KORN

[Thorngrub]

Yeah, that's a tough call (him bein 8 and all). But he's a tough kid . . .
Still; I think you are doing the right thing by not taking a chance on exposing him to it.
There will be some serious sick shit in this one. "Not disgusting . . . just disturbing"

[TheLady]

Check THIS shit out! Review by the Horror Channel.... (you might know it's the day before the movie comes out and I have a terrible headcold. Fuck.)

Silent Hill (2006)
By Nomad / Thursday, April 20, 2006

Starring Sean Bean, Radha Mitchell, Laurie Holden, Jodelle Ferland

Directed by Christophe Gans

The town of Silent Hill sits quietly among the mountains. The stores sit empty, the streets vacant and cars lay about as if frozen in time. From the sky, ash falls like a sweet winter's snow. As you step down these streets, your footfalls’ echo is your only company... but there is something else. Down an alley nearby there is a scratching. As you draw closer, a low, strained moan lends accompaniment. Your first thought is that someone is in distress but finding the source of these sounds reveals otherwise. You are staring into the face if something horrible… something not right… and it is lurching toward you.

The video game series Silent Hill hoped to draw the player into a soft sense of security before forcing you into therapy with images seemingly from hell itself. The movie adaptation proves to be just as ambitious. From the opening scene, Silent Hill grabs you by the throat and shakes every so often to make sure you don’t miss a second of what’s happening to you. You start in the world we all live in. It’s not perfect but its home. Little Sharon DaSilva (Ferland) is plagued by nightmares of a place she doesn’t seem to remember when she wakes. Her mother Rose (Mitchell), hoping to save the sanity of her ailing child, packs up the car and with child in tow heads for the place her daughter has made real through her screams. Speeding along the mountain road, their car spins out of control, knocking Rose unconscious. When she awakens, her daughter is gone. Now, aided only by police officer Cybil Bennet (Holden) and the clues left behind by what appears to be her daughter, Rose ventures into Silent Hill and is ultimately caught up in its secrets.

Our first glimpses of Silent Hill come at a frenzied pace as Rose searches solo for her daughter. Coming down the main street, for a fan of the game, is like returning to a neighborhood you spent time in as a child. The air is thick with soot, limiting your visibility to mere feet. Everything seems as if a realistic photo copy of its game counterpart complete with store fronts, mailboxes and street signs. Rounding a corner and down an alley, Rose breezes through back streets with garage doors and signs of life long since past strewn about, all too familiar. This absence of life heightens your anticipation for what you know could be around any corner, whether you’ve played the game or not. Sooner or later Rose finds her way in doors when an air raid like siren sounds and her world goes from a quiet gray to a violent black. Ash covered streets are replaced with wet walks reflecting a glowing fire somewhere below. Decay has taken hold and rust seems to have not only overtaken steel frames, but walls and anything touching them as well. In this newly shifted world, something shrieks and twitches and almost longs for Rose’s flesh.

These scenes are intense! I can’t even recall the last time I was so locked into a movie. Radha Mitchell’s fear is so real it becomes your own. It’s not you watching Rose just flee in terror.. it’s you on the edge of your seat waiting to be able to catch your breath. Believability had to be high to pull off a lot of the scares of Silent Hill and Mitchell comes through big time. Laurie Holden is also no slouch, either, playing Cybil as a no nonsense cop, duty bound and tough as they come until thrust into a situation that should not be real. You can watch her face go through 10k emotions as she, instead of rationalizing what is happening, turns to Rose and yells "You saw that, didn’t you?! What the *beep*!" Look for supporting cast member Deborah Kara Unger, whose unearthly features brought the character of Dahlia from haggard mess to unhinged and supernatural. I’ve also got to very quickly sing the praises of Jodelle Ferland who raises the creepy little long haired girl character to an art form. Remember the cheesy demony voice from the commercials as she says "I am the Reaper"? Gone. All Jodelle needs is her timid little voice to deliver lines guaranteed to send a chill to your nether regions. Minimalist makeup makes the young actress appear less demonic and more like a fractured porcelain doll that’s taken some lumps and has had enough. Jodelle is at once the picture of innocence and the mouth of hell. Watch and you’ll see what I mean!

After a time, we become like Pavlov’s dog, conditioned to sink into our seats with the blasting of every siren. I mean... come on!! Isn’t a ghost town with ash falling from the sky bad enough? You have to watch hell take over every few hours or so, too? With hell comes familiar video game characters like the skittering black bugs, the faceless nurses and fan favorite Pyramid Head. I’ll save the rest, unseen in commercials and clips, as a surprise. None of these characters disappoint. Director Christophe Gans proves he has studied this game time and again and recreates every aspect with painstaking detail. When it comes the creatures, Christophe takes the uneasy feelings stirred up by these demons and folds that into visceral, surreal manifestations the likes of which only Clive Barker could imagine. Sound plays a huge part in sucking you into the story. Music drives you through scenes dictating the pace, reflecting feeling and sometimes, forcing your internal need to want to run. Sound effects blast across the theater adding some "jump moments" to an already heart wrenching ride. The combination of all these elements create a fully cohesive universe which at times will be hard to live in but you’ll never look away.

I have to admit, as much as I’m gushing over Silent Hill, it did seem a bit long. Folded into the story of Rose’s search for her daughter is the tale of Christopher Da Silva (Bean) who follows the trail left by his wife Rose straight into a very different Silent Hill. At times these moments overlap but eventually we have to follow Christopher again, tearing you away from Rose and her battle with an ever encroaching hell world. Granted, it is necessary to tell the story, but I’ll be curious to see how horror fans who know nothing of the games take to it. I will say that there are only two moments among all 2 hours of this film where the pacing slows down to give you back story and plot. This story holds together and sticks very closely to its source material, referencing at least the first three video games of the same name.

Now there’s one thing horror fans have been buzzing about since day one. With an R rating, blood must follow. In this, Silent Hill does not disappoint. There are moments in this movie where you expect the usual cut away from what will be an exceptionally sticky scene… and happily that doesn’t happen! The terrors of Silent Hill rip through its inhabitants with barely a pause in their steps. These are demons with an agenda christened with lots of the red stuff! By the time the movie climaxes the sets are so red, any true horror fan will stand up and clap... most likely to the odd glances of the normal folk nearby… but don’t be shy! Give the director his due. I haven’t seen a body count like this since Kong, but alas, the big furry guy didn’t leave bloody monkey prints. Now THAT would have been a completely different film, eh?

Silent Hill is without a doubt the most faithful adaptation of a video game ever made while still being a damn fun ride. You are looking at 30% mystery and 70% pure horror. There is more blood, human remains and in your face kills in this film than we’ve seen on the screen in a looooong time. So now, take note. Tell your friends. I fully expect you to get to the movies on opening weekend and make Silent Hill number 1!! You’ve been screaming for more blood on your horror plate. Now you’ve got it.

[Thorngrub]

Gettin goosepimples already. Only scanned half that article - (to avoid too many spoiler moments) - but I got the jist of it.

Hell yes.

[Thorngrub]

"There's just no way... There's just no way...
"

*keep on repeatin' that mantra, Lady*

Yeah I wanna check this one out tomorrow evening, if possible, as well. If not - then most certainly as a Sat -afternoon matinee.

[TheLady]

Hmm, every other review I'm finding says it's bad. But it's somewhat encouraging to see that half of them dismissed it simply because it's a video game-to-movie adaptation, so they had decided against liking it from the start, and the other half seemed to just not understand it. And one idiot didn't like it because Rose was nothing like the heroine in Resident Evil. She's not SUPPOSED to be! God! One thing I love about Silent Hill is that its protagonists are ordinary people sucked into this hellish world, and not gung-ho commando whoop-ass types. When Heather from part 3 finds a handgun lying on the floor and picks it up, you can tell she's never handled a gun before in her life. Two seconds later, she's forced to use it.

Apparently this is a movie for the fans, which is fine by me, but could spell trouble for everyone else.

[Adam]

Ebert has posted his review. Not really a positive one although he found the film to be one of the best-looking he's seen. It seems he felt the story was too confusing and that there was too much dialogue ("characters kept explaining things").
Whatever.

"Fuck him." - Christophe Gans

[TheLady]

HAHA! That's pretty much the way I feel about *all* the critics at the moment...

Yeah, his was one I read. I'm hoping the confusion comes from just not knowing the story of the 1st game... which I must admit is extremely confusing. I couldn't have it explained to me, I had to play the game for myself to finally go 'Whoa! I get it now!'

Plus, a lot of the critics don't understand this is Silent Hill and things don't always make a bit of sense in Silent Hill.

Even if they muck up the story, I'm glad to hear they've pretty much nailed the atmosphere and I hear the soundtrack is as gorgeous as I predicted. That alone is something.

I'm going to see it tonight. Yay!

[Adam]

There are more reviews posted at aintitcoolnews.com
In particular, read the reviews posted by Moriarty (arguably the site's best writer) and Vern. They seem to have a level-headed look to the film, pointing out the film's strengths and weaknesses but concluding the film is actually worth it and an antidote to the mostly-shit horror films we've been fed (those involving teens or remakes of Japan horror films).

Frankly, I'm seeing it no matter what. Now I just got to pick a time Saturday.

[Thorngrub]

yeah, me too. Possibly tonight (depending) . . . damn I'm psyched

[TheLady]

Vern's review is great! I related to everything he said, so if he liked it, I'm not going to worry.
Especially liked this: "You motherfuckers are too literal. This is not a movie for people who think literally."

Thank God.

[Thorngrub]

Yeah. Literal people make me sick.

[Adam]

Literal people = shit

[Adam]

Well, at least it doesn't sound like a total loss. I pissed away my chance to see it today but maybe I'll have time tomorrow.

I've resumed playing SH2 (after playing and beating The Matrix: Path of Neo finally today).
I've also searched over town to find a copy of the first game but its REALLY hard to snag a copy from a retailer (especially one that still sells PSone games).
A couple of stores still have copies of SH3 but, as a goofy-ass completist, I feel that I must get both or the first game first.

[Adam]

And is the soundtrack available yet? I've been to 2 stores today and couldn't find a copy of it.

[TheLady]

I haven't been able to find the soundtrack, either. And I feel your pain about trying to find SH1. I finally gave up and downloaded it, but I don't recommend that. Took me days to get it and then configuring it was a bitch. The graphics and sound are terrible and the controls are even worse. I finally muddled through it all, though.