MOVIES ADAPTED from video games are nothing out of the ordinary, unless the movie in question is “Silent Hill,” which was preceded by its video game by several years.
The film version has a lot to offer and flows just like a game, suggesting that the creators show a distinct lack of shame for its unusual origins in the gamer world. There are certainly definite “levels” or challenges which are separated by brief periods for explanations of the background or snack breaks. Kind of like a video game.
Rose Da Silva (Radha Mitchell) has a sick daughter, Sharon (Jodelle Ferland). She has sleepwalking nightmares, where she rants about a town called Silent Hill during her dreams. Of course, Rose decides to take Sharon to Silent Hill in the hope of finding a cure and possibly some answers, without mentioning the trip to her husband, Christopher (Sean Bean).
Somewhere along the way, Sharon goes missing and Rose spends the rest of her time running from grotesque, human-like beings and chasing after what seems to be a young girl. She is aided by Cybil Bennett (Laurie Holden), a tough police officer with initial antagonism, subsequent friendliness and skin-tight leather pants.
The town itself suffers from what seems to be a severe case of epilepsy, only instead of seizures, there are sporadic attacks of “darkness,” in which everything is transformed into something not unlike hell. Don’t worry though; the good thing about seizures is that they have to end eventually.
The aforementioned “levels” include one in which Rose is chased through a maze of chain-link fences by what seem to be burning childlike creatures and another in which she has to get past some deformed (and eerily humanoid) acid-spitting monsters.
As a horror film, though, “Silent Hill” just works. It mixes equal amounts of true evil and true good, and in the end everything just seems to add up and quite frankly, it was more than enough.
The movie takes chills and thrills almost all the way to the brink without going over and has just enough of the terror factor to satisfy the most resolute viewers, while still maintaining a storyline that takes quite a bit of thought and perhaps a little bit of explanation to understand in the end.
The plot is so complex and the suspense scenes so hair-raising that audience members may leave the theater scratching their heads all the way home, while simultaneously turning around to check for creepies. To truly enjoy it, potential audience members should bring with them a clear mind, an attention to detail and perhaps a teddy bear.
The movie was delightfully disturbing and, aside from those pesky slow-moving first 30 minutes, it played like video game meets seriously deranged roller coaster.
In a time when box-office thrillers are a dime a dozen, “Silent Hill” brings to the table, if not something new, then at least something entertaining that gives viewers a refreshing sense of closure, which, for a thriller, is pretty scary.