Silent Hill Movie compared to the Game

[PurpleRain]

Firstly, I thought I might put this heard because it's too movie for the game section.

Anyway, after alot of talk about Silent Hill in other threads and the review from Yahtzee I thought I might go hire the movie as it's as close as I'll ever get to the series. The movie was fun with some truely disturbing creatures and nasties. The acting was as wooden as a door but that was made up by some of the horror and gore.

This isn't talking about the issue. I was wondering if the movie is in anyway like the games? Is Silent Hill all about some fanatic religious group burning witches? I also heard that the Pyrimid head was summond through people's guilt (the mother letting her daughter die). Does this mean she can control him as he did tear the skin off some lady that was about to stone the old woman. Are all the monsters true to the game, like how PH is really strong and big with that huge sword, or the nurse ladies, sexy but also very disturbing and ugly. Did the nurses clump together and move towards light sources in the game or just attacked everything?

All these questions and anything else you can think of. I'm really curious about the game but not enough to go out and buy a PS2.

 

[GloatingSwine]

This isn't talking about the issue. I was wondering if the movie is in anyway like the games? Is Silent Hill all about some fanatic religious group burning witches?

There will be spoilers.

Not really. There is a fanatic religious cult, and there is a bit of witch-burning, but not for the obvious reasons. The cult are trying to summon their god into the real world, and Alessia Gillespie, a young girl with prodigious psychic powers, was supposed to do it for them. When she refused, her mother, the cult leader, trapped her in their house and rigged the boiler to burn the house down. Alessia survived, and was kept alive in a hidden room in the Silent Hill hospital without actually treating her wounds (the hospital director was in on the cult, and used his connections to the local drug trade to addict and blackmail staff into keeping quiet). Alessia managed to project some part of herself as a baby, who was found on the outskirts of Silent Hill by Harry Mason. When Harry and Cheryl return seven years later, Alessia wakes, and her power breaks reality around the town of Silent Hill.

I also heard that the Pyrimid head was summond through people's guilt (the mother letting her daughter die). Does this mean she can control him as he did tear the skin off some lady that was about to stone the old woman. Are all the monsters true to the game, like how PH is really strong and big with that huge sword, or the nurse ladies, sexy but also very disturbing and ugly. Did the nurses clump together and move towards light sources in the game or just attacked everything?

Although the plot comes from the first game, all the monsters in the film are from the second game (except the janitor, he was new, but the game designers like him so much he might show up in a future game). They are very accurate visually, like the rest of the film, but in the film everything except the nurses are unrelated to Alessia's story. The first game has nurses (and the odd doctor) as well, but they're not like the ones in the film (or second game), they're all hunched over and move like puppets (reflecting the way the hospital director controls them). (the other monsters are stuff like skinless dogs). Pyramid Head, likewise, is from the second game, and is all about guilt. He doesn't show up in the games outside of the context of James' story though.

 

[Crowbites]

Meh, The Silent Hill movie was a combination of great special effects, a fairly large fan base and Sean Bean's acting talent wasted on an incredibly crappy movie. They took the plot of the first game, the good parts of the second, put it in a blender and changed whatever they wanted seemingly at random. It would have been smarter to create an original story and set it in Silent Hill. After all, the games' stories aren't all directly linked (with the exception of 1 and 3).

For those who are interested, silent hill 4 wasn't originally intended to be a silent hill game, but it turned into one after the developers got worried they wouldn't be able to sell it under an original title. Kinda the opposite of Devil May Cry.

As for movies in general, I've long since given up on a really good game adaptation coming out of Hollywood.

 

[tiredinnuendo]

I will answer your question by stating the obvious.

One of the Silent Hills that you're asking about is one of the best loved horror game franchises ever. Especially loved for its deep and involved storytelling.

The other is a movie based on a video game.

Get it?

- J

 

[Melaisis]

Sean Bean > All.

"I AM SHAAAAAAAAAARPE!"

Oh wait, wrong!


















...







"FROOOOOOOOOODOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

 

[Drakovicz]

Well the movie got music and graphic right and managed to create the same atmosphere like in the game. Unfortunetly they completly butchered the story with their pointless, random and uneccesery "modifications". Also, although there are few "yuck" scenes in every Silent Hill game, the gore in the end of the movie was far too over the top. I mean the whole barbed wire tentacles scene in the church, that was one major WTF moment that completly destroyed the whole atmosphere and send the movie into realm of suck.

All these questions and anything else you can think of. I'm really curious about the game but not enough to go out and buy a PS2.

Why would you need a PS2? Silent Hill 2, 3 and 4 were officialy relased for PC.

 

[PurpleRain]

There is a fanatic religious cult, and there is a bit of witch-burning, but not for the obvious reasons. The cult are trying to summon their god into the real world, and Alessia Gillespie, a young girl with prodigious psychic powers, was supposed to do it for them. When she refused, her mother, the cult leader, trapped her in their house and rigged the boiler to burn the house down. Alessia survived, and was kept alive in a hidden room in the Silent Hill hospital without actually treating her wounds (the hospital director was in on the cult, and used his connections to the local drug trade to addict and blackmail staff into keeping quiet). Alessia managed to project some part of herself as a baby, who was found on the outskirts of Silent Hill by Harry Mason. When Harry and Cheryl return seven years later, Alessia wakes, and her power breaks reality around the town of Silent Hill.

Cool thanks for all the info. That all actually makes some more sense.

One last little thing, do you have to be dead to enter the town? I think Rose and her daughter (along with the cop) all died in a crash and that's why they could go into the creepy town while noone else could. And at the end they arive home but they're still on the other side.

 

[Mairsil the Pretender]

I heard that the PC controlls didnt use a mouse, therefore missing the whole point of a PC port. A keyboard arrow pad is not the same as an analog stick.

Or am I wrong? are the controls that bad?

 

[Fire Daemon]

Sean Bean > All.

"I AM SHAAAAAAAAAARPE!"

Oh wait, wrong!

He was good in patriot games.
















...







"FROOOOOOOOOODOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

He was good in patriot games.

 

[GloatingSwine]

One last little thing, do you have to be dead to enter the town? I think Rose and her daughter (along with the cop) all died in a crash and that's why they could go into the creepy town while noone else could. And at the end they arive home but they're still on the other side.

No, you don't have to be dead, though in one possible ending Harry is in fact dead in his car all along, and the whole game experience is a dying vision like in Jacob's Ladder. Something has to lead you to the "misty" town, in Harry and Cybil's case it was Cheryl's power that sucked them in, all the characters in Silent Hill 2 have their own reasons for being there.

 

[Frybird]

In addition to GloatingSwines Post: As far as i recall every Silent Hill Game has at least one ending that suggest that you were dead/dying all along.

Not sure about Silent Hill 3 and Origins, though

 

[GloatingSwine]

In addition to GloatingSwines Post: As far as i recall every Silent Hill Game has at least one ending that suggest that you were dead/dying all along.

Not sure about Silent Hill 3 and Origins, though

Silent Hill 2 doesn't have an ending that suggests that you were dead or dying, but one of the endings can be taken as showing that the whole game was James sitting in his car and contemplating suicide, and at the end he drives into the lake.

 

[Worr Monger]

Rule of thumb... most movies based on video games are complete failures. I would always expect some disappointment.

I personally haven't played the Silent Hill games, but perhaps in this case... Ignorance is Bliss, because I enjoyed the Silent Hill movie for what it was.

From everything I've seen about Silent Hill... it LOOKED pretty close, but I wouldn't know for sure. All I know is, in the mess that is the video game movie genre, Silent Hill stood out as one of the better films.

 

[Drakovicz]

I heard that the PC controlls didnt use a mouse, therefore missing the whole point of a PC port. A keyboard arrow pad is not the same as an analog stick.

Or am I wrong? are the controls that bad?

Well, unfortunetly this was the case of Silent Hill 2. The controls were keybord only and horrible and it killed a big chunk of atmosphere and enjoyability of the game.

However both Silent Hill 3 and 4 used a mouse and the controls overall were pretty decent.

 

[greygelgoog]

The Silent Hill movie started out feeling like Silent Hill, but ended up going down an entirely different route in my opinion. I blame adaptation decay, I give it credit for being a noble attempt to cram the Silent Hill franchise into a 2 hour movie. Considering how much was lost in the transition from games to screenplay I think they should have done what many of the Silent Hill games have done; create an original story using the series' mythos as a backdrop. That way you don't have to cut and alter things for the adaptation. A lot was lost in trying to make an adaptation of the games, but at least the first hour or so can give the non-fan an idea of what the games are like... sorta kinda.

 

[PurpleRain]

Rule of thumb... most movies based on video games are complete failures. I would always expect some disappointment.

I personally haven't played the Silent Hill games, but perhaps in this case... Ignorance is Bliss, because I enjoyed the Silent Hill movie for what it was.

From everything I've seen about Silent Hill... it LOOKED pretty close, but I wouldn't know for sure. All I know is, in the mess that is the video game movie genre, Silent Hill stood out as one of the better films.

That's the way I feel. This is as close as I'll ever get to the series aside from Silent Hill 5 which I'm kinda unsure of getting due to the fact I don't have the backstory.

 

[ZenMonkey47]

This isn't talking about the issue. I was wondering if the movie is in anyway like the games? Is Silent Hill all about some fanatic religious group burning witches?

There will be spoilers.

Not really. There is a fanatic religious cult, and there is a bit of witch-burning, but not for the obvious reasons. The cult are trying to summon their god into the real world, and Alessia Gillespie, a young girl with prodigious psychic powers, was supposed to do it for them.

Although, by law Hollywood has to take potshots at Christianity whenever possible.

 

[PurpleRain]

This isn't talking about the issue. I was wondering if the movie is in anyway like the games? Is Silent Hill all about some fanatic religious group burning witches?

There will be spoilers.

Not really. There is a fanatic religious cult, and there is a bit of witch-burning, but not for the obvious reasons. The cult are trying to summon their god into the real world, and Alessia Gillespie, a young girl with prodigious psychic powers, was supposed to do it for them.

Although, by law Hollywood has to take potshots at Christianity whenever possible.

Just the fanatics. Burn witches, kill the homosexuals, ban violent video games!

 

[ZenMonkey47]

Granted, but by movie reasoning religious = foaming at the mouth fanatic

edit: on second thought, I guess it depends on which religion. In most movies a religious Christian or Muslim is 90% of the time bat guano "burn the infidel" insane, whereas a religious Buddhist or those of the Jewish faith are laid back and usually dispense wisdom and guidance.

 

[The Negotiator]

The game is much better than the movie.

The movie was retarted and coulden't scare me at all.