Silent Hill : The Only Good Video Game Movie?

Happy Halloween

Halloween is here, and I have the perfect movie for you, and to make things interesting it is in-fact a movie based on a video game franchise. Wait! Don't click away! Yes, I know that concept has been explored and has failed many times, and I too am still recovering from what they did to Assassins Creed, but hear me out. The Silent Hill movie honestly doesn't get enough credit and recognition as it still stands as one of the best movies based on a video game, and one that honors the source material. So, Let's go over what they did right, what might make you cringe, and what makes it a great movie to watch on a dark Halloween night.

What They Did Right

Honestly one of the things I love about this movie is that you can see the respect the director and writers had for this franchise. Sure, some of the most iconic characters are in the movie and they're all done justice thanks to most of the actors, I'll get into why I can't say all of the actors later. But what really shows the level of love put into this movie are the small details that are added. Details like the fog that was originally used in the game to create the feeling of an open world without putting the processing strain of an open world on the PS2. This, combined with the music pulled straight from the game's iconic soundtrack immediately puts the viewer into the unsettling atmosphere. Even the camera angles were thought through as they did their best to mimic the in-game camera. I can go on and on, and I think that's the point, that there's so much little details that are put there for the fans and to help build the platform this movie stands on.

You can feel the amount each person involved invested into this movie when you watch The Making of Silent Hill The Movie. Everyone seems to be on the same page and everyone seems to understand the themes and dark tones the story carries. But most importantly, the director Christophe Gans mentions that he's a gamer, and he understands the lore of the game, but practically in the same breath he says, "The game is a game, and the film is a film." And he uses this mindset to take some liberties, one of the biggest being the fact that the protagonist is played by the mother. The game has the father looking for his daughter, but the movie decides to instead focus on the mother's love for her child. And what makes this so powerful is when the father then goes looking for his family and you watch the pain a mother goes through losing her child, while the father loses his family. Now once again I can go on, but I'd rather go into the small amount of areas they may have missed the mark on

What They Did Wrong

I'll be the first to admit that the movie isn't perfect, and that notion is practically put front and center during the opening scenes of the movie. Rose is frantically searching for her child through the woods only to save her at the last second before her daughter nearly sleep walks off a cliff. The daughter, Sharon then proceeds to scream Silent Hill over and over until she wakes up. The issue here is the lack of subtlety and mystery, and it all comes of as rushed and lazy writing that does its best to put us in Silent Hill as soon as possible. There are a couple more corny lines and thrown together scenes that seem outta place but if you don't cringe during the first 5 minutes of the movie then you have a much better tolerance then I. Next, I have to comment on the young actress playing the little girl Sharon. Now, let me start by saying that she does a great job as the demon, and the fact that she is playing multiple roles is impressive, but one role is a bit distracting. It seems like whenever she plays the role of Sharon it's hard to watch as the lines she's given always come out as forced. But this is just me being critical of a child actress. But that's about it if you can look past the occasional corniness that comes with any video game translated into movie, you'll see that good in this movie heavily out weighs the bad

A Scary Good Movie

So, that brings us here, in a world where a movie based on a video game, is actually pretty good. Not only good but well put together with a story, climax, and ending that will probably stick with you. And with the spookiest holiday upon us I think it's a perfect time to stream, rent, or even buy this movie off the bargain racks and give it a shot. The best part about it is if you're a fan of the game there's plenty of small details that are put there specifically for you, but if you just like horror the story and gore will hold your interest.


What do you think? Is there such a thing as a good video game movie, and if so, is it Silent Hill?