Silent Hill
Year: 2006
Director: Christophe Gans
Starring: Sean Bean, Jodelle Ferland, Laurie Holden & Radha Mitchell
Runtime: 120 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 12/10/23
Director: Christophe Gans
Starring: Sean Bean, Jodelle Ferland, Laurie Holden & Radha Mitchell
Runtime: 120 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 12/10/23
The Silent Hill franchise is one of my all time favourite, and a lot of that is because how effective the horror is. Whilst not all of the games have been winners, and the franchise has certainly had a bit of a sporadic release history, but one thing has been undeniable, the atmosphere has always been there even if everything else was a bit wonky.
The 2006 Hollywood adaptation did not fare well with critics, and it hardly set the box office on fire with a modestly successful taking. But I genuinely believe that the Christophe Gans directed Silent Hill film is one of the best video game adaptations in film history, and a pretty decent horror film in its own right.
When Rose Da Silva’s (Radha Mitchell) adopted daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) begins sleepwalking to dangerous locations, drawing demonic images, and screaming the name ‘Silent Hill’ she goes against her husband Christopher’s (Sean Bean) wishes and takes Sharon to the eponymous town.
Following a car crash on the outskirts of the town, Sharon is missing and the town is inhabited by demonic monsters and a powerful religious cult. Teaming up with police officer Sybil Bennett (Laurie Holden), Rose must venture deep into Silent Hill, uncover a dark and disturbing past, and battle forces of pure evil to save Sharon from a fate worse than death.
Films based on video games often get a bad rap but honestly, Silent Hill is one of the best, and it’s a pretty good horror film in its own right. For people who are familiar with the franchise it’s extremely faithful to its source material (sort of, more on that later), and for those that aren’t it’s more than enough gnarly moments are genuinely creepy imagery to make it linger in your mind well after the credits roll.
The 2006 Hollywood adaptation did not fare well with critics, and it hardly set the box office on fire with a modestly successful taking. But I genuinely believe that the Christophe Gans directed Silent Hill film is one of the best video game adaptations in film history, and a pretty decent horror film in its own right.
When Rose Da Silva’s (Radha Mitchell) adopted daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) begins sleepwalking to dangerous locations, drawing demonic images, and screaming the name ‘Silent Hill’ she goes against her husband Christopher’s (Sean Bean) wishes and takes Sharon to the eponymous town.
Following a car crash on the outskirts of the town, Sharon is missing and the town is inhabited by demonic monsters and a powerful religious cult. Teaming up with police officer Sybil Bennett (Laurie Holden), Rose must venture deep into Silent Hill, uncover a dark and disturbing past, and battle forces of pure evil to save Sharon from a fate worse than death.
Films based on video games often get a bad rap but honestly, Silent Hill is one of the best, and it’s a pretty good horror film in its own right. For people who are familiar with the franchise it’s extremely faithful to its source material (sort of, more on that later), and for those that aren’t it’s more than enough gnarly moments are genuinely creepy imagery to make it linger in your mind well after the credits roll.
The story is a loose adaptation of the first game, which is where alarm bells may start to ring about me saying it’s extremely faithful.
The reality is that the film uses the first games story as a framework to craft its own narrative and characters, and I’d actually argue it tells that story better because of these changes. Rose replaces Harry as the protagonist, and she’s given way more depth and personality than he was. Sharon replaces Cheryl, her story is likewise given considerably more depth, whilst also stripping away some of the weirder elements of the first games story.
What happened to the town and what the cult seek are largely kept the same, but are afforded a lot more prominence in the narrative.
The result is a film that is very heavy on the exposition, and the pacing is definitely a little on the slow side. So much so that it could be enough to put people off entirely. However, I feel the film makes up for it in spades with its excellent visual design, well written characters, and haunting score.
I really do find that Silent Hill’s strongest assets are the way it looks and sounds. Gans nails the Silent Hill aesthetic here, with the daytime sequences being presented as foggy with snow-like ash falling from the sky, covering everything in this thick grey dust. Then when the night-time sequences kick in and the demons come out to play, the town peels away into a horrific showcase of rust and blood. It’s kind of surprising that Silent Hill got away with a 15 rating from the BBFC because there are a number of moments throughout the film where it pushes that rating right to the limits and arguably even surpass it with some extremely gory moments (skinned alive anyone?). But just the whole visual atmosphere of the film is so dingy and claustrophobic that you feel trapped and dirty just watching it.
This is then elevated even higher by Jeff Danna’s excellent score. It too lifts a lot from the game but it makes it feel so much grander without ever feeling like it’s gone overboard. It’s richer, fuller, and I’d argue scarier than what’s presented in the game, and that’s not something I say lightly considering how iconic the music to Silent Hill is.
The performances are a bit of a mixed bag. I think the worst offender is Bean. I’m not sure what accent he’s supposed to have but it’s just a mess. It’s a shame because we all know that Bean is a good actor, and had it not been for this awful accent he probably would have been among the strongest in the cast. His characters storyline also isn't particularly interesting or necessary, so it really does drag the film down quite a lot.
Alice Krige is one of the films highlights and makes Christabella, the leader of the town’s cult, so despicable. When she does eventually get her gruesome comeuppance it will likely have you cheering and jumping for joy because of Krige’s truly poisonous performance throughout the film.
Mitchell & Holden are a strong pairing, and the scenes they share are among the best in the whole film. But when they are separated from each other their performances don't tend to be as compelling.
Silent Hill is far from safe from the ancient Hollywood curse of video-game adaptations. However, I feel that the film does overcome a lot of the elements that hold it back because of its faithfulness and commitment to bringing the Silent Hill experience to the big screen. It’s one of my favourite horror films, and whilst it definitely has a lot of problems, overall I just love revisiting Silent Hill over and over again. The same can’t be said of its sequel though.
The reality is that the film uses the first games story as a framework to craft its own narrative and characters, and I’d actually argue it tells that story better because of these changes. Rose replaces Harry as the protagonist, and she’s given way more depth and personality than he was. Sharon replaces Cheryl, her story is likewise given considerably more depth, whilst also stripping away some of the weirder elements of the first games story.
What happened to the town and what the cult seek are largely kept the same, but are afforded a lot more prominence in the narrative.
The result is a film that is very heavy on the exposition, and the pacing is definitely a little on the slow side. So much so that it could be enough to put people off entirely. However, I feel the film makes up for it in spades with its excellent visual design, well written characters, and haunting score.
I really do find that Silent Hill’s strongest assets are the way it looks and sounds. Gans nails the Silent Hill aesthetic here, with the daytime sequences being presented as foggy with snow-like ash falling from the sky, covering everything in this thick grey dust. Then when the night-time sequences kick in and the demons come out to play, the town peels away into a horrific showcase of rust and blood. It’s kind of surprising that Silent Hill got away with a 15 rating from the BBFC because there are a number of moments throughout the film where it pushes that rating right to the limits and arguably even surpass it with some extremely gory moments (skinned alive anyone?). But just the whole visual atmosphere of the film is so dingy and claustrophobic that you feel trapped and dirty just watching it.
This is then elevated even higher by Jeff Danna’s excellent score. It too lifts a lot from the game but it makes it feel so much grander without ever feeling like it’s gone overboard. It’s richer, fuller, and I’d argue scarier than what’s presented in the game, and that’s not something I say lightly considering how iconic the music to Silent Hill is.
The performances are a bit of a mixed bag. I think the worst offender is Bean. I’m not sure what accent he’s supposed to have but it’s just a mess. It’s a shame because we all know that Bean is a good actor, and had it not been for this awful accent he probably would have been among the strongest in the cast. His characters storyline also isn't particularly interesting or necessary, so it really does drag the film down quite a lot.
Alice Krige is one of the films highlights and makes Christabella, the leader of the town’s cult, so despicable. When she does eventually get her gruesome comeuppance it will likely have you cheering and jumping for joy because of Krige’s truly poisonous performance throughout the film.
Mitchell & Holden are a strong pairing, and the scenes they share are among the best in the whole film. But when they are separated from each other their performances don't tend to be as compelling.
Silent Hill is far from safe from the ancient Hollywood curse of video-game adaptations. However, I feel that the film does overcome a lot of the elements that hold it back because of its faithfulness and commitment to bringing the Silent Hill experience to the big screen. It’s one of my favourite horror films, and whilst it definitely has a lot of problems, overall I just love revisiting Silent Hill over and over again. The same can’t be said of its sequel though.