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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

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Reviews for Silent Hill

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
tomato

Anton Bitel

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: | comment Comment | Jun., 15 2007 07:20 AM

Channel 4 Film

splat

Nigel Floyd

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 06 2006 03:15 AM

Time Out

N/R

Peter Bradshaw

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 06 2006 03:15 AM

Observer [UK]

splat
2/5

Paul Arendt

Silent Hill? Nonsenseville, more like.

Full Review Source: | comment 4 Comments | May., 06 2006 03:15 AM

BBC

splat
3/5

James Dyer

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 21 2006 03:20 PM

Empire Magazine

N/R

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 29 2009 03:15 AM

Cinema Crazed

N/R

Garth Franklin

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 15 2008 03:15 AM

Dark Horizons

tomato
3/5

Rob Gonsalves

When everything starts being explained, the mystery evaporates and the world of the game loses its eerie bafflement.

Full Review Source: | comment 2 Comments | Oct., 31 2007 03:56 PM

eFilmCritic.com

splat
1.5/4

Joe Lozito

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 14 2007 03:15 AM

Big Picture Big Sound

tomato

Felix Gonzalez Jr.

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 10 2007 05:46 PM

DVD Review

tomato

Brian Tallerico

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: | comment Comment | Mar., 24 2007 11:10 AM

UGO

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 30 2006 03:16 AM

Los Angeles Daily News

splat
2.5/4

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Director Christophe Gans charges, hell-bent, right over the plot and winds up with not much more than an oppressive 125-minute running time.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Sep., 08 2006 02:13 PM

Combustible Celluloid

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 25 2006 03:15 AM

Sydney Morning Herald

splat

Urban Cinefile Critics

Over long with a muddled story and a gaggle of wasted talent, Silent Hill is a spectacular misfire.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 25 2006 12:31 AM

Urban Cinefile

tomato
A-

Michael Szymanski

As a fluke, I took my mom (also named Rose) to the screening. She doesn't like SF or horror and doesn't even know what a video game is, yet she ended up really liking it! How weird is that?

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 23 2006 11:14 PM

Sci-Fi Weekly

tomato
3.5/5

Keith Breese

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: | comment Comment | Aug., 21 2006 10:12 AM

Filmcritic.com

splat

Ethan Alter

While Gans admittedly shows us some pretty spooky stuff, his energy begins to flag somewhere around the 60-minute mark.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 13 2006 03:11 PM

Film Journal International

splat
C+

Mark Pfeiffer

As a nightmarish vision of hell on earth, Silent Hill is a triumph of production and art design. As a coherent story, it's little more than a string of video game scenarios.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 13 2006 07:22 AM

Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

splat
2/5

James Kendrick

Silent Hill is like an endurance test to get to the “'truth', but it's ultimately a gyp because it still doesn't make sense when you get there.

Full Review Source: | comment 2 Comments | May., 13 2006 03:16 AM

Q Network Film Desk

 
 
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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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