Silent Hill Review

This is Batgirl and you're listening to the GeekCast

Radio Network. Hello and welcome to another episode

of The Cinema Geeks. I am one of your Cinema

Geeks Optimus Solo and joining me today for another

of our video game series episodes is Hard Candy

Matey. Hello. Hey. movie revolt Dan Hey, how's

it going? Not too Chevy and friendly sent. Hello,

sir. Hello We're all here and accounted for and

we're all able to speak. So the silent jokes

won't make it into the podcast I guess proper

we're talking about Silent Hill if you couldn't

tell the next in our video game series and Silent

Hill is a 2006 Canadian supernatural psychological

horror film obviously based on the Silent Hill

games Which I don't even remember the company

that did Konami. I think was the Silent Hill

Company this one is starring I'm gonna get all

these names wrong because I don't know any of

them except for one Rodham Mitchell Laurie Holden

Deborah Kara Unger Alice Creege Jodell Furland,

and the only one I know, Sean Bean. It's directed

by Christopher Gans, written by Christopher Gans,

Roger Avery, and Nicholas Bookreef. We're gonna

go with that. Came out April 21st, 2006. But

first, before we get to the actual film, let's

do what we normally do and talk a little bit

about the game. Let's start with Amanda, ladies,

first today. And what experience did you have

with the Silent Hill games from Konami? never

played them, but as per the usual, my cousins

did and I was a spectator. Though in my looking

back on it, I can't distinguish the gameplay

much in my memory from Resident Evil and Silent

Hill. It kind of like bleeds together for me.

So I'm not even really sure what I saw. Not great

memories about the Silent Hill games, but you

did observe them at some point. No, but I feel

like I need to play them because they're scary

as hell. Alright, Mr. Fridley -Sent, what's your

experience with the Silent Hill game? Ooh, okay.

Um, I've never picked up sticks on one. I'll

tell you that much. I don't like horror games

much. Uh, you know, they're, uh, classic. See,

the reason why you can't distinguish them from

the Resident Evil is that they're not that different.

They've got that classic still camera, at least

for the earlier ones, where a lot of the horror

element comes from the fact that you can't control

the camera. And so you're just moving through

the environments, things like that. I have watched

videos on P .T., which was Hideo Kojima's attempt

to reboot the franchise before Konami just shat

the bed like it does all the time. And he ended

up having to leave and start his own thing and

do stuff with Guillermo del Toro and stuff. It's

too scary for me, my friends. So you don't want

to come play my Kinect game Rise of Nightmares

with me? Definitely don't want to do the Silent

Hill that puts me more in it because I'm in it.

Dan, what about you? Any experience watching,

playing, or knowing about the games? So yeah,

I personally didn't have a lot of connection

with Silent Hill growing up. I remember some

friends who played it, and I've watched it a

few times. But really, my wife actually played

it much more than I did. And I was actually talking

to her about the games and what you remembered

from them and she was similar where she could

choose like oh that's when we fought the zombies

i'm like no that's where's an evil it's like

oh they so it um she enjoyed it and she's really

into the horror type of stuff but i you know

i never could really get into it i didn't really

have a playstation 2 until late in the game so

that and not being a scaredy scaredy guy not

wanting to play Yeah, I am with you guys. Number

one, this is just kind of past the time where

I was playing video games. And number two, even

if I had been into video games, this is not one

of the types of games that I would have picked

up and checked out. There was, I had one friend

that was kind of into some of the Resident Evil

and some of these types of games that maybe,

you know, I... could have come across him playing

at one point, but I don't even remember that

happening. So this is out of my realm for sure.

Amanda, with the limited experience that you

have with the games, what do you think? Did the

movie capture some of that essence or not enough

experience to know if it kind of lined up with

the games? I think what it did that we see a

lot is like some name changing and like some

changing of the characters and like characters

they chose. They were like different, but I feel

like The movie had a lot of the video game feel.

There were quite a few times where you could

pick up on the video game -esque nature of the

movie. There's a lot of times where what you're

seeing, what you're going through definitely

feels like you're playing through a video game.

And there's even like a map scene where they're

like, memorize this frickin' map, you know what

I mean? So you're looking at this map with her

and there was a lot of different... Parts that

made you feel like you were in the game Matt,

what did you think about the video game aspects

of the film? Did you pick up on some of the same

elements or agree or disagree with Amanda? Yeah,

like it definitely has a lot of the visual things

that even people that don't play Silent Hill

will know about like the the nurses and pyramid

head And things like that and I know like I've

been told that the the nurse scene is actually

practically lifted straight out of one of the

games where there's like you know you gotta sneak

by and not touch anyone and stuff like that i

think for someone who isn't intimately uh...

aware of the series it was does a really good

job of capturing it In a way that you say, like,

if you look at Super Mario, it's like that, like,

even if you've never played a Mario game, you

gotta know that that's wrong. This one does a

way better job of capturing the essence. Dan,

what do you think about the video game aspects?

Could you see the video game in the film at all,

or see a video game as far as what this film

was based off of, or did it come as something

that could have completely not been based on

a video game? No, it definitely feels like a

video game at times maybe to its judgment a little

bit too much like Amanda mentioned with like

which is looking in a map or you know, it does

feel like there's a sequence and at the end where

you're doing all these flashbacks and it does

like I it does feel like the type of flashback

sequences you see in video games way it's executed

and where it comes from in the movie, so it you

know, it is of that realm. And I do know some

of the imagery from the Silent Hill games. I

did some reading on that and just some understanding

of the story. So I think, you know, it may plot

wise not follow a lot of the games. But when

it came to just the concept of them, it does

seem to take a lot, especially from just different

characters and things like that. But. Yeah, it

also definitely seemed to for me and not knowing

anything about the game but it did have Almost

multiple elements like it had the elements where

you're just kind of like on your own going through

like a corridor or hallways or room -to -room

like they did in some situations or like even

a bathroom so I had like that kind of aspect

where you're kind of going through and dealing

with stuff that's might jump out at you might

not or whatever then it also has the times where

you're in more of an open environment and you're

kind of getting attacked from all sides both

of those instances reminded me of kind of like

the video game aspects that I would expect from

something like this also doing some limited reading

up on the trivia and information about it according

to the sources it used Ton of music from the

games. I guess every all the music but one song

was from the game Yeah, all the music except

for the Johnny Cash song. I'm just gonna let

Amanda take over now But yeah, everything except

for Ring of Fire was from the video game So I

guess they did take at least all the music but

like you guys said it looks like they did change

some stuff as far as plot character names and

some of the backstory or kind of the origins

of some of these characters, but I think you

guys are hitting it on the head there with aesthetics

some of the Gameplay aspects of it music and

even some of the like the weapons and the visuals

seem like that's where they're getting it the

most on par with the video game Any other comments

on the video game before we turn our attention

to the movie Amanda? No, all right. It opened

like we said April 21st 2006 Domestic gross for

Silent Hill was just around 47 million, added

another 50 million from foreign box office, so

you have a worldwide gross of 97 million, and

its budget was only 50. It also added around,

I believe, 20 million from DVD sales, which was

pretty good. It opened, actually, in number one.

The week it came out, it was number one at the

box office. Dan, does that surprise you at all?

No, not so much, because I thank you. In horror

films do tend to do well like especially like

the jane. I think this came out I forget exactly

one but Not i'm not too surprised because I get

to see why this would appeal to a lot of people

even like people going into it Not even knowing

it's based on a video game Its opening weekend

was only like 20 million. So it wasn't like it

was a huge opening weekend It didn't have a lot

of competition. I will say that the number two

I think at the box office that weekend was a

movie called sentinel which I think has like

either Michael Douglas or Kiefer Sutherland or

somebody like that back in 2006 I don't remember

even seeing that film and the other movie that

opened the same weekend as it or No, I the other

movie that was in the top three with scary movie

for So that was the competition for Silent Hill,

Sentinel and Scary Movie, I believe number four.

So it did make its budget back. It's actually

ranked right now as the 12th highest grossing

video game adaptation for film. So it's in the

number 12 spot. So let's get into a little bit

of the actual film. Amanda, you already said

a little bit that you like the film, so why don't

you give us your overall initial reaction and

thoughts as a film overall. I really enjoyed

this as just a movie in its own and since I do

kind of like you know some of this style of video

game I thought it was cool to kind of put myself

in that that kind of mindset and that feel but

also to get lost in like the horror elements

was super awesome and this is freaking terrifying

in some spots like even seeing it on multiple

watches sometimes I'm like man this is freaking

creepy where's the first time I saw it i was

like terrified and now i'm still just creeped

out like especially the bathroom scene that was

kind of briefly mentioned like that also had

a super video game feel too and that was just

intense and gross and just horrifying all around

but i think the characters i really liked i think

the especially like the scary ones like the monsters

were pretty cool and i think that the effects

and stuff are really You know as well done as

can be expected here with those especially like

pyramid head and stuff. Those dudes were That

dude was terrifying and I think that just the

the whole like tone of the film like sucks you

in if you can really get involved in it like

you Feel everything in this movie too. Like it's

a super cool thrill ride if you can best in it

and from a perspective standpoint So listeners

know how many times did you say you've seen Silent

Hill? I would say like six. Okay, so you've seen

it about a half dozen times and you are the one

lone member of the panel that does kind of go

for more of this type of genre of a film. So

we'll have to see how the others react to it.

Matt, this is a first watch for you and you are

probably the most anti -whore amongst us. So

did the film in general work for you or what

was your initial reaction? Well, I didn't invest

in it enough to say take away... a bunch of terrible

memories I made sure I watched it in the afternoon

all the windows open in the room I was in and

I also had Minecraft on my switch in my lap if

I ever got a little worried I knew I could go

to my safe space and my little blocky world but

like it's it definitely has a lot of I feel like

it's less of a scary movie like a less of a Tense

jump -out movie and more of a just gross disgusting

like make you feel uncomfortable movie I feel

like it's got more in line with say a welcome

to night veil than it does Maybe you know the

most recent saw movie. I definitely agree with

you there I think it's more of a visual thing.

It's more of a Creep aspect of horror rather

than a scare aspect before and I think I could

deal with that a lot better Because I mean, it's

on a real sense. It's that nerves and that jump

scare that really, really turns me off. This

I could just look at it and be like, well, I

wonder why they're doing that. Why are they making

these choices and not having to worry about my

heart rate going crazy? So I think that answers

your question. Yeah, for sure. We'll come back

and get a little bit more detail. But first,

Dan, is this a good movie or is this a good movie

compared to what we've watched recently or did

this not work for you at all? It's it's good

to like watch a movie that like the problems

with it or normal like problems like it's like

Oh, this is a confidently made movie for that,

you know There's not just like this isn't in

the top five of the worst things I've ever seen

in my life. So that's that was a welcome change

No doubt. It's just like night and day compared

to what came before or again, I like horror here

and there I'm not like against the genre, but

it's not like my personal favorite go -to and

there there are elements of this that I had that

Do you impress me? I do think a lot of like I

mentioned the imagery that is taken from the

game It is strong and it does have that atmosphere

at times but it I guess my issue with it and

Like for the first hour or so, I'm like, this

is actually pretty good I'm surprised more people

don't talk about this because I could see a lot

of people really loving this movie I think like

maybe the last 45 minutes it goes off the rails

a little bit for me like it kind of goes full

Wicker man at the end and So That's like that's

like that's the part that kind of like I don't

know about that the dialogue it's really hokey

and Some of the acting it's really too big for

its own good. Somebody should have told Nick

cage that yeah, exactly So I did like everything

kind of up to that not everything but there It

also feels like you're kind of in this like you're

watching someone or go into a haunted house that

you're watching Tony else go through It's just

like because it's just one crazy room to one

crazy room and the bad thing about that. It's

really hard to understand like What what do things

mean like what are the what's the threat here

and it just it gets so like mind -boggling, there's

no, I think it works if you're experiencing that

in a video game or if you're experiencing that

because you're going through it yourself, but

watching something else, it just seems like kind

of like a jumbled mess of craziness. It's like,

yeah, that dude looks really creepy with his

arms where his legs should be and his legs with

his arms should be, but then like, well, that's

just a really easy guy to walk away from, I guess.

So like that's you know, that's kind of the problem

But I do think yeah and some of the special effects

like when it's when they're practical or at least

look practical or pretty strong I think maybe

there was the reach out there their grasp was

made or the reach was a little bit too far times

and it didn't work as well and I agree some of

the gross scenes like I guess not spoilers, but

you know when you see certain people go through

certain Acts near the end and I'm like they're

gonna just show this like verbatim. We're just

gonna watch the go -through from beginning I'm

like that seemed a little unnecessary and so

just like this seems like and Unfortunate, but

you know it I don't I don't think necessarily

it's a great movie, but I would say You know

if I'm looking at the all the movies that we've

talked about in this retrospect over whatever

you want to call it with the video game movies

it's I think one of the there's things in this

I think that are well done and There are some

Glaring problems, but you know, it's it's so

it didn't make me hate myself at the end which

a lot of the UA bullfums did so And we'll get

into some of the the more problems and issues

that you had with it in the second Amanda I wanted

to go to you real quick what you seemed I mean,

nobody was necessarily poo -pooing this film

or whatever, but you obviously seemed very high

on it. What aspects worked the best for you?

Was it the aesthetic and the atmosphere of the

film? Did you like the acting? Was it the story

itself? Is it the action? What really drew you

into this one? I think it was the tension. I

think the buildup. We were talking about the

guy who he's got his legs all tied up all crazy

like he's scorpioned out and crawling along his

hands, but You know, you can't run from them,

you're locked in that fucking room, and there's

something even worse outside. So like, you're

terrified of this. There's a very trapped feeling

throughout this, so you can get this terrifying,

claustrophobic feel on top of the earth. There's

these, always these creatures, there's always

something coming to get you. And the deterioration

that happens, the transformation when they kind

of go into like the dark world or whatever, when

the darkness falls. it is so intense and like

foreboding and those sirens that go off like

everybody has a physical reaction to those sirens

like those went off for real in our town last

night and you're like freaked out instantly like

oh shit that means a bad stuff is probably gonna

happen or it means it's 10 a .m. on a Tuesday

and it's waking you up early so either way there's

like this physical reaction to what's going on

if you're you know completely in it like I felt

tense the whole time and there wasn't you know

all these jump scares and stuff like Matt doesn't

like but there is this foreboding and this like

tension that's constantly there and plus she's

alone a lot you know what I mean so that's that's

freaky too it causes like a claustrophobic feeling

for me and you feel trapped and scared and it's

it's freaky and top of all the the scary you

know images that we get Think the part that worked

the best for me what kind of drew me in to have

an overall I guess somewhat positive take on

the film was, number one, we do have a limited

cast. Even though there are a lot of people at

certain times, there's only a handful of people

that you really need to understand or follow

through, so it gives you a little bit more chance

to know those characters. You have basically

about five characters that you can take away

from everybody else. There's only five that are

really important, five or six. Outside of that,

I think the thing that worked the most for me

was that it almost had some mystery elements.

I don't like the gross -out stuff or some of

the creepy visuals. and things like that I'm

not a big fan of any of the kind of going towards

the the whole satanic realm and all that type

of stuff I don't normally enjoy watching that

type of stuff but I think the mystery of everything

and just trying to figure out You know, what

is the backstory? What really happened in this

town or to this girl or how is it gonna unravel?

Kept me interested enough that I could deal with

all the the other not saying the visuals were

bad But the visuals that I don't typically care

for even if they're well executed in here I was

still interested because I wanted to see where

it went and how this unfolded is kind of like

depictions of Okay, let's know you're going already

bring in the one that I love to bring up to you

and That's uh beast of no nation that kid is

that dude is clearly like a child molester You'd

rather see that implied that they do the child

molester and see something that's completely

absolutely not Okay, so you can enjoy that movie

I think what you're getting at is more so like

violence when it's more like a realistic violence

like in Saving Private Ryan or something like

that I'd rather see something that's completely

off the wall and crazy and disgusting like that

dude You know twist open barbed wire in that

bathroom. That disturbs me much more Why I don't

know. It's just something about when it's when

it's more Where horror goes sometimes with different

props and different, you know things like that

Like it's it's scarier to me is it's more creepy

to me than something that I know happens in real

life for some reason I'd rather I'd rather Focus

on something that I know is not gonna happen

in real life and which I get out by that I understand

that that's just not how my brain worked by something

that really does happen to people Yeah, I get

that and I understand why that would be the case,

but for some reason that's not how it is for

me. When it's something that's more realistic,

it doesn't bother me quite as much. We'll see

how you feel being around kids. Yeah, I'm not

a big fan of the barbed wire and people's faces

being propped open and tongues and that type

of thing going on and that type of situation.

When you say that type of situation, do you know

that the listeners have heard what you're talking

about? I'm just saying in general, like if body

parts are being manipulated or, you know. hurt

in different ways or different things like that.

I definitely don't need to see somebody burning

or things like that. So not a big fan of that.

But like I said, I was still interested because

I still wanted to see how it unfolded, how it

all went together, how is it going to play out

and those types of aspects. So that's what really

worked for me. The acting was kind of hit or

miss. I thought the child was actually decent

in the latter half. I thought in the beginning

it was weird because She was not talking or acting

like her age at all, which I guess is part of

the point. But it just kind of threw me off at

the beginning because I didn't know what the

backstory was. So I'm like, this seems very weird

for this child of this age to be talking and

acting in this way. But as you kind of unfolds,

it makes more sense. I thought she was decent,

but I thought the rest of them kind of it was

hit or miss. There was a few good ones and then

a few people like Dan said that seemed like they

were almost overacting at times or kind of out

of their element. But I guess that can kind of

somewhat be expected from from the cast we have

here. Matt, what work? most for you overall oh

man it's like one of those things was like i

don't like like i don't want to say i hate this

movie because i don't but like i don't enjoy

it for all the reasons that i wouldn't enjoy

it because you know like dance that's competent

and everything i think Think I did like some

of the the visual things that were maybe less

less like the scorpion twisted up man Things

like like the nurses were interesting And pyramid

head is always cool. Like I've never played a

Silent Hill game But I've known about pyramid

head for decades over a decade at least and he's

always been associated with this like unkillable

He's going to destroy you monster man so Like,

you know, I've even considered buying action

figures of Pyramid Head for a franchise I seriously

have zero interest in. Just because he's such

an intimidating and great figure. So I like some

of those little elements, but I feel like a lot

of these characters were just not how people

would respond. Like you said, the daughter acts

like an old soul, but the police officer, everything

she does is a little questionable. The mom was

very questionable. Like, hey, my kid's having

nightmares. I'm going to just not tell my husband,

trek across the entire country at night. And

they get upset like, hey, why'd you cancel all

of the credit cards? It's like you're child abducting.

It's not even that. It's the fact that she does

all that, and then she gets pulled over by the

police, and at that point still decides, hey,

this is a good time to run from the police on

top of all the other things. On top of all of

it. Like yeah, just just bad choice after bad

choice, and it doesn't have that it didn't have

that like Like I don't know like it didn't really

put you in it where it's like hey You know she's

got a reason to run. She doesn't have a reason

to run We got none well because one thing that

they don't they don't establish very well at

the beginning of the film is What is going on

with this child that means that we need to take

it? to this extreme. They don't set up the fact

that this is a troubled child, I don't think,

well enough to have you already jump to the fact

that the mom is making the decisions that she

is making. You have a child and maybe not everything

is normal with her at first, but you're not understanding

why we need to go to that type of an extreme.

I thought that was a kind of a miss for me. Like

you said, it wasn't able to get me to feel like

I was in... Like they didn't take a psychologist

or something to be evaluated in front of you

first? Well, it wouldn't even needed that, like

a discussion between the mom and Sean Bean or

some type of minor episode that happens. They

did. She was like, she said it again. She said

it again. Yeah, but it seemed like it was just

so quickly handled and I know they had a lot

to get to. I guess when they did the script,

it was going to be some type of three -hour movie,

not that they ever planned on actually making

a three -hour movie, but they had three, three

and a half hours worth of material, which is

not uncommon for films. They did have a lot to

get to, so in some cases, you're going to have

to hit the accelerator a little bit, but I thought

one situation that threw me off immediately was

not understanding what exactly was going on with

this child that was causing these things to be

necessary. So I agree with Matt that I didn't

feel like I was necessarily in the film at the

beginning. Damon, what do you think about those

aspects or what we're talking about with the

visuals, reality versus the horror visuals? Cop

and one of my favorite things about the cop was

when she like was shooting at someone. She's

like, hey, I'm a cop I guess we know that with

the whole outfit and So I found interesting and

maybe most effective was was really the kind

of you talked about finding out the story the

Why everything was happening the way it did and

I did like how it kind of revealed that or really

the premise or the idea of how there is this

town and there are a group of people that are

living in it and they think that the world has

come to an end and be based upon just being stuck

in this world and the little bit of world building

you get, there's an instance with a canary and

how they're using that and the way they circumvent

your expectations where you think there are these

guys coming to kill her but no, they're really

there to help but they're really not there to

help so I thought that was ... You know that

was interesting. I did like the you know the

world that they had like established So that

was probably my favorite part of it Did you think

what about though the fact that it did have bothered

you at all as far as? The elements that were

skipped over gone too fast or was it all worked

for you as far as you understood Where they were

going with the girl at the beginning? You know

so many of these these Video game movies take

way too long. So I was finding like it doesn't

really it does seem like a huge logical step

or she's saying Silent Hill So we're gonna go

to that town and that is supposedly closed down

because of a chemical attack So, I mean it does

seem like the logic there is not strong per se

But you know, I guess like at this point, I don't

know It's like that that you know, it's at least

I could understand it or like, you know There

was at least a reason they went there, right?

I guess originally that it was if it was gonna

follow I don't know if it was the original script

or something to do with the video game or whatnot

but I guess originally that they were Going to

be doing something else like they were going

to a specialist or they were going to a psychologist

or psychiatrist like you know a doctor of some

sort and On the way, they stumbled across this

town and Silent Hill, and that's how they ended

up there, which to me would have made a little

bit more sense. But I do get the point that,

hey, she's saying Silent Hill over and over again,

so let's go figure out where Silent Hill is or

what's going on. But it's the fact that you find

out that it's this abandoned town that's not

safe to be in. And then the fact that you get

pulled over by the police. At one point, something

should be like, OK. She had to go through a gate.

At one point, I'm going to say, OK, this hasn't

this didn't go exactly how I thought it. Let

me rethink this theory or something like that.

Amanda, any issues that you had with the film

or just overall positive or what kind of things

did you have as drawbacks? Definitely the mom's

choices. It was pretty stupid. Like, you know,

one one of the first things besides let me take

my kid without the dad. to some creepy burnt

up coal mining abandoned town. I'm going to go

in to the gas station and pay for my gas in the

middle of the night in the middle of nowhere

and leave my kid in the car who's obviously disturbed.

That was like lady are you serious? There's a

lot of stuff with mom because at one point she

didn't notice that the cop is walking towards

your car when your car was the only one in that

direction. And then much later on in the film

when she's in handcuffs, she runs away from the

cop. The cop is the one who has the keys. Like

you need to not run in the opposite direction

if you ever want to get out of those handcuffs

Unless you know some things that I don't know

you have some hidden skill set that I'm not aware

of Like that bitch has the gun stay with her

Other drop -backs for you or anything else that

kind of brought the film down a little bit for

you I think some of the zealots are kind of annoying

especially though the one Anna She seems stupid

like real dumb like they don't got schools in

there. Come on. No Yes, that's probably the only

thing was the annoying mom choices and how off

the wall that were are zealous the zealots are

we'll say that I Again a couple other things.

I'm just gonna keep on the mom because she was

probably my least favorite character But number

one, why would you still be in that bathroom?

Or basically I wrote down like why why are you

doing anything that you're doing? Like but at

one point she stays in the bathroom and I would

have been out of there immediately At one point

she puts her mouth on the wall It was like the

locker. Yeah, she like leans her mouth against

the locker like I am being so careful not to

touch anything in that place Except for my feet

on the ground. I probably wouldn't even touch

door handles in that place And then I like how

she comes into the room at one point and is like

we need to calm down When two minutes later,

or two minutes before that, she's having a panic

attack? Yeah, two minutes before that, she was

absolutely hysterical. And then she comes in

and is like, we need to calm down to the other

people. Like that was kind of a little bit. The

other person. Yeah. And then just a couple of

cliche, like. Film moments, I guess. And I guess

some of this is expected in this type of film.

But there's a couple of things. Number one, of

course, the car isn't going to start at that

one point when you need it not to. Of course,

she's going to be carrying a knife and then drop

it. down like a chasm or whatever so she can't

use it later on. There was just a couple things

like that. There was probably a few more that

I could mention, but just minor details. It was

like, well, do we have to do that? Who names

their child Sharon? Yeah. It's actually Cheryl

in the games. It's supposed to be Cheryl, but

why change it to Sharon? That's unnecessary.

Maybe that's a more common name than I think,

but I don't know any child named Sharon nor have

I ever come across one. Under the agent. I'm

pretty sure that's a name you get when you turn

a certain age like you become a Sharon later

on in life Yeah, other than that it was just

kind of a few minor things Amanda you had a funny

moment, too Because at one point they have the

and I guess I'm getting to some of the dialogue

being one of the problems But at one point they

say it looks like there was a fire You're like

bitch there was a fire the whole town the whole

town burned down. What do you mean? It looks

like there was a fire That's the whole premise

of this whole thing. Matt, anything else that

brought the film down or nitpicks or problems

that you had with it? I mean, it just, you guys

are really hitting on the mom, but I feel like

every character's choice is, like, the only person

I can even follow a little bit with and sympathize

with is Sean Bean. But even still, at one point,

he's like, yeah, I don't like that guy's answer,

so I'm gonna bust into the library. Like, really?

I'm just gonna kick down the door of the library

at midnight and just go in there. It was 2006,

so Google existed, so why do we... I mean, they

showed Google. Yeah, there were definitely different

options for you at that point. It's not like

you had to go old school and go through the card

catalog and find some stuff and the microfilm

and all that type of jazz. But yeah, I think

Sean Bean was, and honestly the girl was kind

of hard to read at the beginning too. It's like,

did you run off? Is it a good idea if you're

in this area that you don't know to just disappear

from the car? But outside of that, I kind of

understood most of the girl's actions and motivations.

She didn't take off that. The mom of Alessa came

and got her. Okay, I missed that. You didn't

see it, but she had her. I missed that in the

chaos. Matt, I didn't mean to cut you off though.

Anything else that you kinda were bothered by

besides the character actions of most characters?

No. To add to that, that time when... We've talked

a lot about that dude in the bathroom that's

all tangled up in barbed wire, but why does she

reach into his mouth? I didn't see a key there.

She's just like yeah, I would have never done

that like ah, it's in his mouth like that might

be the most video gamey moment I legitimately

yeah, I rewind like I rewinded that or whatever

you want to call it like a few times like did

I miss I don't understand where the logic is

that you're gonna like this is happening like

why did she I did not understand that whatsoever

And I don't know if it was an angle that it was

filmed at either But I didn't see the arrow because

there's an arrow on the wall. I didn't see that

as pointing Hey, there's something in this guy's

mouth Was like oh, there's something behind this

guy or there's something in the toilet or there's

something like I didn't realize that that was

gonna Mean hey this person has something in their

mouth that I need to pull out that was a video

gaming moment though, too This is like on the

walls like dare you and like an arrow like that

was definitely like an Interactive moment gotcha

Dan other issues that you had with the film I

know you said you had I had some blatant things

that you disliked about it. I just felt like

at the end like its messaging became kind of

like overtly distracting and it's like okay i

get it like clearly there's you know you're you're

saying things here but it just to the to an extreme

it kind of reminded me of the mist movie i really

like but you know there's a specific character

in that who's just like you know Kind of historical

individual who drives it gets everyone crazy,

but I think that's like a natural progression

Should they get to that point this one? They

try to fit that entire story idea and to like

the like the later half of the film so that that's

where kind of like I said like it just went like

Zero to crazy and because everything I felt before

then You know it seemed somewhat You know everything

is surreal and crazy it felt somewhere tied to

reality where you know It became super cartoony

at the end to you know, it's totally felt really

off to me Like why don't these people just drink

the kool -aid like I feel like that's all I needed

to do here I know you live in this crazy like

world that's legitimately hell on earth and like

you're still following this lady. It's like she's

legitimately Yeah, you cannot get it in a worse

situation, but we're still gonna you know That's

where it kind of went me and I wasn't a big fan

of the like the ending because I feel like it's

I mean for every horror movie to have some sort

of twist or some sort of like Was she dead the

entire time type of thing and I just felt yeah,

I didn't care for that either. It's just like

I get it I'm like, of course in it's like slowly

building up. It's like oh it but it's it telegraphs

it so much that it just seems like this is Yeah,

it's I know there's a sequel that I didn't watch

so I don't know if that ties back into this or

not It does it ties it kind of at the ending

So the ending of this one is is kind of tied

up a little bit in the in the sequel I know Sean

beans in both films because he and for some reason

didn't die in this one. So He does make it into

the sequel I don't feel like that's a spoiler.

I feel like that's a reason that's gonna get

people to watch this film Like I can watch some

trivia here for you. Apparently the director

Christopher Ganz or Christoph Ganz I don't know

if I've been saying that wrong. He was on like

this five -year mission to get this the rights

to this film. He even sent in his own video where

he was doing his own scenes that he had done

on his own money to try to convince them that

his passion for this game, he wanted to do this.

So that was interesting. They did the zombie

slash whatever you want to call them, people

that are walking all weird, they filmed those

guys walking backwards. No, that was the nurse

scene. The nurse scene. They filmed them walking

backwards, and then they played the tape in reverse

to get that effect. So I thought that was kind

of interesting. Apparently, a pyramid in that...

Regarding that scene, I feel like if you put

Beyoncé's single ladies behind it, it would actually

sync up correctly. It just seemed like they were

moving to that beat. That's awesome. Pyramid

Head was apparently wearing 15 inch heels the

entire time to make sure that he was taller than

everybody at 15 inch stilts. And then apparently

the original script that got sent in by Gans

came back with not the seal of approval because

quote, there are no men. And that's why Sean

Bean's character became more scattered kind of

throughout the film because originally he was

only going to be in the first scene and the last

scene, and that was about it. But they did not

like the fact that it was all females from that

point out, so they sent it back and said you

need to have more of a male presence in the film.

More dudes! So, you know, that's Hollywood, I

guess. Overall, the Rotten Tomatoes score for

Silent Hill was a 30%, so a little bit... better

than some of the other films we've got but not

great in any any way shape or form. The overall

praise was for the visuals, the set design, and

the atmosphere and the critique or the the way

the film was criticized because they didn't like

the plot, the dialogue, or the runtime. Amanda,

agree or disagree with that and what kind of

overall thoughts do you have in grade for Silent

Hill? Well, repeat the thing about the runtime.

I was reading some of my notes. They said they

didn't like the plot, the dialogue, or the runtime

was kind of the drawbacks from the film. So the

story, the dialogue, and how long the film was.

But they did like the atmosphere and the visuals.

I never felt the time, really, in this. Normally,

I am pretty aware. Like, physically, I get antsy.

And I'm like, man, this is dragging. And we still

have all this stuff to accomplish before this

is over. This I really didn't, I wasn't paying

too much attention to the time. So, you know,

I'm cool on that, but the visuals, yes, I agree

with, they're amazing. I think that minus some

of these, you know, obvious nitpicks that we're

having that are some kind of ridiculous moments

with decisions or dialogue or anything like that,

I think as a film, I enjoy it. That's probably

why I've seen it half a dozen times. It's kind

of hard because when we're grading Or rating

some of these video game films. It's do I Rate

it against these other films that we've seen

or do I just rate this as a movie? But here it's

it's not that hard for me to do I'm gonna give

it a seven night whether it's just a video game

film that I'm comparing the other the other Films

that we've gotten in this Series or just a film

on its own. I'm gonna give it a seven seven very

positive score from Amanda Matt, what are your

overall thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with

the critics take on it and 30 % on rotten tomatoes?

What kind of grade would you give this? Oh man,

like yeah 30 % great like that's as much as all

of the movies we've watched before this combined

so like That's about right. Ain't it? I Runtime

bothered me in so much that I just wanted it

to be over because I don't like I hate to hit

this point so many times but uh like I this is

not a Jada that enthuses me you're gonna hear

just as much complaint from me about postal even

though it's an entirely different thing um just

because I'm like not in I'm not about that scene

if I had to rate it like I think Amanda's right

like If you compare it to the rest of the movies

we've watched, it maybe gets a higher one. I

think I'm gonna just go with a five. I feel like

it does what movies should do, it still has some

of the movie problems, pacing can be a thing,

and character choices are really off -putting,

but generally it's competent and you're not seeing

just terrible things other than the terrible

things they want you to see. All right, so a

seven and a five so far Dan What did you think

overall thoughts or final thoughts that you didn't

get a chance to talk about with Silent Hill?

Do you agree with the critics and what is your

grade? Yeah, I think that kind of sums it up

says a lot that when it's like, you know, it

looked nice But the words that it made up existing

weren't very good, you know the plot the characters

the acting but I mean, I don't think all the

performances are bad. There are some that that

stood out. Like I said, I think mostly it was

You know a directing problem and it's interesting

with that note saying they needed the fourth

more men scenes in there because I could Those

do seem super out of place compared to everything

else like they don't really do anything necessarily

So that seems strange. I would say this is probably

you know Looking at all the movies that we've

done so far in the video game spectrum. I think

the best -made One is able to mesh what the game

had and still kind of hold its own identity a

little bit So I give it points. There's certainly

a lot of effort behind this You know when we've

gone through a lot of movies up to this point

where you can tell like no one cared It's like

whatever we're just we're just this is just a

huge tax loophole that we're going through So

I'm not even gonna really put an effort through

but I do feel like everyone actually tried so

I guess maybe they get a partition patient trophy

in that I don't know but um Nothing was like

I said nothing. It was awful. Like it was there's

problems I had but I wasn't like I said, impressed

by a few things. And I do think it's an effective

horror film in that end. Like I think atmosphere

is a big part of what makes horror good. And

this certainly had it. So I think Amanda was

right. There is that kind of claustrophobic aspect

to it where you really don't know what's next.

There's this feeling you can't escape because

you don't even know where the door is. But in

a movie sense, it's tough because then it's like

things just stop happening. Just because and

it just feels like endless Sequences of daisy

ex machina like where it's like, okay now something

to stop so we can go to this point so it it does

in a story so telling standpoint or maybe not

the most effective but anyways, so again, I think

it's well done in That sense so I would give

it a six out of ten I think it's average an average

film a really great video game movie. So there

you go Alright, so 765 so far from the panel.

I think it's definitely, like you guys said,

more competently made than a lot of the films

that we've at least recently been talking about.

It'd be interesting if we had watched this before,

all the UA Bowl films. I don't know if I'm giving

it more credit because of how bad those films

were, but I do think it's just a more competently

made film. I do think that there's all kinds

of bad choices from us. Kind of a screenwriting

or character development piece, but I think it

does like everybody else saying it hits the aesthetics,

right? It is a effective horror film. Is it a

film that I would ever want to watch again? No,

absolutely not. I would never probably want to

watch this again. But I was still interested

the whole time and intrigued on where they were

going with it. So I think it did what it wanted

to do. And you could tell that the guy had some

passion as far as the making sure that some of

the aesthetics of the game and feeling like a

video game came through. So I think it's definitely.

towards the top half, if not the top, you know,

couple of the video game films that we've discussed

so far. I don't think I can get up as high as

a seven or six. I'm more in like the four or

five range. So I'm probably gonna go on a five

just like Matt. I think it's much better than

a lot of the films we've talked about, especially

recently. I don't know where it's gonna set overall,

but it has a chance. You're still gonna give

it a four? I said five. I've given most films

like a one two and a three so far in this video

game series I think except for like one or two

So I think it's right now probably in the top

three or so films that we've talked about so

far for me personally So I think that's something

it's up there when it comes to video game Films

if you agree or disagree with our takes on Silent

Hill If you had a different experience or if

you lined up more with one of us let us know

by visiting the website www .geekcastradio .com

Just find the episode post there click on it.

You can comment We'll interact and reply, and

we can get a discussion going on the website.

You can also interact with us specifically if

you have just a question or a comment directed

towards one of us individually. You can do that.

You can do that by following or tweeting at OptimaSolo

for me. Amanda, how can people get in contact

with you? At Hard Candy Mandy. Eyes, no eyes.

Dan, what about if someone wants to direct a

comment towards you? I'm at Movie Revolt. And

Matt? I'm at Fridley's Set. Or you can comment

the show in general by tweeting to at CinemaGeekCast.

But definitely get in touch with us and as we

talked about in the last couple episodes We are

holding a contest right now on as far as iTunes

review So if you want to get involved in the

video game Contest where you can win a six pack

of the films that we have covered during this

series All you got to do is go to iTunes and

leave the show a review anytime from I believe

it was May 1st until the time we get to the end

of the video game series. We'll take all the

iTunes reviews we get during that time period

and we'll select a winner to get a pack of movies.

So definitely go do that now before it's too

late. Next time when we go back to the video

game series, we have one more film from 2006

to cover. So we had Blood Rain and Silent Hill.

Next up is Dead. or Alive from Tecmo. DOA came

out in September of 2006. Amanda, have you played

the games? Have you seen the movie? What's your

excitement level for DOA? Man, I've heard of

it, but I don't think I've played it or seen

it played at all. Dan, do you know what you're

getting yourself into or any clue about what

Dead or Alive is? I did play the games I rented

out a few times for Dreamcast. They were a lot

of fun fighting games. I remember there's this

tag team mode that was really fun at the time.

I believe it's the same franchise that has a

volleyball game just noted for physics. Matt,

what about your excitement level for Dead or

Alive? Probably one of the highest excitement

levels. between having played a lot of the games

and knowing a lot about the franchise. I've heard

a lot of positive things about this movie, so

I'm pretty down. Alright, we'll have to see if

we continue on the positive track like we did

with Silent Hill or if we return to the likes

of Doom, Alone in the Dark or House of the Dead

movie. forward so that's what's coming up next

on the video game series always tune into our

other episodes though as we are closing out our

Hayao Miyazaki spotlight only a few more chances

to listen to us review those films and we're

continuing to get closer and closer to revealing

our top 10 films personal films of all time on

a regular episode so outside of that make sure

you follow GeekCast Radio Network on Facebook

to Keep up to date with all things GeekCast related,

not just Cinema Geeks, but all our other shows

as well. But that's it for this week. Tune in

next week for another chance to listen to the

Cinema Geeks.