Movie Defense Force: Silent Hill

[Jimothy Sterling]

Silent Hill

Movie Defense Force takes you on a trip to a quiet little town this week. Where you will die. You will die of babies.

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[ellers07]

There are some things I wish hadn't been changed for the big screen, but overall I really enjoyed this movie. It was one of the few video game movies that at least felt like the source material. I just recently watched Silent Hill: Revelations. Sadly... I can't really defend that one.

 

[Jandau]

I've never played any of the Silent Hill games, but I do posses a working knowledge of the basics thanks to overall immersion in gaming culture. When the movie came out, I happily went to watch it, recognized a bunch of stuff I know about the game and found the overall film to be a solid piece of work, though the final sequence went a bit off rails. Good aesthetics, solid pacing, genuinely creepy sections that rely on more than just gore (though there's plenty of gore as well), etc. I was honestly surprised by how poorly it was received.

The sequel... well... personally I'd put it in the so-bad-it's-good category, since while it is a bad film I did have fun with it, so I can't completely condemn it, but I'd hardly recommend it to anyone.

 

[ThePS1Fan]

At the time I saw this movie I had never played a SH game and knew only the basics of the plot and world. I thought it was an OK movie, although it's been so long I hardly remember a thing about it.

 

[Ruisu]

Well, now you'll have to do a Movie defense force for Max Payne. That is one extremely underrated game adaptation that needs some love.

And really, I never though Silent Hill needed a defense. I though everybody loved it. I know I did when it came out. Never watched the sequel though...

 

[Alexander Competitor]

I liked it, pretty much for the reasons you describe, it was good.

 

[Raziel]

I always like it. One of the few game adaptions worth watching. All the silent hill gamers I know also thought it was at least decent.

Sadly Silent Hill Revelations was no where near as good.

 

[Rad Party God]

I'm a massive fan of Silent Hill and I liked this movie for the exact same reasons you described, seriously, I own the DVD and I already watched it like 5 times now.

The story was definitely cringe worthy, but at least the aesthetics, the pacing, music and camera angles were perfectly nailed and it does feel like Silent Hill, even if the story was shit (or at least, just the third act sucked).

 

[DirgeNovak]

Never watched the sequel though...

It has some good moments, but it's a horrible adaptation. Vincent is turned into a teenager for some reason, Douglas pretty much only has a cameo, Claudia is the completely wrong kind of batshit crazy, plus they had to retcon a lot of stuff to make the story work. It's worth a watch, though. I didn't hate it.
It also has Malcolm McDowell in it, so it can't be all bad.

 

[sirjeffofshort]

I'm in the boat with people who didn't even realize this needed defense. Even my wife, who doesn't play video games at all has become a huge fan of the Silent Hill franchise with this movie has her entry point.

The second one may need a bit of defense as well, but truth be told I went into it expecting a terrible slog of a film and actually enjoyed myself through and through. If they never get to make any more of them I would be totally happy with the films ending in that manor.

 

[Deathlyphil]

I enjoyed it, but I haven't played any of the games and I don't generally watch horror movies.

*** Edit ***

Why did this have a huge age warning on the front of it? Was it for the part where

Spoiler

Pyramid Head rips off the girls skin and throws it at people?

 

[Papadam]

I thought the SH movie had a pretty good reputation.

This is the third time a favorite movie of mine shows up in movie defense force (Alien 3 and Godzilla being the other two)

 

[Eternal_Lament]

If nothing else it's at least several leagues better than the sequel they did.

Actually, one thing I like is indeed the design that went into it. It wasn't really going anywhere with it, but I can appreciate the effort that went into actually making it. Sound design I thought was good on the whole as well, not just the music.

Looking back on it, I think my problem with the movie wasn't that it didn't do enough like the series: it seemed to me that it didn't know what it wanted to be. What I mean is that it first seems like it's just trying to recreate the first Silent Hill with gender-swapped Harry Mason (the reason for which is fucking mental by the way) but then introduces iconography from other games, then it of course changes the story completely. That in itself isn't a problem, it just seems that, in actuality, the film was being held back because it was a Silent Hill movie. If it just had the standard tertiary elements, such as the town and the design, but the story was completely new, it probably would've been looked upon more favorably. Take Resident Evil: not the best movie, but because it makes it seem like it just takes place in the universe rather than replicating any one game, it's easy to view as just a fun zombie movie if nothing else.

Still, it's a much better horror movie than most other horror movies released in the past 5 years, I have to give it that

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Quite enjoyed it when it came out, the same goes for the second one.

Btw I am just now playing through SH2 for the very first time.
Sorry, but we couldn't afford a PS2 then.

Anyway, even today SH2 is EPIC!!!

 

[Goliath100]

Thank you Jimmy, because I finally get a chance to say this:
Pokemon 3 Spell of Unown is fundamentally a better Silent Hill movie than the Silent Hill movie. Seriously, how hard is it to get consept as simple as "a person's trauma manifests physically in symbolic forms (in a foggy ghost town)"?

 

[RJ 17]

All I really remember about the movie was the barbed-wire tentacle rape at the very end, but taking it as purely just a "scary movie", I recall finding it pretty enjoyable.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I freaking loved first Silent Hill, honestly, I think it's the best videogame adaptation up to date! Sure, it takes some liberties with narrative, but it doesn't try to be exactly what game was and it manages to pull off the atmosphere perfectly!
But Silent Hill 2... it's only redeeming quality was Pyramid Head's final fight with... something.

 

[JohnHayne]

To say that Silent Hill the movie is good because it has the aesthetics, the pacing, music and camera angles is like saying that a game is great because the graphic looks nice, even if the gameplay sucks. Just saying...

SH:tM is an average movie with some well polished elements. Is it fun? Yeah, it can be, if you dive into with the right mind set. The thing is you can have fun with anything, depends entirely on personal taste.

So, is SH:tM watchable? Sure. Can you have fun with it? Yes. Is it any good? Well, depends on who you ask.

One thing is sure: It has a lot of flaws...

 

[LordMonty]

I liked it and was ok with its sequel. It was all pretty ok fun probally would watch both films again some day without any hatred in my heart.

 

[teebeeohh]

so Pyramid head is basically an asshole alien in this one. good to know