Silent Hill movie

Can you post those reviews, if they're spoiler-free?

Aside from brutal, was it scary? That's the most important thing.

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4.5 out of 5 is "not too bad"?

I may be able to see it early tommorow, hopefully.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm not concerned at all about reviews from critics. What I'm looking for is opinions from people who are fans of the games. They'll be the real judges of this film.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

A poster from Bloody-Disgusting gives a favorable review.

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I just had the privelage of seeing Silent Hill. I was blown away on levels I cant even begin to describe. I am a HUGE SH fan and this movie did not disappoint at all. The story is mainly the SH story with a few tweaks and differences, but it all came together into a modern masterpiece. The whole mood of the movie brings the game to life better then any video game/movie translation has ever even come close to. The back story is slightly vauge though so knowing the games story is a definite plus but if youve never played the games dont worry, you will understand what is going on just fine. Im excited just typing this cause Im remembering so many cool things that I wont spoil for anyone. It was so good Ill be going again tomorrow night. Just thought you all should know!!!

The post sounds a bit fanboyish, but it's a good start.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Your review disappoints me greatly.

Well, I'm still set to see this around noon tommorow, so hopefully I'll enjoy it moreso.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Did you play Silent Hill 2-4?

Also, much of it is speculation.

FELIPE NO

Any review that is a grammatical jumble of shit like this

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"GO FUCK YOURSELF IN THE ASS RIGHT NOW IF YOU LIKED THIS PIECE OF SHIT MOVIE!!!!1111!!@@@!212121!"

shouldn't be taken seriously. Those are just the Halo guys venting that they didn't get a movie first.

Double Post:
This should calm your fears. I always appreciated Moriarty's reviews in Aint It Cool, and this one quells any fears I have left.

http://aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=23088

He has no knowledge of the game series, but he applauds it for replicating the style of Argento's films. I'm sold.

I've just know confirmed I'll be attending the 3:15pm showing.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I just got back from watching it. Allow me to offer my thoughts. Keep in mind this is in no way the definitive final word with the film. Just understand that it's coming from someone who is a huge fan of the series, a huge fan of the horror genre, but also someone who can look at the movie without any sort of bias. I'll try to keep things as brief as I can. There will be marked spoilers throughout the review.

As a fan of the series, this movie was excellent. The production values and visual style was utterly amazing. I'm truly amazed how well they handled SH1's opening act, which was handled with absolute perfection and editing. A PS3 remake couldn't do a better job. I could go on for several paragraphs more over how well the movie succeeds visually, but it really is something you must experience for yourself.

I'm just going to get right to the negatives. Basically, most of the dialogue was convulted noise. Filler material at best. I think to way back when Motsy made the claim that Advent Children would work better as a silent film. That idea would've actually worked here. From the fans' point of view, it feels like a director's attempt at fanfiction, paraphrasing what the series' veterans already know. For the general movie watcher, the dialogue will either be confusing or laughable.

And that, unfortunately, is where the movie's greatest weakness lies; the final half. Once the movie decided to move away from the monsters and focus on the human cult, things took a small dive. This combined with the previous statement that the director tried a little too hard remaining faithful to the game. You simply can't explain SH1's plotline in the span of 10 minutes and expect people to get it. I could totally feel the collective brains of the theater room frying like eggs.

The fans don't fare any better, as they, like me, will complain about the alterations to the story. Seriously, what was the point of

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Making Dahlia a sympathetic mother who had to give up her child? This completely ruins Dahlia's character; the fact that she was the cult leader who WILLINGLY sacrificed her daughter is what made her so despicable.

It's also inaccurate that

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the cult would burn "witches" in an attempt to keep the darkness away, when originally it was the darkness that they embraced.

The second complaint I have is with the soundtrack. As fanboyishly giddy as I was when they started using the original music (with some additional or altered instruments that would classify the music as "remixed"), it became a bit repetitive as they kept reusing the same songs over and over. And as I feared, some songs just didn't work when they were taken out of context. The inclusion of a fast-beat song as Rose and Cybil were walking made things appear cheesier than they should be. As I said before, I would've much rather had an original soundtrack composed by Yamaoka. Or at least use more of the darker, noise-driven music from the first game. SH2's OST pretty much gets used the most, with SH3 a close second.

And finally, as much as I enjoyed the purely R rated violence (especially the infamous scene with Pyramid Head that everyone should know about by now. It's far worse then anyone could describe), I felt the gore got a little overboard, especially during the climax. SH has always been a bloody series, but I always felt that it managed to hold enough back that it wouldn't be excessive. Not the case in this movie, which almost borders on exploitation, especially a certain death that's going to seem all too familiar with anyone who's knowledgable with any anime involving tentacles.

The ultraviolence also bothered me in regards to

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Cybil. They should've just ended things when she was beaten by the cult members. But instead they dragged on her suffering with that horrible burning scene. I almost had to turn away. Fans are going to be very pissed.

Finally, I wish they kept Harry in instead of Rose, as I doubt too many guys will take her seriously. Her love for Sharron, while genuine, may be seen as a bit excessive, practically stripping her sense of logic. The first 10 minutes will be proof enough of this claim. And one scene in particular just made me want to cry out bullshit (SH was never a platformer, okay). I get that they wanted the audience to feel more compassion toward a woman, but I felt that it would've been more effective to have a male character break down and shit himself with all that goes on in the town. There honestly isn't a male on the planet who wouldn't be creeped out in a situation like this.

So in the end, I felt that the final half should've taken a different direction and just focus on the survival aspect, introducing more monsters to have our heroine escape, screaming her brains out (which was very well done, by the way, echoing the kind of screams you'd hear from the original Chansaw Massacre). I also feel that Gans might have been more effective crafting an original story, instead of trying to digest (and ultimately screw with) the first game's plotline. This made the movie drag on more than it should have (a shorter running time would've actually been favorable), as well as feeling far too videogamey in other aspects (how did she even know to look in the school?).

This may sound like a lot of complaints, but in the eyes of a fan, all these things are irrelavent. I guarantee 90% of the SH fanbase will enjoy this movie immensly. Anyone not knowledgable with the series, though, might be harder to convince. Gore hounds will love the violence here, taken far more seriously than any horror movie in recent years, but casual moviegoers might dismiss the convulted plot. And teenagers have plenty of material that they can laugh at, as the movie does have quite a bit of unintentionally funny moments (not counting the monsters, in which it's okay to laugh. I certainly did, but not because they were cheesy, more like "holy shit!").

So in short....

Talking=bad.

Monsters=good!

I'll spell it out even further; Silent Hill, like Advent Children, is fanservice, perhaps even in a purer sense. You like the games? You'll like this, no question. Don't like it or know anything about it? See it anyway, and treat it like a haunted house ride. You'll enjoy the creepy visuals and awesome monsters. There's nothing else like it currently.

Bring on the sequel. Bring on Silent Hill 2: The Room.

Note: Don't worry, my impressions on AC won't be nearly as long. I swear it'll only take up a paragraph, if even that.

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Also, I was the only person left in the theater during the second credits. At least some people (like, 5 people) stayed for the first group of credits. This is out of a crowd of 30+ people.

I stayed until the first set of credits finished. Left when the second set started. If there was an extra image or scene shown afterwards, I didn't see it.

Also, I aggree with Sprout's claims that the movie needed more Pyramid Head. The final act should've been him and his roaches going on a murder spree instead of the last "boss" they created for this movie.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

That's a likely possibility. I suppose they figured that it was an extra layer of dark and depressing in a movie that's already dark and depressing enough.

And yet they have no problem with barbed wire going through that person's....well you know. :/

The more I think about PH, the more I realize what a show stealer he was. They'll definetley use him again if they work on a sequel, but I was hoping to get my fill in this one.

Also, I give props to the Janitor creature made for the film. I didn't think he would work, having a more human appearance than the other creatures, but he was one of the best moments in this film. It was especially creepy when

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he yelled "Mommy!". At least I think that's what he said. Damn that was creepy.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

In regards to Ebert "not getting it", I don't think he should be criticized for not being smart/open-minded enough to understand it. The plot itself isn't hard to understand. The problem was the way the directors told it, spoon-feeding you a montage of cryptic info and editing instead of slowly lining up the pieces. It's not the plot itself that was convulted, but the way the story was told.

Also, I don't see how the changes to the cult or god affect any chances of the sequel adaptions. The only one that would really be affected is SH3, but SH2 and 4 barely even reference the cult or the workings of the town.

SH2 seems to be the next logical step, especially as an excuse to toss in more Pyramid Head. The cast of characters would be far more colorful too, as they each have a disturbing story about their past. Still, I'd prefer if they jumped to The Room, as it has the same kind of characterization as SH2, but also has a unique enough premise that even casual moviegoers would be interested in seeing.

Johnny Depp channeling Oh-Dai-Su with a rugged, isolated Henry Townsend? That would be awesome.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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They were probably still trapped in the alternate reality. Or, maybe the dad is the one who's really trapped. It's just one of those things you'll never know...unless you hear the DVD commentary.

And Alessa's sin was that she was a witch. How could they tell? Who knows.

According to IGN, it's rumored that Gans' original cut of the film is 3 hours and 30 minutes. Wow. Despite what I said earlier about the movie needing a shorter runtime, I wouldn't mind seeing an extended version for DVD. If any of that extra footage shows more town locations and monsters, I say go for it. More talking? Not quite as eager.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

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But Silent Hill 4 has, pretty much, the lamest protagonist ever. He wasn't even a real character. His personality is that he doesn't have one and would rather watch other people's. This never really came to mean anything for the actual plot as far as development goes.

This is why you fix him up for the movie version. There's a reason I mentioned Johnny Depp, you know....

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hey, I'd watch it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?