Silent Hill

Silent Hill=The Most Baffling Movie Ever!!

Well, we know I like scary movies. This was marketed as a scary movie, but once again, we have a case of False Advertising. Movies based on video games tend to be either terrible caricatures (see Super Mario Bros.) or really good action/horror films (see Resident Evil). Since the only video games I've ever played have been ones from the 80's (Ms. Pac Man Rules!), I have very little prior knowledge going into these movies. So I had no idea what the Silent Hill video game was about.

But I wish I'd had a little hint! The basic plot, the best I understand it, was this:
Rose (Radha Mitchell, known to me for her excellent turn in 'High Art'), troubled by her daughter Sharon's constant nightmares and sleepwalking, takes her to the now-abandoned town of Silent Hill, a place her daughter had mentioned and kept drawing creepy pictures of. Or does she? On the way to this place, they wreck, and when Rose wakes up, Sharon is gone from the vehicle. So Rose goes into Silent Hill looking for her missing daughter. One theory here is that they both really died in the crash and they're in purgatory (Silent Hill is purgatory). Or, it's all in the child's mind. Or, they lived, but are in another dimension. Or, I am terribly confused.

As Rose walks around through empty schools and buildings, you can just picture the video game, except you wonder why this was not more of an action film. Video games tend to be shoot-em-up, after all. There were 'monsters,' but they were all very odd and seemingly came from a child's imagination (I think this was on purpose, to make us theorize that the whole place exists only in the child's mind). For example, there was this weird man with a pyramid head, a bunch of evil nurses (you read that right! Nurses!), and some ash-children. I should note that we're told a story about what happened in Silent Hill, a town devoid of people, with falling ashes from the sky, and with odd monsters that disappear right when you think our heroines may die (more proof this is in somebody's head, or is not real). The story goes that a 40 year coal fire underground has burned the town and killed most of the people in it. Or, a bunch of fanatics caused the fire and are now about to get payback.

Rose wasn't alone in her wandering; she had as her sidekick a female cop who had been trailing her for speeding (Laurie Holden, The X Files' Marita Covarrubias!!) who provides all of the actual kick-ass scenes in the movie. Who knew Marita had it in her? haha I loved Laurie Holden on XF, so I loved her here. And I know that guy on imdb who always writes about wanting a lesbian sex scene in horror movies had to be thinking such when he watched this one. Two attractive, sweaty women who grab onto each other a lot. Hmm. haha

But there were people there, after all, as Rose soon finds out. This is the really confusing part. Rose finds a church that shelters these fanatical 'survivors' who are led by a Salem Witch Trials-type nutcase (played by Alice Krige, forever The Queen Borg from Star Trek to me). This leader is responsible for the death of a young girl named Alessa, who looks exactly like Rose's daugthter Sharon. It turns out that these fanatics burned Alessa at the stake because they thought she was a witch. Why was she thought a witch? This I never understood. I think it was because no one knew who Alessa's father was, so she was considered Spawn of Satan. Alessa's mother was portrayed by another of my favorite unknown actresses, Deborah Kara Unger (you want Funny-Watch her in 'The Game').

Well anyway, Alessa didn't die in the burning, though, because as it turns out, she may have really been some kind of Demon Child, since she was able to knock her way off of the stake or whatever contraption she was in and cause the fire to burn down the entire building, and we suppose, the entire town. So somehow this girl survived the burning, and 30 years later, she got her revenge on those who persecuted her, in a metaphysical scene straight out of our nightmares about what Armageddon might be like. At least, I think that's what we were supposed to understand. The church fanatics thought Armageddon had come and burned everything, but in reality, it was their own actions that had caused the fire. Oh, and Alessa may have also been persecuted because she was raped and later had a child that became Rose's (adopted)daughter Sharon. Hence, this is why Sharon was drawn to Silent Hill. What?

Or, the whole damned thing was someone's nightmare in another dimension. Or, it was Sharon's version of Purgatory. Or, Bean and I couldn't grasp this thing at all when it was over. Bean loved the look of it; very grungy (don't these horror-movie people know how to friggin' CLEAN??), with the ashes falling like snow from the sky (that was cool), and very...GREY. I think Grey was another clue that it was not real. Anyway, it messed with the mind, for sure. And the majority of my synopsis I got from people at imdb. I'll admit I was baffled when it went off.

But was it horror? No...not really. Some gore (which I'm becoming desensitized to), some creepy elements...but mostly, it was mystery/suspense. With really weird religious symbolism thrown in. I normally would like such things, but only if I can understand them.

Grade: C
Interesting ideas, but more action, less religious fanatic idiocy, and more explanation would have made it much better. Or any explanation.

In other news, I had a great birthday weekend. Thanks for the well-wishes, fellow bloggers. I had Devil's Food Cake, so all was good. ;)
In still other news, much luck to all who are headed back to school. I am not headed there, bwa-ha-ha! :)
But seriously, do share the studies with me. I'm all about the studies. And my literary analysis on this blog has just begun, so expect me to pretend I'm in college and zip out some more commentary.


Have a great day, All.
And try to stay in our dimension. Cause if you leave, I may get confused. ;)