Wednesday, October 12

Silent Hill


Tough ladies battle spooks to rescue a little girl in the Silent Hill movie.

The eerie survival-horror videogame series Silent Hill from Konami bucked the trend started by Capcom's Resident Evil. From gory monster mashes, SH instead went to more visceral, more psychological sources for it's scares. Well, after several games, the franchise has finally spawned a movie. The film version of Silent Hill stars Radha Mitchell (Man on Fire, Finding Neverland), Sean Bean (Boromir from LOTR) and Laurie Holden (Fantastic Four).
The story revolves around Rose (Mitchell), young mother who is desperate to find a cure for her dying daughter. She finally resolves to take the girl to a faith healer, and this leads her through a portal that sends her to the spooky town of Silent Hill. The half-abandoned, mist-shrouded town is inhabited by strange creatures and a mysterious darkness that twists and corrupts all that it touches. The only other humans in Silent Hill are fighting a losing battle against the darkness.

Soon Rose, joined by a female copy named Cybil, must make a pact with a demon to save her daughter's life. How far will these hapless prisoners go to survive? And will they be able to escape the twisted borders of Silent Hill?

Unlike other videogame movies, SH has a good chance of being a stand-alone feature that can cook up its own scares and chills without having to resort to cheezy videogame effects or out-of-place action sequences. This should be something to look forward to when it creeps into theaters in 2006.

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