[Intrepid Homoludens]

Finally saw it this afternoon. Three words: Instant cult classic.

Wow, I haven't seen a horror movie this rich, warped, well orchestrated, and visually beautiful since Suspiria, Kubrick's The Shining, and Cronenberg's Videodrome, Scanners, and The Brood.

And actually I think the obscurity of the core story worked extremely well, because it keeps the audience in a perpetual state of imbalance, so that they're forced to look for clues and symbols, much like the concept of the original game of Silent Hill. The explanatory monologue towards the climax was almost too revealing, really. But then I supposed it was necessary in order to satisfy the clueless.

Spoiler:

But I hated that they killed Cybil Bennett off. That was cheap. She had an interesting enough back story to establish an emotional and psychological depth that, sadly, was neglected for further exploration.

Many of the best monsters entities from the first two games were used and depicted lovingly and accurately. Pyramid Head's dramatic entrance was jawdropping. They also used many of the original music and sound effects from the games. Even some of the sets (like Midwich Elementary School) were eerily accurate to the game. The first dimension shifting scene where Rose flicks on her butane lighter is EXACTLY straight out of the first Silent Hill game - absolutely magnificent. And that scene where the dimension shifts in the bathroom in the school is peerless!!

Pragmatically it's definitely a little too closed off to audiences who haven't played the first and second game, but there's definitely an exquisite sensibility in this film that you rarely ever find in typical Hollywood horror fare. And hopefully this movie will ignite substantial interest in the games themselves (I now expect there to be a Silent Hill 5 or something in the works).

I AM ABSOLUTELY BUYING THE DVD!!

[Dasilva]

I didn't find this scary at all, its ment to be horror right?

[seebaruk]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Finally saw it this afternoon. Three words: Instant cult classic.

Wow, I haven't seen a horror movie this rich, warped, well orchestrated, and visually beautiful since Suspiria, Kubrick's The Shining, and Cronenberg's Videodrome, Scanners, and The Brood.

And actually I think the obscurity of the core story worked extremely well, because it keeps the audience in a perpetual state of imbalance, so that they're forced to look for clues and symbols, much like the concept of the original game of Silent Hill. The explanatory monologue towards the climax was almost too revealing, really. But then I supposed it was necessary in order to satisfy the clueless.

Spoiler:

But I hated that they killed Cybil Bennett off. That was cheap. She had an interesting enough back story to establish an emotional and psychological depth that, sadly, was neglected for further exploration.

Many of the best monsters entities from the first two games were used and depicted lovingly and accurately. Pyramid Head's dramatic entrance was jawdropping. They also used many of the original music and sound effects from the games. Even some of the sets (like Midwich Elementary School) were eerily accurate to the game. The first dimension shifting scene where Rose flicks on her butane lighter is EXACTLY straight out of the first Silent Hill game - absolutely magnificent. And that scene where the dimension shifts in the bathroom in the school is peerless!!

Pragmatically it's definitely a little too closed off to audiences who haven't played the first and second game, but there's definitely an exquisite sensibility in this film that you rarely ever find in typical Hollywood horror fare. And hopefully this movie will ignite substantial interest in the games themselves (I now expect there to be a Silent Hill 5 or something in the works).

I AM ABSOLUTELY BUYING THE DVD!!

My sentiments exactly. I'd have preferred if they'd left out the explanatory monologue, which def felt like it was shoved in there as an afterthought to clue in non-fans, but then the critics etc would have hounded the film even more for its 'incomprehensible plot' if it was left out. Bring on the DVD! Can't wait to see the extras.

Originally Posted by Dasilva

I didn't find this scary at all, its ment to be horror right?

I wouldn't say I found it scary either, mostly cos I was cheering whenever a new monster came along There were definitely lots of tense moments though, and the atmosphere was amazing. And my gf was petrified, bless her

[RLacey]

This sounds a little too much to me like a film that's pointed a camera at the game rather than actually being great as a film. Which is fine if you've played the games and enjoy the oh-look-they-put-that-bit-in moments, but I'm not sure that it actually has anything great to offer me - as someone who hasn't played any of the SH games - other than some dubious acting.

Anyway, I'm glad that people are enjoying it .

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by RLacey

This sounds a little too much to me like a film that's pointed a camera at the game rather than actually being great as a film. Which is fine if you've played the games and enjoy the oh-look-they-put-that-bit-in moments...

You know, you could say roughly the same about movie adaptations of books: "Wow, they reproduced that scene in Out Of Africa like I imagined it in Dinesen's novel!"

Anyway, I'm glad that people are enjoying it .

It was well worth the discount matinee price.

[SakSquash]

I'm more interested in "An American Haunting."

[SamandMax]

This movie was great. You could not make a movie that perfectly captures the spirit of the game. Hopefully we'll see a sequel that tackles the storyline of SH2.

And the burning alive sequence in this one. Yeep. I rarely get uncomfortable during horror movies, but I almost had to look away.

[AFGNCAAP]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

You know, you could say roughly the same about movie adaptations of books: "Wow, they reproduced that scene in Out Of Africa like I imagined it in Dinesen's novel!"

If I'm allowed reply to that (without you feeling picked on, I mean ), I think you missed his point. It was not about how many, or how accurately, scenes are reproduced. It's usually considered a flaw when a book adaptation can't stand on its own, ie. confuses the part of the audience who hasn't read the original source. I don't think that was the case with Out of Africa (granted, I've seen it looong ago, so I may be wrong).

[eriq]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

I AM ABSOLUTELY BUYING THE DVD!!

That's all I needed to hear. I was wondering whether I should go see this or not. Now I shall!

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

If I'm allowed reply to that (without you feeling picked on, I mean ), I think you missed his point. It was not about how many, or how accurately, scenes are reproduced. It's usually considered a flaw when a book adaptation can't stand on its own, ie. confuses the part of the audience who hasn't read the original source. I don't think that was the case with Out of Africa (granted, I've seen it looong ago, so I may be wrong).

Cha-ching! This is actually the main reason why I don't like the Lord of the Rings films.

[kuddles]

I had reservations, but I was too curious.

Big mistake.

That movie was absolute garbage.

The dialogue was corny beyond belief. I already was hesitant when I heard Roger Avery was at the helm, but good god that was horrible, not that the wooden acting helped. Several members of the audience would laugh after nearly every ridiculous line, and who could blame them.

To make matters worse, someone needs to tell the director that when making a horror film, you need some scares, or at least a little tension. Not scary in the least. In fact, when it looks like there will be a build up, and I got excited, I was treated to half an hour of clumsy exposition. Which was yet another problem. The pacing was broken, and the scenes with Sean Bean were pointless and ruined the mood. Either you were bored with the tediousness, or things felt too rushed.

On a technical level, everything worked. The costumes, the atmosphere, the sound, the make-up. But on a creative level, it was a huge letdown.

I so thought this would be the video game movie to change everything. Damn it.

[SCRUGAtes13]

i saw this film today, god it was violent for a fifteen. it was a horror film i actually got scared at at parts so it's done a good job. the camera angles were great at mimicking the game and to be honest this is the best game-to-screen adaption EVER even if the silent hill games weren't as good as resi evil. worth your money.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by SCRUGAtes13

i saw this film today, god it was violent for a fifteen. it was a horror film i actually got scared at at parts so it's done a good job. the camera angles were great at mimicking the game and to be honest this is the best game-to-screen adaption EVER even if the silent hill games weren't as good as resi evil. worth your money.

Yeah, exactly what I thought too, SCRUGs. If anything, I was seriously just loving the sheer aesthetic quality of the entire movie. The art direction was superb, the choreography (of the entities) worked - it just flowed well. An imperfect yet striking sweep of style - and stylization.

Of course, it's not a perfect movie by far, even within the genre of horror, but it definitely boasts moments of obliquely poetic visions, thanks in large part to the imaginativeness of the original games.

Oh, and I was never really scared by it, though thank god I wasn't the one having to go through that great ordeal that Rose Da Silva went through.

[Bastich]

I can't say for sure if I liked it as I had a bad headache when I saw it at the theater and due to a lack of seats wound up sitting too close the screen, thus making my headache even worse.

Perhaps because of that, I spent the first half of the movie mostly bored and irritated. There was just too much mindless running around and not enough exposition(for a movie). The horrible acting didn't help either.

OTOH, the visuals were utterly awesome. You can tell a lot of effort was put into making the movie look just like the games. The Pyramid Head scenes absolutely rocked!

I really need to see it again when I'm not in pain to pass proper judgment on it though.

[Karmillo]

I just saw it tonight, I thought it was really good although it could be better.

Spoiler:

Roses "entrance" at the ending was a bit of a letdown, It probably would have been better if she got there before cybil was burned or during the burning, not after the body has had time to cool off and they are all taking 5....and even then it could have still been good if she came in with feeling but it was just dull....although it picked up when the darkness got into the church but even then they could have done better than having her blaber untill the cult leader just walks up and stabs her....
It was still a good film, especialy for a game adaption
The ending was pretty awful though....you kinda knew what had happened but you wanted to where it was going, and it doesnt feel like it would be enough just for a sequal but I guess well have to wait and see.

Although I would have preffered that the movie would have been based off of the theme in Silent hill 2 with the inner deamons and stuff opposed to the whole religiouse cult thing.

And I though that there was supposed to be no CG monsters, or was that just reffering to the nurses?

[seebaruk]

I think all of the monsters were real but touched up with CG, and if that's true then they were damn impressive.

Spoiler:

I know what you mean about the religious cult, I kind of wished they hadn't bothered with them. The plot could have definitely used some tuning, as could the awful dialogue. But I'm looking forward to the DVD just to see the fantastic creatures and Pyramid Head ripping off annoying womans skin again!

[SCRUGAtes13]

Spoiler:

you both need a slap, there was nothing wrong with the ending it was well paced and the acting wasn't exactly brilliant but it wasn't anywhere near 'bad'.

[seebaruk]

Spoiler:

Are you including me in that? I didn't mind the ending, I thought it was alright and pretty unexpected. As for the acting, I thought Rhoda (is that her first name?) and Sean Bean both did a decent job. As far as horror movies go I've seen worse, although some of the support was dodgy at best.

[Karmillo]

Originally Posted by SCRUGAtes13

Spoiler:

you both need a slap, there was nothing wrong with the ending it was well paced and the acting wasn't exactly brilliant but it wasn't anywhere near 'bad'.

Like hell it was

Spoiler:

Oooooh were Haunting yoooooou!

[SCRUGAtes13]

Spoiler:

spoiler tags are awesome, and i don't wanna argue about opinions, everyones right i guess