The Silent Hill movie kicked ass

[t3]

I first reacted to news of a Silent Hill movie with cautious optimism, but the more I saw of it the more excited I became. (Especially since I could rest assured that Uwe Boll was safely barred from any involvement with it.) Now I have seen it, and I can definitively say it was face-rockingly awesome. Yes, FACE-ROCKINGLY. If you haven't seen it, I'd suggest going and doing so before I dive into the numerous kickass aspects of the film.

Okay, back? Good.

DAMN that was a bloodymovie. They did a fine job of translating the game creatures into glorified CG; what was a nightmarishly gory ordeal for Silent Hill virgins was delightful fan service for the rest of us game-savvy types. (Though admittedly, Pyramid Head skinning that retarded child alive even took me by surprise.) ALl the usual symbolism was there (whirling fans all 'round) and I like how they even managed to alter the creature's origins ever so slightly so that their presence still made sense. (I theorize that PH was born of Dahlia's guilt over sacraficing her child, f'r instance.) They even had the characters relying on maps in their hopeless effort to navigate the otherworld. And that's not even to mention they left enough open at the end for a sequel wherein a man is searching for his missing/dead wife.

So all in all, my reaction to the movie is one of satisfied approval. Yes.

[Domo]

(Though admittedly, Pyramid Head skinning that retarded child alive even took me by surprise.)

...this is the kind of thing that, when read in reference to a film you haven't seen yet, makes you never want to see that film.

[-Kyle-]

SPOILERS, DUDE!!

Rotten Tomatoes says no, but all you guys say yes. I trust the people, not the Ebert.

[t3]

...this is the kind of thing that, when read in reference to a film you haven't seen yet, makes you never want to see that film.

Well, if it's any consolation, the "child" was more of an older teen/early 20's-ager.

[trog]

I want to see this movie for Pyramid Head if nothing else.

[Domo]

Mental image!


God, I need to go watch something cute to take my mind of the imagined image of a pyramid-headed man skinning a baby.

[Awesome McManly]

Man, that movie was fucking awesome!

I had only played silent Hill once a long time ago, and even then I didn't get very far in the game. This was really my first introduction to it, and now I want to go out and play the games. I couldn't believe that woman got fucked with barbed wire before exploding from the inside. That was fucking ridiculous.

so... the chick and her (figment)daughter are dead at the end, right?

[Urchin]

GUYS THE MOVIE WAS AMAZING OH MY GOD

Well, the first half, minus the first fifteen minutes or so. When it stuck with the game, it was absolutely amazing. They did more minute stuff like the crazy camera movements when Harry/Rose goes down that first alleyway and the environments were perfect and beautiful. The transitions between foggy and nitemare SH were so awesome. I really wish there was more PH; even though he's only there for fanservice in the first place, he rocked so hard. I was shaking and squealing from excitement during a lot of the movie.

I think the religious overtones were overdone a bit, though. I think one reviewer even said that he thought it was an anti-war message.

I have mixed feelings about the second half of the movie though, when it breaks from the game completely. It was still great, but the end felt like more of a gore-fest than a proper ending.

The acting was mediocre, and Cheryl/Sharon/Alessa was especially bad. I am really tired of spooky girls with long hair (Sadako style); Cheryl/Alessa is way cuter with short hair. But either way, the movie wasn't made to be a masterpiece in acting or anything.

I'm going to go see it a few more times, and maybe find somewhere to download it. I am going to watch this movie again and again and again.

I'm such a loser. :(

[Komrade Kayce]

The movie was a BRILLIANT adaptation of the game.

That being said, if you liked the game, youll love the movie.

If you know shit about the game, like Ebert, you'll feel like you're missing something from the movie. Its true, its like watching the third harry potter without reading the book, theres shit you're just like ???.

For those of you who never played the games... the town of Silent Hill is sort of like a form of purgatory. Every person who ends up coming to it has been drawn in by something, the town is almost like a 'living creature'. Every single person drawn to it has comitted some sort of sin and the difficulty of surviving and the encounters encountered are all dependant upon what this sin is.

If the charcter(s) survive, they are judged repent for the sin and allowed to leave. If they die... well, thats being found guilty, and you're lost with the town forever.

SH1 had one of the best endings in my opinion. The beginning of the game started with you slamming into a telephone pole with your daughter in the car. You wake up, your daughter is gone. The whole game involves you finding her, the curse is released upon the town, etc. The 'bad ending' (there are multiple endings for every game) at the end of the game shows that your character never left the car. in fact, throughout the whole game, the town judged him unworthy all within his mind, hes been in a coma. And he dies right there, at the side of the road, meaning the whole game meant shit.

Much love to Roger Avery and Chritopher Gans (sp?) for not fucking this up. Thank you, oh gods, for not being another Uwe Boll/Paul Anderson production. Thank you for actually playing the games and running the story around it.

[Urchin]

And he dies right there, at the side of the road, meaning the whole game meant shit.
Well, that's the worst ending and not the official ending. The official ending (as defined by what SH3 starts off with) is that Cybil dies, and Harry runs off with a reborn Cheryl.

I didn't understand the ending of the movie though. Did it go off of the worst ending?

[t3]

I have mixed feelings about the second half of the movie though, when it breaks from the game completely. It was still great, but the end felt like more of a gore-fest than a proper ending.

The acting was mediocre, and Cheryl/Sharon/Alessa was especially bad. I am really tired of spooky girls with long hair (Sadako style); Cheryl/Alessa is way cuter with short hair. But either way, the movie wasn't made to be a masterpiece in acting or anything.

Yeah, it seems like they were playing it safe and trying to get as much SH-lore stuff crammed into 2 hours as they could (where the games had four 9+ hour installments to reveal the details gradually and at the player's discression.) I wasn't too gung-ho about the cultists still living in the town; the games have a really claustrophobic vibe by making it seem like you're all but the last person on earth. However, I thought the haz-mat suited thugs ransacking buildings was a neat touch; sort of like the Los Plagas in RH4. If Silent Hill 5 were to include corporeal baddies to attack you in the real world in addition to the monsters from Otherworld like that, it'd seem even more apoctalyptic. Then there really is nowhere to hide.

The only thing that sorta made me cringe in the trailer was the little kid having a big, deep man voice dubbing them as they said "I AM THE REAPER." Made it look like another "The Ring" type cheese-fest. Glad to see that was just someone's bad marketing idea at work.

I am assuming that the movie's ending was leaving the door open for a SH2-esque sequel scenario. I mean, the husband is now obsessed with SIlent Hill, and that's where his wife and daughter vanished to... quite a different direction from the games, but then the movie is based off of them, same as witha book adaption.

Haha. But the Dead or Alive movie is going to suck. Hard.

[Komrade Kayce]

Haha. But the Dead or Alive movie is going to suck. Hard.

I didnt hear anything about a DoA movie, but Ive been hearing stuff about a Soul Calibur movie.

I think a SC movie would work extremely well. Even if you dont like the games... theres a lot of backstory that goes on behind the scenes, especially with Seigfried/Nightmare gaining the Soul Edge and going on a killing spree.

[Urchin]

The only thing that sorta made me cringe in the trailer was the little kid having a big, deep man voice dubbing them as they said "I AM THE REAPER." Made it look like another "The Ring" type cheese-fest. Glad to see that was just someone's bad marketing idea at work.
Didn't see that trailer. Hmm.

Another part that you couldn't help but cringe at was where Alessa holds out her arms and says, "I'm on fire!" It was just terrible and almost funny. It would have been much creepier if she held out her arms and just said nothing.

Yeah. The dialogue was bad.

[ImWearingUrSkin]

I forgot it was coming out so soon. I wanted to smuggle my little boy into it. I may still try, this week.

[banky]

I liked it. Felt very much like any of the games.

[maxx]

I enjoyed the movie myself, I really liked the layouts of the 'Otherworld' combined with the shrieking of the siren(good SH1 times), very well done. Though the movie was very lengthy and quite a bit of the acting was...not so great, the atmosphere and story were overall satisfying, nothing perfect or box-office hit, just an amusing film.

[xsbs52x]

ive never played the games, but, aside from being somewhat confused at times, i really enjoyed this movie. it succeeded in making me say "holy shit what the FUCK" several times, which is a good thing. i mean, when that girl got her skin ripped clean off, im pretty sure my jaw just fell open. same goes for the barbed-wire rape. yeah, the acting was meh but it was still a pretty freaky movie.

oh, by the way, i looked up the game online to see if maybe i could get some insight into what the hell the ending was all about. i didnt find anything really informative, but i did read that none of the monsters were done in CG; they were all real actors covered in latex and make-up, with some re-touching done digitally. also, i read that a lot of the creatures were filmed backwards to give it that creepy jittery effect.

[Komrade Kayce]

I forgot it was coming out so soon. I wanted to smuggle my little boy into it. I may still try, this week.


Oh Liz. Think of all those extra years you'll have access to a student discount for.

[Urchin]

oh, by the way, i looked up the game online to see if maybe i could get some insight into what the hell the ending was all about.
I don't know about the ending of the movie, but if you're looking for game related plot stuff with spoilers aplenty, I'd reference CVXFREAK and Orca782's <a href="http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/silent_hill_plot_a.txt">plot guide</a>. (Though I really like how Dan Birlew explains the games too.)

Yeah.

I'll go see it again tomorrow.

[steffi]

umm. well, since they stayed in the fog I am guessing they're still in silent hill because something was left undone. maybe?

[xsbs52x]

yeah well i mean i got that they were still trapped in silent hill/the other dimension or whatever, but it was just so unexplained that i thought i probably just missed something cause i never played the games. but i guess it was just to leave it open for a sequel.

[Komrade Kayce]

Im pretty sure they're dead/part of the town. They didnt survive, the town judged them unworthy. Now we can see Boromir ride in on horse in number 2 to save them.

[t3]

http://www.translatedmemories.com is also an excellent place for insight into the game stories, as well as details about all the monsters, human characters, and the nature of Otherworld. Obviously, collosal spoilers thar be.