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Movies / On DVD / Silent Hill
Silent Hill

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Silent Hill (2006)

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Reviews Counted:82

Fresh:25

Rotten:57

Average Rating:4.6/10

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: 15 [See Full Rating] for strong horror violence and gore, disturbing images, and some language

Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Theatrical Release:21-04-2006

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

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for Silent Hill

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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although it is rarely if ever jump-out-of-your-seat scary, Silent Hill is an unremittingly creepy municipality of the mind where motherhood, mystery and madness have come home to stay.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
06/15/07
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's this unwavering fidelity to the source material that is also the film's biggest problem.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/21/06
James Dyer
James Dyer
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

French director Christophe Gans’s adaptation of the Silent Hill computer game is visually inspired and thematically ambitious, yet ultimately uninvolving.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
05/06/06
Nigel Floyd
Nigel Floyd
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Silent Hill? Nonsenseville, more like.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment 4 Comments
05/06/06
Paul Arendt
Paul Arendt
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
05/06/06
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Observer [UK]

Silent Hill is groundbreaking, at least in being the first such film of any cinematic merit whatsoever.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
04/21/06
E! Online

No matter how you interpret the film, it's nearly impossible to deny what a beautiful work of art it is.

Full Review Source: Juicy Cerebellum | comment Comment
05/05/06
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum

[The] first frigged-up, terrifyingly nonsensical hour ... generates a wealth of shivery imagery that I won't be able to soon forget. But, Lord, I think I may want to.

Full Review Source: The Stranger (Seattle, WA) | comment Comment
04/21/06
Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

the filmmakers may be hedging too many bets, trying to make the film both acceptable to fans and accessible to newcomers. But while SILENT HILL is far from perfect, it is at the very least a valiant effort

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
04/24/06
Brian Mckay
Brian Mckay
eFilmCritic.com

Silent Hill starts out at point A and then goes so quickly, loudly and visually over-the-top that it flies completely off the rails into its own glorious weirdness.

Full Review Source: UGO | comment Comment
03/24/07
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
UGO

Radha Mitchell is the reason to sit through this overblown Grand Guignol entertainment from the director of the similarly overblown Brotherhood of the Wolf.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
05/06/06
David N. Butterworth
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews

A genuinely creepy and deeply disturbing experience, as would be expected by fans of the games

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
04/21/06
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

If you like horror flicks, you'll like this one....

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
05/01/06
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

If you like your nightmares served upfront without the clutter of dramatic structure, then Silent Hill should be your next stop.

Full Review Source: DVD Review | comment Comment
07/10/07
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
DVD Review

Suggests the surreal, almost post-narrative horror movies of Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci and other directors who favor the emotional impact of bold, grotesque imagery over story logic.

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
05/03/06
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

There is more blood, human remains and in your face kills in this film than we've seen on the screen in a looooong time.

Full Review Source: Dread Central | comment Comment
04/20/06
Johnny Butane
Johnny Butane
Dread Central

Just like the game, which is an achievement and a disappointment all in one.

Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment 1 Comment
05/11/06
Karina Montgomery
Karina Montgomery
Cinerina

the closest you’ll get to actually having a nightmare in a movie theatre outside of a midnight screening of David Lynch’s Eraserhead.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/21/06
Keith Breese
Keith Breese
Filmcritic.com

It's refreshing to see a full-blown, straight-faced, supernatural horror movie in this age of grubby torture flicks being mistaken for the coin of the realm.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
04/26/06
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Lessons learned: Never underestimate the creativity of a wronged West Virginian with access to barbed wire.

Full Review Source: MovieCrypt.com | comment Comment
04/22/06
Kevin A. Ranson
Kevin A. Ranson
MovieCrypt.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Silent Hill

September 15, 2009: Silent Hill Sequel in the Works Opens in new window
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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