Silent Hill
This post was intended to go up just after I saw Silent Hill, but I slacked off big time. I enjoyed the Silent Hill movie. It was creepy and interesting, though certainly not a great movie. It did, however, pique my curiosity toward the Silent Hill games, and I've since picked up SH1 and SH3. I'm interested to see what parts of the movie came from the games and also to delve into Silent Hill's sordid history in a little more depth.
Like I said, the movie was enjoyable. It doesn't take long to get going, as the protagonist, Rose, and her daughter end up in Silent Hill within about 10 minutes. Things get creepy almost immediately, and I began to understand what drew people to the Silent Hill series' brand of horror. I think the movie did an admirable job of porting the look and feel of the things (monsters, sounds, ambiance, etc.) that made the games so disturbing.
Certainly, there were parts of the movie that were very disturbing. Basically, any time Rose descended into the 'dark' Silent Hill, things got grotesque. Probably, the worst offense came near the end of the movie, when a character was lifted into the air, suspended by sentient barbed wire, while other wires were driven up between her legs, through her torso before ripping her apart. Meanwhile, a little girl who was essentially the embodiment of the devil danced in the pouring blood as if it were a warm spring rain.
While most of these disturbing bits served to heighten the tension, other disturbing parts took away from the movie. In particular, some of the writing was dubious to say the least. My favorite bad line was when Rose shouts, "Your faith brings DEATH!" You probably have to see it to appreciate how it made me cringe just as much as any gory scene in the movie. Another thing that bothered me is that the bulk of the movie is structured such that Rose finds a clue as to where her daughter is, she sees her daughter (who runs away), then stuff gets evil, then she finds another clue.
That said, from a game-to-movie standpoint, I think Silent Hill was a success. It did a fantastic job of presenting and unraveling the mystery that is the town of Silent Hill, and it was deeply disturbing to boot. It faithfully (I think) recreated the game world and story, and added other small touches (like prerendered-looking environments) from the game, without blatantly shouting "Hey! This is based on a game! Check it out, this is from the game!" As such, the Silent Hill movie stands up well as a film (albeit not a great one), which is a huge accomplishment for a game-to-movie translation.
As for the games, I haven't really delved into them yet. I popped the original SH in for a little while, and I can tell you that the first 10 minutes of the game are recreated almost perfectly in Rose's first 10 minutes in Silent Hill. And despite my earlier groaning about the movie's dialogue, the acting in the game is way worse. The game is definitely creepy and just about as uncomfortable to play as it is to watch the movie. It may be a while before you see my post about the Silent Hill games, cause I'll have to work up a good deal of courage before I go back to them.
-Joule
Like I said, the movie was enjoyable. It doesn't take long to get going, as the protagonist, Rose, and her daughter end up in Silent Hill within about 10 minutes. Things get creepy almost immediately, and I began to understand what drew people to the Silent Hill series' brand of horror. I think the movie did an admirable job of porting the look and feel of the things (monsters, sounds, ambiance, etc.) that made the games so disturbing.
Certainly, there were parts of the movie that were very disturbing. Basically, any time Rose descended into the 'dark' Silent Hill, things got grotesque. Probably, the worst offense came near the end of the movie, when a character was lifted into the air, suspended by sentient barbed wire, while other wires were driven up between her legs, through her torso before ripping her apart. Meanwhile, a little girl who was essentially the embodiment of the devil danced in the pouring blood as if it were a warm spring rain.
While most of these disturbing bits served to heighten the tension, other disturbing parts took away from the movie. In particular, some of the writing was dubious to say the least. My favorite bad line was when Rose shouts, "Your faith brings DEATH!" You probably have to see it to appreciate how it made me cringe just as much as any gory scene in the movie. Another thing that bothered me is that the bulk of the movie is structured such that Rose finds a clue as to where her daughter is, she sees her daughter (who runs away), then stuff gets evil, then she finds another clue.
That said, from a game-to-movie standpoint, I think Silent Hill was a success. It did a fantastic job of presenting and unraveling the mystery that is the town of Silent Hill, and it was deeply disturbing to boot. It faithfully (I think) recreated the game world and story, and added other small touches (like prerendered-looking environments) from the game, without blatantly shouting "Hey! This is based on a game! Check it out, this is from the game!" As such, the Silent Hill movie stands up well as a film (albeit not a great one), which is a huge accomplishment for a game-to-movie translation.
As for the games, I haven't really delved into them yet. I popped the original SH in for a little while, and I can tell you that the first 10 minutes of the game are recreated almost perfectly in Rose's first 10 minutes in Silent Hill. And despite my earlier groaning about the movie's dialogue, the acting in the game is way worse. The game is definitely creepy and just about as uncomfortable to play as it is to watch the movie. It may be a while before you see my post about the Silent Hill games, cause I'll have to work up a good deal of courage before I go back to them.
-Joule
posted by Voomp at
11:52 AM
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