Silent Hill

I've never played the game, but the movie is pretty creepy. I have to confess I'd like to play the game now, after seeing the movie. The atmosphere of the game is maintained pretty well, something that was lacking in Doom - it never felt frightening like this one does. This is probably one of the better video game adaptations I've seen done. It's also nice for once to see a film that isn't pandering to the PG-13 market, with some impressive deaths toward the end of the film. The effects and sets are impressive, with some good use of people and prosthetics. Not as frightening as some of the graphic kills in Saw III, but just as disturbing. The creatures look slightly off and register discomfortingly in the mind, and that can be as upsetting as seeing someone get ripped apart like Saw III. I found the movie pretty enjoyable, and I didn't have any problems watching what was going on. The story was well thought out, with no real exposition for most of the film, your left to figure out what's going on yourself. The later narrated explanation by one of the characters fills in the blanks if your too stupid to have figured it out by yourself (I know they probably needed to have some kind of explanation, but this comes across a bit forced). Definitely worth a rent if your in the mood for something a bit scary.

Plot Synopsis:

Rose's adopted daughter, Sharon, has been experiencing disturbing sleep-walking episodes, where she keeps ranting about Silent Hill. Rose discovers the town, and decides to take Sharon there, hoping to cure her mental issues by confronting whatever the town symbolises. Rose does this against the wishes of her husband.

On the way to the town, she encounters a motorcycle cop who pursues her to Silent Hill. When Rose crashes her truck outside of town, she regains consciousness to find Sharon is missing. She heads into town to look for Sharon. Silent Hill is an abandoned ghost town, after a fire in the 70's started, and ignited the coal deposits under the town. Even today it is still burning, and ash rains down from the sky.

While searching the town, a siren sounds, the sky turns dark, and the town ages and decays. Rose is attacked by hideously deformed creatures roaming the town. She escapes, and eventually the darkness returns to light. She returns to her car, where she is arrested by the pursuing police officer. The officer attempts to leave Silent Hill, but finds she can't as the road now ends in a chasm. They soon encounter an armless creature.

Returning to the town, Rose searches for Sharon at the school and discovers clues about Alissa, a young girl in the town. Darkness again descends, after she flees some miners, and she is attacked again by more creatures, including an oversized sword-wielding maniac with a pyramid for a head. She is eventually rescued by the police officer.

Further clues lead them to the hotel where they discover Alissa was burned. They meet Anna who leads them to the church when darkness once again returns. Anna is captured and torn to pieces by the pyramid man. The church is occupied by religious fanatics, who eventually agree to help Rose find her daughter. They take her to the hospital and point her in the direction of the source of the town's evil. However, when they realise that Sharon is the identical image of Alissa, they attack Rose and the cop accusing them of being witches. The cop sacrifices herself to allow Rose to escape to find Sharon.

In the depths of the hospital, Rose outmaneuvers some creepy nurse creatures, and makes her way to the room of all evil. Inside is an aspect of Alissa, and the original burned up Alissa. She reveals that because she had no father, the religious fervent deemed her unclean, and took her from her mother. They burned her alive as a witch to cleanse the town of her supposed evil. Alissa's mother called the sheriff who arrived and rescued her, but not before she was severely burned. The fire spread from Alissa's pyre, setting fire to the town. Alissa has waited to take her revenge. The bad part of Alissa's personality stayed in the town with her, while the good part, Sharon was sent to the outside world. Alissa asks Rose to help her. Rose takes the bad aspect of Alissa into herself.

The religious group find Sharon - she was being hidden by Alissa's real mother. They take her to the church and plan to burn her again to rid the town of evil - after they burn up the police officer. Rose arrives and confronts the priestess with the truth. In the priestess's rage, she stabs Rose. The blood flows from the wound, releasing Alissa. Rose's wound heals shut, and Alissa arrives to take her vengeance upon the church people. After she tears them apart, Rose and Sharon are allowed to leave. They return to their car and drive home. They arrive home, or have they? Rose's husband Chris is in the house, but not with them - they seem to be in an alternate version of the house - perhaps still an extension of Silent Hill.