Silent Hill (2006)

Directed by: Christophe Gans | 127 minutes | drama, horror, thriller | Actors: Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Deborah Kara Unger, Kim Coates, Tanya Allen, Christopher Britton, Jodelle Ferland, Elizabeth Harpur, Alice Krige, Janet Land

The film ‘Silent Hill’ really could have been a successful video game adaptation and, as it stands, it balances on the fictional edge of just about right and wrong. Fans of the game or of visually appealing horror and a threatening atmosphere should give the film a chance. However, don’t expect sustained suspense, a particularly compelling plot, or strong dialogue. For a film that lasts two hours, he wastes little time building. In the first frame, we see a screaming Rose (Radha Mitchell) in her underwear running down a hill in search of her daughter Sharon, who is sleepwalking somewhere. For a moment a shock goes through the viewer when we see her standing on the edge of a high rock, opposite a gigantic waterfall. She’s in a trance and ready to jump off. We look down with her and shoot down as the environment turns into a kind of industrial basement with fire on different sides. Sharon is about to plunge into the abyss, but luckily Rose is there just in time to grab her. We see an overview shot with a large illuminated cross in the background. The thing is so striking that it cannot be otherwise than it has a (symbolic) meaning within the story.

During her sleepwalking session, Sharon screamed all kinds of things, but the most important thing was the name of the place “Silent Hill”. Since this isn’t the first time this has happened, Sharon wants to visit the place to help her daughter overcome her trauma. She goes head over heels in search of this place, not concerned that it is dark or that the city is a ghost town. She rams her car through the gate that closes the exit to the city, to shake off the pursuing cop (still no alarm bells). They are somewhat incomprehensible actions for a mother who wants to help her child get rid of her fears, and they only act as a way in the script to get the child into the town and send the worried mother behind it. It doesn’t really help to involve the viewer in the story. Nor is it an advantage that the child screams so annoyingly and only gets on the viewer’s nerves. When Sharon’s drawings have suddenly become much darker and more disturbing, exclaiming, “Who did this mommy? I don’t like this!”, accompanied by inconclusive wails, you as a viewer would like to throw her out of the car and say: “Just walk to Silent Hill yourself. We’ll come and pick you up later.” But luckily we are not stuck with her for too long. Once in Silent Hill, she runs away and Rose spends the rest of the film looking for her daughter.

The atmosphere in the ghost town, as it was also present in the game, is well captured. It is foggy and snow is falling continuously – which turns out not to be snow, but ash! When Rose suddenly sees her daughter darting away in a hallway that descends between houses, the oppressive tension increases. Especially when a siren sounds and the city darkens. She now has to walk on with only her Zippo to light her way. She descends a flight of stairs and in the faint glow of the lighter we see damp, rust-colored walls. She hasn’t walked long before all kinds of scary creatures come up to her, like zombie children with burning, glowing spots on their bodies. She can’t go anywhere. It is these episodes that make ‘Silent Hill’ so worthwhile. Scary sequences, in which you imagine yourself in a nightmare. The darkness usually doesn’t last long, constantly alternating with the clear, misty state of the beginning, which may include zombies, large human-faced insects, or an intimidating villain with a giant sword and a triangular head called “Pyramid Head.” ”, disintegrate into shreds and flutter upwards. The light parts are boring parts where Rose talks to locals and tries to learn a bit about her daughter and the town. The importance of faith is often returned to here. What we also get presented as a variety are scenes in which the father of Sharon, played by Sean Bean outside (and sometimes inside) Silent Hill also searches, and learns a thing or two about the history of the town and the adopted Sharon. However, these pieces add very little. It does add extra frustration when he searches for his wife with a cop in Silent Hill but can’t find it, and it’s nice to know that someone is at home waiting for his wife and child, but he accomplishes nothing and we almost only get information that we will hear twice later.

The film is too monotonous – calling out Sharon all the time and running down hallways, then encounters with monsters, then conversations with the public again – and has too many boring parts to deserve a strong recommendation. However, the effects are very nicely done, as is Silent Hill’s set design itself. The music, sometimes literally taken from the game, also supports the atmosphere well. It’s a shame that more psychological tension has not been chosen instead of gore, but the explicit monsters and enemies do have their own appeal. Christophe Gans, who previously showed to have a visual flair in ‘Crying Freeman’ and ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’, does not disappoint on the outward level. The finale in which rampant barbed wire plays a role is pretty gross, and in terms of tension, a scene with zombie sisters with scalpels is quite memorable. And furthermore, every time it gets dark and the walls slowly peel off to reveal a kind of industrial hell, you look out of place. It’s these parts of the film that stick with me the most, along with the oppressive tension that typifies the first series of moments upon arrival at Silent Hill. Whether this is enough for the average viewer, however, is the question.