

Originally Posted by Melanie68

Not having seen the movie, I would say having a big 'infodump' at the end sounds sloppy to me. It sounds like the writer couldn't be bothered to write a screenplay that is followable throughout the movie and covered his ass by having that at the end.

Avary's original script had little dialog and was intentionally vague. Marketing people said "this needs a more comprehensible plot" (completely missing the point of the thing) so Avary stuck that in there.

It's definitely the movie's low point, but I don't entirely blame Avary.

[imichaelj]

Originally Posted by sethsez

Avary's original script had little dialog and was intentionally vague. Marketing people said "this needs a more comprehensible plot" (completely missing the point of the thing) so Avary stuck that in there.

It's definitely the movie's low point, but I don't entirely blame Avary.

I must be critically incompetent. I didn't feel like there was really anything resembling an "infodump" in the film. If there was, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I was interested in learning more about Silent Hill and what actually happened there, so Christopher's investigation and the lengthy explanation with Alessa in the later part of the movie were both rather satisfying.

It seems marketing also told Gans to write in more male characters, yet--as with the infodump--they didn't seem out of place.

[seebaruk]

I was happy with the film, it was very true to the games in atmosphere and the monsters were quality (demon babies yahhhh!) The mannequin dudes were sweet too, and I wanted to cheer when Pyramid Head came on dragging his huge ****-off knife. Acting mostly sucked, and dialogue verged on hilarious at times, but the plot was faithful to the first game (I can see how non-fans like my gf were confused though).

Spoiler:

..And evil preacher womans death was fantastically messy, woohoo!

[imichaelj]

Originally Posted by seebaruk

I was happy with the film, it was very true to the games in atmosphere and the monsters were quality (demon babies yahhhh!) The mannequin dudes were sweet too, and I wanted to cheer when Pyramid Head came on dragging his huge ****-off knife. Acting mostly sucked, and dialogue verged on hilarious at times, but the plot was faithful to the first game (I can see how non-fans like my gf were confused though).

The scenes with Pyramidsie were some of the most "horrific" in the film. Especially the one in the school. *shudder*

Originally Posted by seebaruk

Spoiler:

..And evil preacher womans death was fantastically messy, woohoo!

Talk about an understatement.

[seebaruk]

Spoiler:

Hehe, yep! I was worried she was gonna just get shot in the face by Cybil, but oh no. The film was pretty restrained on the gore til Pyramidsie tore annoying girls skin off, then it started to get pretty grim, especially those final 5 mins!