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One of my favorite kind of horror is the one that has questions which can't be answered. I love it when a horror show, movie, book, or game slowly drives up the tension to a painful degree. A little like edging you could say.
The Silent Hill games always leave you with questions. Sometimes they're the good kind like with how Silent Hill 3's themes of motherhood are more than a little haunting. Other times...less so. At least to the majority of people.
While I've done my best to keep up with the lore of the series, I haven't been able to play a majority of the games. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is the only game I've managed to play and I'm hoping to add Silent Hill F to that short list.
With a trailer that goes into the plot, I now have something to really sink my teeth into. And before I begin my little review: The F in the title is the musical symbol known as forte.
Silent Hill Transmission (basically a presentation about new Silent Hill content) aired recently. I voice a few short thoughts about the games, movie, and merchandise that was shown.
I can still remember feeling excitement for Silent Hills to be released. I didn't get a chance to play the playable teaser but everyone who has had good things to say about it. I can also still remember when Silent Hills was cancelled and the franchise seemed to fade away.
Back in 2014 a game called P.T. was released. It appeared to be nothing more than an obscure game by an unknown studio. Nothing to keep you up at night. By the end it was revealed to be the Teaser Trailer for an upcoming game called Silent Hills. Silent Hill and Konami aren't exactly small names.
Alas, the latest entry in the Silent Hill franchise never happened. Due to behind the scenes bs, it was cancelled. Years later and I find that the pain of losing Silent Hills keeps returning.
I admit this post is late and it is for two reasons. One is that it took a day or so to finally come to terms with the fact that Silent Hills is cancelled and the fact that I didn't have time to write this post before. Or else I remembered wanting to write it when I didn't have time.
Starring: Radha Mitchell, Laurie Holden, and Sean Bean
Rated: R
Released: 2006
Personal Rating: 3/5
Oscars: None
Basic Plot: A woman goes in search for her daughter, within the confines of a strange, desolate town called Silent Hill. Based on the video game.
Faithfulness to Games It isn't a good adaptation, which cost this movie a higher rating. Why Pyramid Head? James isn't there and Pyramid Head is a part of his psyche (very long story short). Sharon's name should've been kept as Cheryl (and referencing the name in the movie is like a slap in the face). And Sean Bean's character was there to add some testosterone to the movie. Hey, how about keeping Harry/Rose as a male to begin with?
Feel of Silent Hill This movie has a very good feel of a Silent Hill game. The creepiness factor is way up and they do a good job with Rose being alone. One of the things with a GOOD Silent Hill game is feeling all alone and hopeless. True, there is the cult, but for the majority of the movie it's just Rose (who sometimes has Cybil by her side).
The Music The music (except for the Johnny Cash song) is from the game series. This is something I highly enjoy about the movie. Why? I love the music from Silent Hill! I like that they use the song "You're Not Here" for the ending credits. If you don't like the music from the Silent Hill games (shame on you) then this probably won't be a high point for you.
Final Thoughts This movie is much better than people make it out to be. Because of its unpopularity it took a bit of work to get this movie. If you are a huge fan of the games I can understand why you'd be mad. But, really, if you're looking for a decent horror movie you should enjoy this. Saying that you have to separate the movie from the game is bad to do for an adaptation. If it was a good adaptation I'd have given it a higher rating.
