| | | "Once You Enter Silent Hill, There is No Turning Back."
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.40:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Featurettes, Previews, English Subtitled
Based on the best-selling horror action game, Silent Hill stars Radha Mitchell (Man on Fire) as Rose, a desperate mother who takes her adopted daughter, Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill in an attempt to cure her of her ailment. After a violent car crash, Sharon disappears and Rose begins her desperate search to get her back. She descends into a fog of smoldering ash and into the center of the twisted reality of a town's terrible secret. Pursued by grotesquely deformed creatures and a townspeople stuck in permanent purgatory, Rose begins to uncover the truth behind the apocalyptic disaster that burned the town 30 years back. Dare to step inside the horrific town of Silent Hill, where darkness preys on every soul and Hell's creations await around every corner. But know that once you enter...there is no turning back.System Requirements:Running Time: 125 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE
"...will shatter your senses and leave you breathless." Brian Tallerico, UGO.com
"True horror fans will stand up and clap." Paul Nomad, The Horror Channel
"...a twisted masterpiece of set design." James Dyer, Empire
"...comes to a quietly chilling conclusion far more haunting than any bloody mayhem." Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide
Editor's Note
It's always been said that a video game cannot be successfully adapted into a film. With SILENT HILL, director Christophe Gans (BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF) and screenwriter Roger Avary (KILLING ZOE) have the benefit of the atmospheric and often terrifying game series of the same name. With a budget reportedly in excess of $50 million, they wisely eschew dense plot in favor of a kaleidoscopic nightmare--culled from several volumes of the game series--designed to give horror fans what they crave. Radha Mitchell (PITCH BLACK) stars as Rose Da Silva, a young mother whose adopted daughter Sharon speaks of the eponymous West Virginia mining town as she sleepwalks. Rose decides to take Sharon there in an attempt to discover why it haunts her dreams--but Silent Hill has been a ghost town since a series of underground coal fires in 1974, and the residents who stayed behind are the stuff of nightmares.SILENT HILL is notable for having a largely female cast (the male characters were reportedly added at the studio's behest), with Mitchell, Deborah Kara Unger, Alice Krige, and Laurie Holden in the principal roles. But the film's real star is production designer Carol Spier (known for her frequent work with David Cronenberg), whose work makes the deserted town into a true vision of hell. Utilizing an effective combination of CGI and latex makeup effects, several of the creatures on display may upset more sensitive viewers, as will some of the carnage, which is strong for an R rating. On the other hand, seasoned horror fans and gamers who have been waiting to see a joystick-free version of SILENT HILL are likely to come away feeling like they've just taken a nightmare vacation to the spookiest town in America.
| Features | Silent Hill Origins Making of Featurette | | Casting Silent Hill Making of Featurette | | Building Silent Hill Making of Featurette | | Stars and Stunts Making of Featurette | | Creatures Unleashed Making of Featurette | | Creature Choreography Making of Featurette | | Previews | | Widescreen Presentation | | Audio: English Dolby Digital (5.1) | | Subtitles: English |
| Technical Info
|
Release Information
| | Studio: Sony Pictures |
| Release Date: 1/26/2010 |
| Running Time: 125 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2006 | | Catalog ID: 13884 | | UPC: 00043396138841 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1 |
| Cast & Crew
|
| | Professional Reviews | Sight and Sound
"With its obstacle-course narrative of abrupt ambushes and perversely hidden clues, and its vividly dimensional environments, SILENT HILL is a striking approximation of the gaming format." 07/01/2006 p.72Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "Director Gans presents a genuinely disturbing world of peeling paint, raining ash and grotesque blobs of flesh..." 09/01/2006 193 Variety 7 of 10
The sorry track record for vidgame-to-bigscreen translations goes unchallenged by "Silent Hill," though above-average interest is generated for a time by "Brotherhood of the Wolf" helmer Christophe Gans' elaborate visual package...Despite earnest stabs at psychological depth, not to mention pic's impressive gore and design tropes, final effect is negligible. Even more than in gaga genre hybrid "Brotherhood of the Wolf," Gans appears so engrossed by the opportunities for baroque style that he doesn't notice the creeping dearth of content. - Dennis Harvey
Chicago Sun-Times 6 of 10
Not only can I not describe the plot of this movie, but I have a feeling the last scene reverses half of what I thought I knew (or didn't know). What I can say is that it's an incredibly good-looking film. The director, Christophe Gans, uses graphics and special effects and computers and grainy, scratchy film stock and surrealistic images and makes "Silent Hill" look more like an experimental art film than a horror film -- except for the horror, of course. The visuals are terrific; credit also to cinematographer Dan Laustsen, production designer Carol Spier, and the art, set and costume artists. - Roger Ebert
|
| |
|
|
|
