Silent Hill, it's not for everyone.

I just came back from seeing the new movie Silent Hill. I'm a big fan of the video game franchise and I'm also a big fan of the director Christophe Gans. With my fingers crossed, I went to see this movie hoping that it would remove the bad taste left in my mouth by every other video-game based movie I've seen (Resident Evil exampt). Unfortunately, this was not to be.

The movie itself, from a visual standpoint, is quite stunning. Christophe managed to capture the eerieness and macabre atmophere you find in the video game. Too bad he didn't spend more time on the writing. The whole movie feels like a Uwe Boll directed mess. And believe folks that's not a good thing.

If you've ever played Silent Hill then you know that the story is always a bit twisted and things are never fully explained. But if you haven't played the game and you are going to see this movie, take caution: The movie is just a trippy and confusing experience, loaded with poor acting and over-the-top gore! I don't know if I can fully blame the actors though, you can only do so much with crap. And everyone tries their best in this movie, it just doesn't help. Right from the beginning of the movie I got the impression that the story was going to be weak. With no initial back story, we the viewers are thrust right into the heart of this creepy little town of Silent Hill without fully knowing why. And up until the last 15 minutes of the show we're still left guessing. Now like I said before, if you're a fan of the franchise then this is to be expected. Every game's the same way. I guess I was just hoping for so much more given the people involved and the oppertunities available. Silent Hill could be a very good, incredibly intense experience if done right. Too bad the movie makers didn't capitalize on this. I found too many parts of the movie to be cheesy, and not enough of the movie made me jumpy. I crave that jumpy, uneasy feeling in my horror movies and the scary video games I play. I'm have these feeling playing the Silent Hill games and I wanted to feel this way watching the movie. But movie just doesn't deliver.

If you like your horror movies with little story direction and alot of visually graphic scenes, then you'll like Silent Hill. If you're a fan of the franchise and are stoked to see the game brought to life, you'll probably like it as well, but will most likely feel like I do. If you're a curious movie fan and are looking at Silent Hill to be an entertaining scarefest, stay away! You'll only be dissappointed.

So consider yourself warned, Silent Hill is not for everyone. Not even me.