A Retrospect on "Silent Hill"

Confessions of a Film Junkie: A Retrospect of “Silent Hill”

By: Brian Cotnoir

     Hello friends and loyal readers it is Das Film Junkie here with another Retrospect, where I take a second look at a film I’ve already reviewed to see if my tastes for it have changed at all.  So rather than re-review a film I’ve hated, I’m going to re-review a film I actually like, in fact, this week I’m reviewing one of my favorite Horror films of All-time; “Silent Hill”.

My First Impression of the film

It's so awesome!!!! :)

I was 14 or 15-year-old the first time I saw “Silent Hill” for the first time (I lied about my age to see it in theatres).  I knew it was based off a game that was on the Original Playstation, but I had not played it before seeing the film.  This was the 1^st film I can ever remember seeing that made me feel “disturbed” and “uncomfortable”.  Before I saw “Silent Hill”, I thought Horror films were always declining in quality and had no “shock value” and “entertainment”.  The whole time, as I was watching the film, I kept saying to myself “they’re not going to show any good stuff”. Then five seconds later I’d be saying; “holy crap, I can’t believe they just showed that”.  I enjoyed everything about this film; the story, the characters, the music, the costumes, the excessive violence this film was great.  I especially enjoyed the acting of Jodelle Ferland, who played two characters in the film that were total opposites: the sweet and innocent Sharon, and the sinister and demonic Alessa. It is one of the best performances I’ve ever seen out of a child actress. 

My Impression after seeing this film a Second time

Hello, Mother Dearest

    Okay, since this is one of my favorite films, I’ve actually seen it more than once.  However, now I’ve seen the film AND I have played the first 4 video games in the series and I’ve seen the films sequel “Silent Hill: Revelations”. Hell, I’ve even been to West Virginia three times, and I’ve driven through an old town that reminded me of Silent Hill. I still feel that this film holds up quite well, but I also believe that one reason why I favor this film more than most is because I didn’t play the video games until after I’ve seen it.  I know a lot of people who like the games, hate this movie, but I still like it.  It’s true, that it does not follow the plot of the game that well, but it still managed to entertain me.  And even though, the sequel film followed the plot to the video game better than the original, I still found the original to be more enjoyable.

What I would do to make the film better

Do Not Judge this film too harshly

     So I’m not really surprised that the film’s director Christophe Gans took some creative liberties with the plot of the game and changed a bunch of stuff for the film.  Personally, I liked some of the changes (for example how the changed Jodelle Ferland’s character name to Sharon (instead of Cheryl like in the game), but some of the changes I could’ve gone without.  I think the plot would have worked better if it was Sharon’s father who had to find her instead of her mother, like in the game..  That way they could have included a subtle romance story between Chris Da Silva and Officer Cybil.  Also, as much I like Pyramid Head, he was not in the first game (he doesn’t actually appear until the second game in the franchise) so I think if they would have left him out of the film, it wouldn’t have left that much of an effect on the film, but I understand why they used him as Pyramid Head is the most recognizable character from the Game Franchise.

My Final Opinion on the Film

Everyone's Favorite Dead Nurses

“Silent Hill” is and always will be one of my favorite Horror films.  My biggest reason why is because this is the first Horror film I saw as a teenager that made me say, “Wow, Horror films can still be awesome and entertaining”.  I know, many of you are probably thinking “that’s a stupid choice for the film that got you into Horror”, but it’s true, and I have Director Christophe Gans to thank for re-instilling in me the belief that Horror films can be scary and entertaining.  I can understand why most people who are fans of the Game Franchise hate this film, but I think if you haven’t played the games and   that you will really like this film.