Wow. I am very surprised that no one has posted anything about this yet...
This was the best video game to movie translation I have ever seen. Hands down. AND it was a damn fine movie too boot!
Seriously!
They nailed everything about Silent Hill: the look, the sounds, the "holy shit what the hell is that thing?!!", even the music was straight from the game.
I highly recommend this movie to any horror fan and if you're a Silent Hill fan, then RUN to the theatre and see it.
One caveat though - This is one gorey friggin movie. Much more so than I ever thought it was going to be. Super violent, too. I guess it was to be expected seeing that you are running for your life beating things down with a pipe or blasting them with a shotgun, but when you see it on screen it's much more so! Just a slight warning.

Silent Hill movie - Two thumbs up!

ps: I'd say more, but I don't want to give anything away for those who haven't see it yet.

Well here's the other side. I'm not really a silent hill fan, in fact i never played more than 10 minutes of the first game so i knew nothing of what was happening. To those who know not about the series the movie is really only above average. Worth seeing at least once, but nothing groundbreaking. But it is entertaining. ;)

Although I have not seen this movie, your review now enlightens me to believe it may actually be worth the cash to fork out. Being a fan of the game, I have read forums and such that discuss the history/folkore surrounding the game. Playing the game was probably the most frightening experience I had with a game.

So far I have played the part 1-3 of silent hill, I have yet to try out 4. Silent Hill 2 and 3 were definitely far more scary than part 1. And reading the discussions about the game just makes it all that much more scarier. As they delve into the reasons behind the look and the names of the enemies you face. But enough about that, if this movie is as true as you say it is, my brother and I will definitely watch it. I can only hope that if it is f**king scary, I don't run like a chicken with it's head cut off.

(Here's a link to the discussion forum: Silent Hill Discussion)

I'm a huge SH fan, and of course caught the movie on the opening night. I have to concur with unitself's rating, 2 Crushin thumbs up. For the first time EVER a VG movie actually stuck to the fucking source and made a motion picture true to the original source. The special effects, story, and music were spot on.

I can see how someone who wasn't a fan of the VG series might be turned off though, the pacing was very much like the game, with a "get a clue, go to this place, get a clue go to another place" kind of feeling. Also, I didn't feel a real sense of dread that i get with the games, however I might attribute that to the fact that the movie sticks to the SH1 plot pretty closely, so I largely knew what to expect.

Also, Red Pyramid rocks the house in the movie, even if he is only in like 3 scenes. They should make some SH: Gaiden game, where you are Red Pyramid, going around raping mannequins and ripping the skin off of bitches.

I'm not a huge fan of the Silent Hill series (Though a fanatic of survival horror anything); truth be told I've only played SH1, SH3, and The Room, so you'd think I'd dig it, but I really wasn't blown away. It hit me on a mediocre level. Possibly the product of expectations too high.

I thought it was a little more on the cheesy side in terms of dialogue and characters. The way cult members were portrayed in Otherworld struck me as just plain rid0nkulous, like something you'd see in a haunted house. Alessa was the only exception; she felt really high on the creepfactor scale. Rose was forgettable -- where the hell was Harry?

On the positive side: exceptional camerawork (I'm not a professional director or anything, but talk about reminiscent of the game!), special effects, and general recreation of the feel of the games.

Oh well, to each their own!

It was a letdown somewhat, I expected more scare behind the whole movie. The twisting and turning of the original plot changed the whole factor behind the Silent Hill story. Where was Samael? Where was Metraton/Metatron? Alessa was supposed to be REBORN, not have a baby.

The whole scare-factor of the movie was more geared towards freaking you out and disgusting you with morbid abominations. All my gripes aside, it was a good movie, but didn't really give me the same feeling the games could. Perhaps if I hadn't played the games, and just heard about them, the movie would've been much better. And that's MY opinion.

We just got back from seeing this and I approve. Very impressive adaptation and a totally kickass horror flick, I rank this movie right up there with such classics as Hellraiser and The Thing. It didn't just feel like the movie version of the game, it was Silent Hill on the big screen, I don't think it could have been done any better.
It wasn't until the credits rolled that I remembered that this was the director of Brotherhood of the Wolf.


Five Pyramid Heads out of five.



disclaimer: Pyramid Head emote borrowed shamelessly from somethingawful

I just got back from seeing this movie and all I gotta say is .


I've never played any of the Silent Hill games but, after seeing this movie I really wanna get my hands on some. The movie is one great peice of cinematography. From dynamic camera pans of the spooky run down city, to the sudden shifts in camera perspective to create a sense of disarray, panic, and dread. As has been said before the movie doesn't go for cheap scares like having things jump out at you. No, instead they make the whole movie a slow crushing tread mill of horror. A perverted feast of horrors and gore and, the most twisted things that can't even be imagined. Yes, this is a real mans horror movie. What I thought was great about the movie was the directors build up and balance in terror. For example 10 minutes your with the main character in a blackened world, with horrible creatures chasing after you. Finally the scene ends and your treated to backstory involving another character from the story that isn't in the city Silent Hill. Solace from the freightening and earie world the main character is in. But the comfort doesn't last too long, for before you know it the darkness drops again and your back in the terrible world of horrors. This patteren continues for a while with the freighteningly horrible moments increasing in intensity intill the D'enouement, fucking awesome. Great flow in my opinion. Wonderful use of lights and music. Actually the music I think is something that will be overlooked. I thought it was pretty awesome. Can't also forget the ambience sounds. Clanging metal, groans and shrieks of pain and agony. Good stuff.

I was pleasently surprised with the ending and thought it was pretty cool, something i couldn't predict.

Final thoughts, well worth the money. People are saying that this movie is pretty good for a movie based off a game. I say its a good movie period. Deserves to be up there with classics like Poltergeist and Texas Chain Saw Massacre, or at least have a cult following like The Ring or a few other asian inspired horror flicks.

I cocncur with said rating of 5 pyramid heads out of 5.


btw: Pyramid head is fucking badass to the core.

opinion best summed up by penny arcade (who I'm not usually a fan of)