'Silent Hill' Is a Free Fall Through a Nightmare World (original) (raw)

Arts|'Silent Hill' Is a Free Fall Through a Nightmare World

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/22/movies/silent-hill-is-a-free-fall-through-a-nightmare-world.html

FILM REVIEW

April 22, 2006

Several hours after arriving in the spooky town of Silent Hill, Rose (Radha Mitchell) turns to Cybil (Laurie Holden) and says: "They used to say this place was haunted. I think they were right!"

Let it be noted that by this point in the story our heroines have not only encountered ghoulish ash babies, demonic cockroaches and a contortionist zombie, but have also slipped so quickly between parallel dimensions of weird that their antics make "Mulholland Drive" look like Main Street.

Not that smart talk or narrative integrity have any place in "Silent Hill." From first frame to last, not a second of the film has a grip on reality. Structured around a series of blackouts and gross-outs, it is one long free fall through icky surrealism and underlighted nightmares. It takes us to the sort of world where hell is round the corner, secret doors abound and faux-blond policewomen outfit themselves in skin-tight leather.

The plot would take half a day to describe, which is approximately how long the movie seems to play. It begins as a quest for Rose's daughter, Sharon (Jodelle Ferland), develops into a ghost-town mystery, devolves into a preposterous cautionary tale about witchcraft and religious fundamentalism, and wraps up like the outrageously overwrought fantasy of a French movie nerd obsessed with horror (the director Christophe Gans) who has been given obscene amounts of money to adapt a video game. Which is, in fact, exactly what it is.

"Silent Hill" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). All hell quite literally breaks loose, and with it large quantities of violence and gore.

Silent Hill

Opened yesterday nationwide.

Directed by Christophe Gans; written by Roger Avery, based on the game by Konami; director of photography, Dan Lausten; edited by Sébastien Prangère; music by Jeff Danna; production designer, Carol Spier; produced by Samuel Hadida and Don Carmody; released by TriStar Pictures. Running time: 119 minutes.

WITH: Radha Mitchell (Rose Da Silva), Sean Bean (Christopher Da Silva), Laurie Holden (Cybil Bennett), Deborah Kara Unger (Dahlia Gillespie), Kim Coates (Officer Thomas Gucci), Tanya Allen (Anna) and Jodelle Ferland (Sharon/Alessa).

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