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There’s sadly not a huge number of worthy contenders vying for the title of best horror movie based on a video game, but “Silent Hill” is right up there. And with the latest movie “Return to Silent Hill” hitting theaters worldwide and the recent Silent Hill f game dishing out some excellent J-horror, I think it’s only right to take a very foggy trip down memory lane and revisit this solid cult film.
While it received a less-than-stellar critical reception and only moderate box office success, many horror fans have warmed to the OG “Silent Hill” 20 years after its release.
Silence is deadly
After her adopted daughter Sharon experiences recurring sleepwalking and nightmares about a mysterious place called Silent Hill, Rose Da Silva (Radha Mitchell) takes her there to investigate her past.
It's not long before an accident separates them, and with Sharon now MIA, Rose must brave the horrors of the nightmarish Silent Hill to find her and escape. However, though she’s aided by police officer Cybil (Laurie Holden), who’s also drawn into investigating the creepy West Virginian town, getting out alive seems like an impossible feat.
Oh my fog
“Silent Hill” perfectly captures the suspense and horror of playing the original game, with a thick fog that blankets the streets in atmosphere and dread. At the same time, Rose flits between this ash-sullied world and a dark, nightmarish realm, full of rust and monsters to contend with. Both are layers of reality that have become warped by the actions of the cult on a young girl years ago, and the metamorphosis of the fog world into the otherworld is genuinely unsettling.
The creature design is also top-notch, with acid-spewing Lying Figures and Dark Nurses armed with knives and terrible bedside manners, as well as the hideous Colin, a dark manifestation of a sexual abuser with a penchant for barbed wire and contortionism. Far from your standard zombies and vampires, these twisted monsters linger in the mind long after the film’s conclusion.
However, the addition of Pyramid Head is strange. The iconically ripped yet face-shy creature initially appeared in the follow-up game Silent Hill 2, a representation of player-character James Sunderland’s intense guilt and desire for punishment. These monsters are brought to life thanks to the movie’s excellent sound design, which includes eerie, isolating, and industrial scores adapted directly from the game series. Even the clever use of radio static to indicate nearby enemies is a great touch.
Plus, our leads put on some fine performances, particularly Radha Mitchell as a mother driven to desperation, Laurie Holden, who plays cop Cybil, and Deborah Kara Unger, who plays former cultist Dahlia.
Silently judging
“Silent Hill” doesn’t score a perfect five for five on TripAdvisor, though. Despite the title nailing many aspects of the game, the movie plumps for the lower-hanging fruit of an evil cult being the main antagonists, overshadowing the psychological trauma and repression that play a central role throughout the video game series. Many also view the script as a muddled, exposition-heavy mess that feels unnatural when you’re working in the same genre as Clive Barker, Wes Craven, and John Carpenter.
And even though everyone likes some hearty Sean Bean, who plays Sharon’s adoptive father, the scenes where he’s searching for his family in the real world should have been left on the cutting-room floor to improve pacing. Still, “Silent Hill” also manages to be one of those rare cinematic outings where Sean survives in the end, and in a horror movie, no less!
And yet, 20 years and many, many other video game horror adaptations later, "Silent Hill" is yet to be usurped from its enviable position at the top. While it’s not considered an overall great horror movie, it’s a fine effort that director Christophe Gans took obvious effort and care to produce. Gans is clearly a filmmaker with love and reverence for the original game.
Rent or buy "Silent Hill" on Prime Video now
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