"We found a witch! May we burn her?"

Yada yada... duck, made of wood, yada yada. You know the routine.

The production value is major! The story, for me is alot like Silent Hill 1 and 2 (but with a female as the main character). Pyramid head is beastmode. This might be one of the best video game movies that is out right now, when it comes to being faithfull and the look of it.

No, it was incredibly unfaithful because it completely missed what made the games good. It's like a five-year old shooting himself in the foot with his dad's gun, which he stole because he wanted to be an action hero.

I do not agree at all.. To me this was a perfect Silent Hill movie, but then again.. My hopes was realy low.

Having seen Revelations last night, I'm not going to spoil anything, but I will say this.
With as much as you dislike the first movie, Dena, you're going to hate Revelations even more, and I'm saying this as someone who enjoyed the first movie.

I'm guessing Sean Bean is still Sean Bean and thus gets Sean Beaned at some point in Silent Hill Most Original Word Added to a Title Ever?

I heard that Brad Jones despised the movie, and he doesn't know Silent Hill. This does not bode well for me. :-P

The problem with this movie is that it got everithing right exect for the writing. I can mannege to enjoy it thogh, geting a dumbed down versions on stories is something i came to expect from hollywood.

also: awsome twillight sparkle plushy is awsome /)^3^(\

Only 5?

I got the impression she was implying that she could have had a lot more, but she focused on the 5 things she felt the strongest about, thinks that she had plenty enough to say about. I bet she could have done ten, or even more, but didn't want to come across as nitpicking.

Pretty much. If I were to mention ten things, I probably would have ended up being somewhat repetitive. Also, rather than mention 10 specific things and try to only touch on them briefly, I decided to go with 5 things that were more vague and focus on them with a lot of detail and examples.

Not looking forward to Silent Hill Revealations the movie (sigh)

Speaking of, why do so many movie sequels have to rely on RE- words? How many movie sequels are called "Revelation(s)", "Revolution", or "Resurrection"? Can we have a single movie series that doesn't resort to these overused subtitles?

I agree with nearly everything you said, but you like the new transition effect? That strikes me as... odd, since you just went on a whole tangent about subtly and how that's supposed to be a good thing. When you first go into the other world in Silent Hill 1, there is no flashy magic transition. You just walk down a creepy and out-of-place hallway, only to end-up right back where you were... but something is terribly wrong. It's one of the main, pivotal things that makes the first games so much more creepy over other horror themed games, and even other Silent Hill games.
That's what made the other world so amazing, it was so subtle it was creepy. Now, it's reduced to a magic effect right out of harry Potter. It's like watching a horror movie with nothing concealed, everything is in the light. The new effect can be compared to a child jumping up and down in the background, waving their arms and screaming, "I am scary, be scared!".

Well, I didn't say it should be used the FIRST time the transition happens =P

I can't say for sure, but at my school the female janitors were always cleaning the toilets when people were in classes. It annoyed the hell out of me when I had free periods 'cause they'd either lock it or say I couldn't get in instead of walking out for a few minutes. >>

Also at my work, on the rare occasions I work "on lobby," I'm expected to check both of the restaurant toilets, which I think is incredibly awkward but *shrug* It's in my remit.

But yeah. Other than that, I think you have the whole thing spot on. I'm not even a huge silent hill fan and the only reason I bought the movie (and saw it in theatres) is that it was hilariously bad.

Honestly, Silent Hill needs a movie like the Resident Evil CGI movies. Both of those are really good, though the newest one is much better. It fits in with the game storylines perfectly. :D

I probably could have worded that one better. The consensus seems to be, "USUALLY not during school hours, tho occasionally but with the area blocked off so no kids can go in".

So, what I said wasn't 100% true, but it's close enough and the point still stands that Alessa wouldn't have been able to just run into the janitor like that, especially when you take into account how puritanical the cult's beliefs apparently are.

I only saw probably the last 30 to 40 minutes but yeah the gore felt forced and the story was a little convoluted. Also most importantly I really want that Twilight Sparkle plushy it is positively adorable.

Thanks, I made it (and plan to sell it eventually).

Ironic that you put this up just as the sequel comes out.

And...yeah. The rape in the bathroom I could rail about for hours. It comes right the hell out of nowhere. It adds NOTHING to Alessa's character or backstory and is INSULTING and DISGUSTING to our intelligence. We already knew that people were cruel and mean to her. We didn't need a...a CHILD RAPE!!! It only serves to add a creepy new monster.

Now, admittedly, getting the key out of his mouth WAS a really good touch to the movie and I DID like that scene but...that alone isn't worth a child rape.

Yah, I said to someone on Facebook recently that it wouldn't surprise me if they came up with the monster first, then when forced to make up a backstory for it, that's all they could come up with =P

I remember a friend of mine back in high school told me that the reason the ground melted when the monster crawled was because he was supposed to represent STDs. Uh.....SYMBOLISAAAAAAAAAU M!!!OMFGBBQ! Yeah, sorry that's still not worth a child rape

Love, love love your videos Dena! This one is especially well put together and you make your points wonderfully, with lots of evidence.

As someone who hasn't even played the games, I hate the movies. They're just...bad. And saying that a father wouldn't act the way that Harry Mason did? Do these people even KNOW good fathers?

Fighting hell beasts and saving children? That Harry Mason is such a woman.

When I saw Liam Neeson in Taken making threats and saving his daughter, I thought "That is the womanliest character ever!"

It's a good thing they replaced Harry with a woman. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the director's quote, "I like women – I like to fuck the American bimbo. I want to make a movie with no men and have sexy women throughout. Women everywhere. I don’t want to have all these men to deal with or the attitudes of men."

LOLWUT?

Actually I guess it's a paraphrase.
http:// www.silenthillmemories.ne t/creators/interviews/ 2005.09_avary_edgeonline_ en.htm
But it sure doesn't make anybody involved with the script look better.

I'm definitely glad that you brought up the symbolism of Pyramid Head and how he was only visible to his intended character in the game. It of course makes no sense that he exists in the Silent Hill movie at all, but the fact that he's a public threat is REALLY ridiculous.

Loved it. Oh man Dena, sometimes I think we are Silent Hill fan twins or something.

I actually just went and saw Revalations today. I just... no words. I won't spoil it, but it is worse than the first movie.

Wow that directors explanation for why they changed the main characters gender makes me think he is some kind of psychopath. Also Hollywood have a great wish to make Christians into villains. Trying to influence peoples opinions I guess.
This movie sucked so hard.. One of the worst horror movies ever. The resident evil movies respect the source material more.

Yeah, Gans is messed up. If you want some more depth on the production quality of the movie, try TRSHE here:

(Part 1) http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=cCh_yrarhB4
(Part 2) http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=fR6Gp3OL118

I don't agree with all of their points ("Shattered Memories is just another SH2 clone". Really??) but they do have some good analysis. As well as the only other video reviews (I've seen) of IDW's bad Silent Hill comics outside of you-know-who here.

"I don't agree with all of their points ("Shattered Memories is just another SH2 clone". Really??)"

Wow. That is utter idiocy. It's not in almost ANY way like SH2.

You want an SH2 clone, look at Origins.

Still though, they did have some other good points on the franchise, like the oddities of later production (it's amazing how much Akira Yamaoka seemed to not know about this series). The issue came from them interpreting the plot to be based on the main character being forgetful of the tragic event. ...which even then is very weak, but it's not a gamebreaker for me. I just prefer the material of SH fans of this website's contributors to Twin Perfect, is all.

*Spoilers*

If you want a SH2 clone look a friggin' Silent Hill: Homecoming. XD Origins and Shattered Memories are nothing like SH2. Homecoming on the other hand....the only difference is the Order is in there and Alex accidently killed his brother then forgot about it, where James mercy killed his wife then forgot about it lol.

Loved SH2 and Homecoming by the way. I don't mean for my comment to bash Homecoming. *Hides behind a wall and waits for retaliation.*

"Also Hollywood have a great wish to make Christians into villains."

Really? I thought that in the movie, the townspeople are members of an evil cult, and not Christian.

And in most Hollywood movies do not speak against the Christians, except perhaps in some movies against religious fundamentalism (which is not the same thing!!).
Also in many movies, major and minor characters are also Christians or believe in God, and most have shown positive.
For example, in The Avengers, Captain America is very directly said that he believes in God, not believing that Thor is also a god.

I just can't seem to get enough of Silent Hill videos. It's like a drug.

I refer you to my comment right above: The Real Silent Hill Experience.

You said that stuff from the sequels was put in the movie because the director is a big Silent Hill fan, but the movie's script was written by someone else (Roger Avary, who co-wrote Pulp Fiction). Presumably he was the one who put the stuff in the script before the director started making the movie.

Also you made a big deal of Pyramid Head being definitively identified as a part of James's subconscious as part of an official game guide that was published for Silent Hill 3 ("The Book of Lost Memories"). Who knows who wrote the game guide for Silent Hill 3, where this information came from, and whether that person was privy to the thoughts of the person who originally created Pyramid Head? Usually these guides are written by hired writers who didn't actually design the game they are writing about, so it's kind of hard to consider a printed game guide that came out two years after the release of Silent Hill 2 a definitive authorial statement on the meaning of the symbols in that game. That said, I agree with you he shouldn't have been reused.

So Dena, will we be hearing your thoughts on Silent Hill: Revelation? I hope so. If not a video or Vlog, but on your podcast maybe?

And did you know Universal Studios (definitely Hollywood and maybe Orlando too) did a Silent Hill house this year? I can't afford to go, but I've seen videos on YouTube. If you want, I could send you a link so you can see it. I'd love to get your opinion on it. The house is influenced by games 2-4 (not too sure about 1) and the first movie.

If all goes well, I plan to see the movie tomorrow, then record a HorrorCast this or next weekend.

Yah, I heard about that. Didn't bother to really look for videos or anything because I figured it'd be mostly based on the movie.

I think the dumbest decision made with this movie was basing Silent Hill of of Centralia. WHY?! What purpose does it serve when you have eight or nine games worth of lore for this town to go off of?! I'll agree with Dena and say it's an interesting idea for a horror story but...if you wanted to base a horror story around Centralia, then make a goddamn horror story based around Centralia! Don't just slap the Silent Hill name onto it that makes no sense! This isn't like adapting a famous location from say a comic into a video game and basing it on a real place (Arkham Asylum). That's fine because the layout of Arkham is always constantly changing and is pretty vague to begin with. (Not to mention Arkham from HP Lovecraft lore, which Arkham Asylum got its name from, was based on a real place to begin with.) But here they've taken a very well known location rich with its own history and have COMPLETELY changed the history to mirror something from real life. It makes no sense and doesn't add anything to the story. Now I just wanna see a horror story based around an abandoned town on a coal fire that ISN'T parading itself as Silent Hill >_

Well, only 4 games at the time the movie was made, but the point still stands ^.^

Silent Hill, the city, was ALWAYS based on Centralia, PA. This is not unique to the movie.

Was it? Oh, well there I go ranting without doing any research >//////> But even so, my point still stands. The coal fire was never a part of the Silent Hill games (that I know of). Just because it was based on that town doesn't mean you take something from it that was never present in the movies. I still do wanna see an actual coal fire related horror story that isn't SH.

Source? Because I never heard anything about Centralia before the movie came out. If anything, I think there are abandoned towns in Japan that inspired the town from the games.

Burn the witch!

Fun fact: In the U.S., witches were hanged or crushed, not burned.

Also: Oh, a man's being sensitive and caring! He's like a woman!
[deep breath]
FUUUUUUUUUUCK YYYYOOOOOOUUUUU!!!!

Dahlia didn't have Alessa burned alive and put into a coma in order to birth the god. Alessa was burned accidentally by the boiler explosion she caused with her mental abilities due to her heightened stress level during the impregnation ritual; one of which did not involve fire as Origins would lead you to believe. Hatred and pain fed Heather's demon seed because it was a weakened remnant of the original demon seed due to Heather being Alessa's reincarnation.

Harry states that Dahlia burned her as a sacrifice to God in SH3, but this can be due to him both not being at the ritual when it occurred and him remembering what Dahlia told him about saving Cheryl before she became a sacrifice. Just some information.

they put that in the European version but they might only have done it for censorship reasons, what with torturing children in fiction is iffy in many countries over there. However, the American one is the least censored one and did not mention it at all, but it's considered the canonical version....SOOOOOO... despite what those guys who made TRSHE documentary said, that is very debatable... It's odd that they'd take what the European version said when they themselves have said that the American one is the right one... meh

Honestly, Nowadays I can clearly say that I'm a Silent Hill fan without playing any of the games, there is Wikipedia Youtube and Google out there to make real that option, and I think that was the route that Christophe Gans took.

I mean, yes, I'ts really hard to make a movie, make an script, make all those enviroment, yeah, I understand It's twice hard to make a Terror movie, but please, sit for a couple of hours you alone in your house and try to play Silent Hill 2 and tell me when you finish it that you don't have a real special and complex story that you can make without throwing millions of dolars on special effects.

Yeah, they have a marvelous work on the technical and SF part, but they miss the heart of the story in my opinion, they can play a lot of psychology around the characters and then... let them scratch the hell in to attempt to survive! You can play with the twists against them, you really need to the spectators feel empathy about the characters and the city, even if Silent Hill is a Three dimensional town connected to the Inferno, I think that you can not call yourself a Silent Hill fan if you try to accomplish those things in a movie, and you fail.

In my opinion Gans is so bigger fan of Silent Hill games like Paul W.S. Anderson is for Resident Evil first games, they made a lot of money with them, they made even more popular directors because they made those franchises, but I cannot say that they are classic movies that represents the 'nostalgic feeling' that those games make me feel, maybe I can qualify them in 'less worse', but this is how I see them, even if other people like this movies.

Great video, Dena. There were a lot of times when I wanted to hold up a big sign that read THANK YOU! One thing among many that I cant forgive the movie for is essentially being the reason why the American developed games that followed were horrible.

Many of the elements were taken from the movie, from the monsters to the underground fire to Alessa being purposely burned and wanting REVENGE! Hell, even the maze is based on the movie. If only people cared enough to do actual research. Everything after SH4 causes me great pain, but at least I still have the originals and at least there are people like you that can shed some light.

The Silent Hill movie is as depressing as finding out the puppy you got for Christmas has cancer. It just takes itself way too serious. More serious than a game based on a video game and not being directed by Uwe Boll should. The sequel looks to be more of the same. Slight interest of seeing if the clone of Michelle Williams can act aside, I have no interest in finding out.

Just look at the lack of a joke ending somewhere.

I could have ignored all the nonsensical, hole-filled changes to story if they at least captured the horror elements. But not only was the explosive revenge fantasy completely purile, it had no sense of creeping horror or uncertainty. Every so often, the siren would sound like a musical cue and monsters would explode onto the scene to put on a flashy show. The nurses basically did a dance number.

It could be argued that like the barbed wire tentacle rape, this is just part of the lack of subtlety. But it completely missed the point on the game's basest appeal. It's like a Jaws remake where the shark has legs but can't swim, so it runs around on the beach in broad daylight.

He reminds me of my own Dad. The idea that fathers would never care for their children like mothers would is ludicrous, especially as my Dad is the affectionate half of my parents. If I was a little girl kidnapped by a supernatural realm, my Dad would try to get me back too :)

I liked this movie at first, but when they killed off Cybil twice I wasn't too happy. As the years went by I watched it again, and then listened to other opinions (some I agreed with some that I didn't) I can't see myself watching this one again. The story doesn't make sense on it's own, nor as an homage to the original game. However I am going to break down this week and go see the second movie, out of duty I suppose more than anything else (and then the Castlevania movie next year).

The hope on the horizon after the horrendous HD remakes (and yes I call them remakes as opposed to being ports) is that Hideo Kojima has been asked to make the next Silent Hill game with his Fox engine. He helped bring back Castlevania, so hopefully he can do the same with Silent Hill. Here's hoping that Silent Hill doesn't start becoming an endless movie franchise like Resident Evil has.

The movie isn't accurate to the games, and perhaps the gore is a little bit excessive now that I think about it, but, eh... for me, it all worked. Visually, the movie is wonderful, and I find myself enjoying Silent Hill as a location. I've even found myself watching the movie multiple times. It's the atmosphere and the way the monsters are handled that keep me appreciating the movie.

The second movie... will make you appreciate this movie... If you want a hot mess... see SH:R... oie-vey....

Your number 3 reason is my only reason and bonus sexist bullcrap from the director made it worse...
A father would not care for thier own child like a woman? fuck off
You just wanted boobs in your movie you sexist pig

Also i hated that they couldn't make a mother evil no no dahlia couldn't be an evil mother burned her daughter no that would make too muhc sense! More sexism or pandering whatever that alone makes me hate this movie like a plague.

Oh too many female leads....oh well if only if only there was a father that was searching for his daughter...really? why didn't they just either leave it alone and let it be the changed story of the mom looking for the girl.
Or start over again.but to add an harryish character ....but not have him do much is really annoying and stupid.
Child rape and then just burn her because she is a witch........woooooow this movie is a mess a huge mess.
Revelations isn't better...its just......sigh
I swear to god if they touch silent hill 2 bad things bad things