.... with Jodelle Furland winning "Best Supporting Actress".
My verdict - 2.5/5 (gaining points for acting by Pyramid Head and Jodelle Furland, excellent monsters, fabulous soundtrack; losing points for awful acting, a bad film set, and slightly ropey CGI in its context).
Mickey's verdict - He quite enjoyed it but had similar reservations.
Silas' verdict - Utter shit (he made a wanky gesture with his hand).
I managed to avoid reading any reviews apart from the one liner Phil sent me earlier last week where Radio 1 gave Silent Hill a score of 2/5.
Photos on the site are not there for comparison between the film and the game/s (unless you really want to), they're just included for interest.
!!GAME AND FILM SPOILERS!!
Mickey calls me a Silent Hill slut. He's right. I'd do anything for my Silent Hill obsession but I'm keeping my legs in a loose-ish knot for the film. Why the indecision? I went to see it today with Mickey and Silas. I had my usual medium (not large this time) salted popcorn and bottled water. The first sign that the film wasn't fantastic was that I managed to not miss my mouth while eating popcorn and, at one point, I was almost wanting the film to end. To be honest, it was better than I thought it would be (I thought it would be totally shit).
Grrrrrrr .... I got excited at the beginning when the theme from SH1 was played but then it stopped! Just as it was getting going! The acting for the most part was dire. Radha Mitchell ran round a very ill disguised studio set shouting "SHAAAAA!". Oh, it was "SHARON!" she was shouting? Really? You would have thought she'd have got the name right then after shouting it an almost irritatingly infinite number of times ("SHAAAAAT AAAAP!"). Sean Bean, was quite frankly, rubbish. Why oh why did he accept that part? His character was redundant and to be honest, his US accent was awful. Dahlia Gillespie (a character I loved in the game) looked horrible. Why did she have to be made to look so staged scruffy like an extra from a Dickens play?
Dahlia Gillespie - Silent Hill 1 (top) and Silent Hill film (bottom)
And when did Cybil Bennett get so mean? She was lovely in SH1 and helped Harry to find his little girl Cheryl. She's a butch mean cop in the film. She arrests Rose (Radha Mitchell) because she suspects that Rose has got rid of SHAAAAA by some devious means. But instead of looking for the poor kid, she arrests Rose and promptly attempts to take her to the cop house. Luckily, a Silent Hill monster is there to stop this ridiculous act from taking place.Cybil Bennett - Silent Hill 1 (top) and Silent Hill film (bottom)
Final whinge - the CGI did look like CGI. It was good but not realistic enough. It looked like Rose was partially trapped in a CGI world however I was impressed by the artistry. I'm always in awe of CGIers.
Bad acting. Bad. Except for ....
Mmmmm .... Jodelle Furland who was fabulous. I really enjoyed her performance in Silent Hill. She's a good actress without being an irritating child. She played the parts of Alessa and SHAAAAA brilliantly.
Cheryl (Silent Hill 1) and SHAAAAA (Silent Hill film)
And, I have to say it, Pyramid Head (accompanied by his pet bugs) . What a hero. He was great. Replete with ha-uge knife he once again managed to scare my pants (almost) off (remember I have my legs loosely crossed here). PH also has one excellent scene where he grabs one dire actress outside what I presume to be the Balkan Church in SH1. He picks up an actress called Anna, rips her clothes off, then rips off her skin in one go and flings it against the church door. Blood flies everywhere! The sound of the wet body skin against the church doors is excellent stuff! Go Pyramid Head!
Pyramid Head - what he lacks in running skills he makes up for in knife length
Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack without which Silent Hill would not be the place it is today. Brilliant as always - I found myself singing and humming along quite happily (quietly of course).
Lisa Garland gets a look in. I remember being upset when she died in SH1. She was a sweet nurse who looked after Alessa and was just horrified by the way Alessa had been treated. Unfortunately, Lisa was taking too much of the drugs available and off she pops.
The monsters looked good. I liked the creepy baby thingys at the beginning. I liked the horrid faceless bodies from SH2 - they made the same noise in the film as in the game that makes me shudder. The zombie nurses looked good but when did they start roaming in packs ffs?
Zombie nurses (Silent Hill film)
I loved the way Cybil Bennett's face melted when she was burned in the church. I was quite sad when she died.
I saw the film yesterday, and, reflecting back on the film now, it really didn't do the games justice. I have a week's break from my PhD starting from today. I'm going to console myself (hahaha) by playing all the games from start to finish and listen to sad Akira songs.
If only I had a Robbie the Rabbit to hug .... *sigh*
