Christophe Gains | Through the Shattered Lens

Alcoholic painter James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine) is consumed with bad memories. He remembers the time that he met Mary Crane (Hannah Emily Anderson) at a bus stop on a mountain that overlooked the idyllic town of Silent Hill. He remembers falling in love with Mary. He remembers living in Silent Hill with her. And he remembers the circumstances that led to him leaving the town without her. Now, James spends him time in bars and dodges meetings with his therapist (Nicola Alexis).

Then, from seemingly out of nowhere, James receives a letter from Mary, asking him to return to Silent Hill and to save her. He heads into a town that is far different from the place that he remembers. A permanent mist now fills the streets of Silent Hill and ash continually falls from the sky. Every time static is heard on a radio, it means that something dangerous is nearby. Monsters emerge from the darkness. James meets a variety of people, from the slovenly Eddie (Pearse Egan) to Maria (Hannah Emily Anderson), who looks enough like Mary that they could be sisters. (And, as you already noticed, both Mary and Maria are played by the same actress.)

It’s a deadly and dangerous town. Myself, if I had been lucky enough to get out of Silent Hill the first time, I would probably never return. However, James has his own guilt and personal demons to confront….

Return to Silent Hill is based on a video game, Silent Hill 2. Now, before I say anything else, I should make clear that I have not played Silent Hill 2. I’ve been told that the film sticks to the basics of the game’s plot while changing some very important details. The biggest change appears to be that Return to Silent Hill features the cult from the earlier Silent Hill game (and film) whereas Silent Hill 2 did not. From what I’ve read, that’s actually a pretty big change and it actually alters the way that some of James’s actions are interpreted. I don’t want to spoil the film but I will say that I can understand why fans of the game were not particularly happy with the movie.

As for the movie itself, it has some effective moments. The Silent Hill imagery is undeniably creepy. After watching the movie, I took a nap and I actually had a nightmare about a killer with a pyramid head. I have Return to Silent Hill to thank for that. (Thanks a lot, movie!) But, my goodness, is this ever a slow film! If any movie needed to be a 70-minute animated film, it was Return to Silent Hill. Instead, excluding the end credits, it’s a 94-minute live action film that feels considerably longer. Hannah Emily Anderson is boring as Mary but considerably better as Maria. Jeremy Irvine delivers his lines with a bland blankness. The faceless, acid-bleeding zombie thing had more personality.

A lot of effort was obviously made to capture the look of the video game while shooting Return to Silent Hill. I actually appreciated the filmmakers dedication to the film’s visual style. That said, the end result was that watching the film felt a lot like watching someone else play a video game. It’s slightly interesting at first but eventually, you just want to grab the controller and steal a car of your own.

Oh, Silent Hill.

I first saw this movie way back in 2006, when it was first released into theaters. At the time, I knew nothing about Silent Hill, beyond the fact that it was based on a video game that a lot of my friends seemed to like. I have to admit that I had a really hard time following the plot and yet the film still totally creeped me out. The film was one of those movies that created such an atmosphere of impending doom that the real world looked and felt different when I left the theater. For the rest of that night, I found myself feeling paranoid about any sudden shadows.

I’ve watched Silent Hill or, at the very least, parts of Silent Hill a few more times over the years. The plot still makes little sense to me, though I am now a bit more familiar with the game that inspired the film. Over the years, a handful of the special effects have aged a bit poorly, with many of the once-fearsome monsters now looking somewhat cartoonish. And yet, when the film works, it really, really works. There are certain scenes in this film that still surprise and frighten me, even though I’ve already seen them. One character, for instance, is burned alive and I still have to look away when the fire consumes them. The thing is that, even if the CGI now looks a bit cartoonish, the atmosphere remains. That feeling dread continues to snake its way through every scene in the film and into the consciousness of the viewer.

I rewatched the film earlier today. I’m feeling nervous tonight. Maybe it’s just because I’ve got a lot of writing to do and we’ve got some home repair people coming by tomorrow to do some work. Or maybe, it’s because I’m worried that I’m suddenly going to find myself in some sort of shadow world, being menaced by blind but stabby nurses.

The film opens with Rose (Radha Mitchell) and her husband, Christopher (Sean Bean) trying to figure out why their adopted daughter, Sharon (Jodelle Ferland), is sleepwalking and having nightmares about a town called Silent Hill. Silent Hill is in West Virginia and was abandoned after a mysterious natural disaster. Rose decides that visiting the town is the best way to solve the mystery. However, after an automobile accident, Sharon disappears and Rose finds herself wandering around the town and getting attacked by monsters and occultists. Meanwhile, Christopher is also wandering around Silent Hill, accompanied by a helpful deputy (Kim Coates), but it’s hard not to notice that his Silent Hill seems to be signifcantly difficult from the Silent Hill that Sharon and motorcycle police officer Cybil (Laurie Holden) have found themselves in.

It’s a confusing plot but director Christopher Gans does such a good job of creating and maintaining the film’s creepy atmosphere that it doesn’t matter that you’re not always sure what’s going on. And while it’s true that there’s perhaps too many scenes of Sharon walking from place to place, there’s also some truly frightening scenes, like the one with all of those killer nurses. The film plays out like a dream and, as we all know, you don’t question dream logic. Instead, you just go with it.

And so, 15 years after the film was first released, I’m usually willing to just go with Silent Hill. I’m at peace with never quite understanding it. Instead, I appreciate it for what it is: a creepy and surreal experience that will make you think twice before stepping out into the fog.