Stuffed with cheap effects and devoid of tension, this French-Japanese-U.S. co-production contributes exactly zilch to the rich film history of those three nations.
Silent Hill (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:16
Fresh:0
Rotten:16
Average Rating:3/10
Consensus: Silent Hill is visually impressive, but as with many video game adaptations, it’s plagued by inane dialogue, a muddled plot, and an overlong runtime.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong horror violence and gore, disturbing images, and some language
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Apr 21, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $46,982,632
Synopsis: It's always been said that a video game cannot be successfully adapted into a film. With SILENT HILL, director Christophe Gans (BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF) and screenwriter Roger Avary (KILLING ZOE)... It's always been said that a video game cannot be successfully adapted into a film. With SILENT HILL, director Christophe Gans (BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF) and screenwriter Roger Avary (KILLING ZOE) have the benefit of the atmospheric and often terrifying game series of the same name. With a budget reportedly in excess of $50 million, they wisely eschew dense plot in favor of a kaleidoscopic nightmare--culled from several volumes of the game series--designed to give horror fans what they crave. Radha Mitchell (PITCH BLACK) stars as Rose Da Silva, a young mother whose adopted daughter Sharon speaks of the eponymous West Virginia mining town as she sleepwalks. Rose decides to take Sharon there in an attempt to discover why it haunts her dreams--but Silent Hill has been a ghost town since a series of underground coal fires in 1974, and the residents who stayed behind are the stuff of nightmares. SILENT HILL is notable for having a largely female cast (the male characters were reportedly added at the studio's behest), with Mitchell, Deborah Kara Unger, Alice Krige, and Laurie Holden in the principal roles. But the film's real star is production designer Carol Spier (known for her frequent work with David Cronenberg), whose work makes the deserted town into a true vision of hell. Utilizing an effective combination of CGI and latex makeup effects, several of the creatures on display may upset more sensitive viewers, as will some of the carnage, which is strong for an R rating. On the other hand, seasoned horror fans and gamers who have been waiting to see a joystick-free version of SILENT HILL are likely to come away feeling like they've just taken a nightmare vacation to the spookiest town in America. [More]
Starring: Radha Mitchell, Laurie Holden, Sean Bean, Deborah Unger
Starring: Radha Mitchell, Laurie Holden, Sean Bean, Deborah Unger, Tanya Allen, Kim Coates, Alice Krige, Jodelle Ferland
Director: Christophe Gans
Director: Christophe Gans
Producer: Roger Avary, Samuel Hadida, Don Carmody
Composer: Jeff Danna
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment
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Release:
Aug 22, 2006
Reviews for Silent Hill
Structured around a series of blackouts and gross-outs, Silent Hill is one long free fall through icky surrealism and underlighted nightmares.
Though Silent Hill's shoddy dialogue and incoherent story constantly irritate, several sights and scenes possess a certain surreal grandeur.
The film is overlong, with too many unnecessary scenes (a lot of the movie seems like pointless running around), but it packs in a few scary moments and offers a nicely ambiguous conclusion.
Too long by about a half hour, very much in love with its own excessive style, it still manages to be kinda creepy, at least when it stops taking its metaphysics too seriously.
The makers of the movie you're slogging through will spare no expense to demonstrate how much they hate us.
Christophe Gans' convoluted, overlong adaptation of the video game Silent Hill is the worst kind of horror movie: trash that takes itself seriously.
[Silent Hill] works up a decent amount of solid, creep-show atmosphere in its first act before making some absurd decisions of its own in its second.
Let’s start with the running time for Silent Hill: two hours and five minutes. Totally out of control.
Not only can I not describe the plot of this movie, but I have a feeling the last scene reverses half of what I thought I knew (or didn't know).
In the end, Silent Hill degenerates into an overblown replay of all those Twilight Zone and Stephen King stories in which outsiders stumble upon a time-warped location from which there's no escape.
This one is dumber than a bag of coffin nails, despite the directing hand of Christophe Gans.
Silent Hill has plenty of bad acting, bad dialogue and a confusing plot -- all of which become exponentially more painful when the movie goes on forever.
Latest News for Silent Hill
September 15, 2009:
Silent Hill Sequel in the Works ![]()
The studio that produced the original hasn't confirmed involvement, but the producer and screenwriter of "Silent Hill" are reuniting for a sequel. More...
August 03, 2007:
Hadida, Avary Set to Storm Castle Wolfenstein
It's been around since 1981 -- making it older than a number of our readers -- but the Wolfenstein series of games is still going strong, and after over five years in... More...
July 20, 2007:
Silent Hill 2 Loses Director and Writer
If (like me) you were actually a fan of Christophe Gans' "Silent Hill," then this might come as disappointing news: Not only does it look like the director's no longer... More...
June 01, 2007:
The Weekly Ketchup: Possible New "Terminator," "AVP 2" Update, "Iron Man" Tidbits, And More!
In this week's Ketchup, another European has surfaced as a possibile star for the third "Terminator" sequel, "Alien vs. Predator 2" gets a 'horrific'... More...
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