DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Silent Hill (1 Viewer)

[Scott-S]

I just watched this expecting the worst. I was pleasantly surprised. I like it. The imagery was pretty bizarre, and it did take a while to figure out what in the hell is happening, but I enjoyed it.

I am actually glad they did the "why this is happening" moment that others find a waste. Maybe because I am never played the game, I was a bit confused until they helped explain it to me.

I would give it about 3.5 stars out of 5.

But then again, I sort of liked the Doom movie too. If that helps as a barometer of my tastes. LOL

Oh yea, I am glad I wasn't the only one that was wondering what Rose was doing driving away from the cop.

 

[Citizen87645]

To be fair the cop was kind of creepy at first, but there was nothing to establish the people in the surrounding community, let alone the local law enforcement, were untrustworthy.

 

[JohnRice]

Let me understand. You folks are trying to apply the rules of normal social behavior to Silent Hill?

 

[Citizen87645]

Nah, more like competent story development.

 

[BarryS]

Wow.. 1 out of 5? I really dug this movie. Maybe you have to be a fan of the games to enjoy the movie. It seems that for the most part fans of the game think really highly of the movie, which is pretty rare in the game-to-movie world. Yeah it's hardly a masterpiece, but I think this movie deserves appreciation if for nothing more than its creepy atmosphere, beautiful photography and bizarre, demented monster design. I found it a very enjoyable example of Cliver Barker/Wes Craven-esque surreal horror. Yeah, the story's crap, but just sit back and enjoy the creepy sights and sounds. It's useless to try to apply logic to this movie. It's like a dream. Logic does not apply to dreams, or in this case nightmares. They're just an assemblage of freaky, bizarre stuff that makes no sense. That's what so cool about the movie. It's like watching someone's nightmare.

And I'm sure those of you that hate the movie will say "Yes, watching this movie is indeed like a nightmare", so I'll save you the trouble.

 

[Kevin M]

The story may be selfish in giving up logical plotting or firm resolutions to questions it put forward but this is really in line with the first two games own storytelling design anyway.......for some I suppose it followed the games a bit too closely!
However if many of us can forgive Dario Argento in this very same area then I think we can cut Silent Hill some slack and just let the film's mood sweep over you then I think you will find one of the scarier films in the last few years.

 

[Luis Gabriel Gerena]

Finally someone that sees things the way I do. I agree with your points on video quality. I cant believe how some people claim it looks great. Are they watching this in a video Ipod?! Needless to say I am looking forward to all your reviews.
Regards

 

[Citizen87645]

Thanks Luis!!!

 

[BrettGallman]

I didn't find the video quality to be terrible, but I will say the blacks aren't very deep. That may or may not be intentional, though. Everything else looked fine. Not reference quality or anything, but it looks very good.

As for the movie itself, I felt it was a bit above average. I loved the score, and the tone is very much in line with the games. It definately has a unique atmosphere, which is always good when you're talking about a horror movie. The ending is a bit weird, too, and I'm not even sure how to take it.

 

[Tino]

Well, I said the transfer is indicative of the screening I saw in the theater. I never said it looked great, although I think it looks pretty good to me.

I am watching it on a 65" AVIA calibrated SONY 16x9 monitor Luis. What are you watching it on?

 

[Luis Gabriel Gerena]

Infocus 4805 (comes incredibly close to perfectly calibrated from stock) running TheaterTek and resized with ffdshow and using avisynth (seesaw, colormatrix and some denoiser). Basically the same setup that makes great looking movies look great but its not very forgiving with bad looking ones. Just to clarify, I didnt mean you, I mean other "pro" reviewers in others website I checked and were claiming the movie has wonderful image quality. Its not totally bad but for the most part is way under par compared to modern transfers.

PS BTW, AVIA calibrated is not like ISF its just a good base to start tweaking your display.

 

[Tino]

Nice setup Luis.

 

[Luis Gabriel Gerena]

Thanks.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

For those that care about such things, the film has nothing to do with SH2 (the game). Pyramid Head does appear twice, but isn't a manifestation of anyone's internal guilt. he's just a pointless baddie. (Which he pulls off quite well ). No other SH2 story arcs, side plots, or characters are represented in the movie.

As for the DVD.....

*Looked nice. Some poor CGI monsters (ghost babies, roaches), some very good CGI monsters (Pyramid, nurses, Shakey). Very good fog & snow. None of that jittery "noise" some DVDs have with fog, at least none I could see. I do agree about the soft blacks: Its real hard not to notice when the scene says 'pitch black', but the aspect ratio bars are obviously alot darker. Maybe this is a problem with all photogoraphy in general? I can name 2 dozen films where "black scenes" always turn-out grey, even if the "lit" scenes get the contrast right?

*Sound excellent. Lots of metal-on-metal scraping noises, twitchy things. Awesome score. Plenty of subwoofer. Maybe too much LFE, at a few points you just have to look at your poor subwoofer chugging away and think "Is that really necessary?"

*Film: Stupid. It follows the game almost faithfully for about 45 minutes (which impressed me, I love the game) then breaks off into a bizarre Wickerman tangent before having a finally that wants to be Hellraiser and an epilogue that tries to be The Others. If they just stuck to the story of SH1 or SH2 (this theory is based around game material that does make in on-screen) it would have been the best scary movie since The Ring, and the best surreal horror film (if you like like to break things into subgenres) ever.

Instead of simply telling the known story the filmmakers tried to shoehorn too many cliche' "focus group testing ideas that have made money in the past" - even though they detract from the story.

Side Rant #2: If the filmmakers totally cut the Father (sean bean) out of the movie, and the entire police story-arc, orphanage, history of coal firs, etc etc etc.... The movie could have been a very nice 90 minutes or so. If you watch it again it adds absolutely nothing to the story and makes the film run too long.

I could be wrong, but those are my opinions and I'm sticking too them.