Looking Back at SILENT HILL: We Need More of Those!

As my friend likes to put it, subtly and soberly: you don’t cut off the hen that lays golden eggs. Marketing people have taken this sacred truth to heart: when they have a product that sells well, they stand on their heads to squeeze as much money out of it as possible. And so — which no longer surprises us at all — with every new animated film for children that hits theaters, the market is flooded with everything a child is usually interested in — or isn’t interested in at the moment, but should be — wallpapered with the cute little face of Elsa from Frozen or the likeness of Lightning McQueen. Silent Hill.

A child suddenly realizes that if it’s a checked notebook, then only with The Lion King, and if it’s sneakers, then only with Spider-Man, and business booms, with profits beyond imagination. Beyond the imagination of toddlers, that is, because marketers know their craft and with every new premiere they push things one step further.

This works, of course, in the other direction as well. If something is popular in its segment, sells well, becomes recognizable — why not turn it into a movie? A motif, a character, a symbol — some cases are difficult and require a proper strategy, but there are also products that practically beg for it. Book bestsellers, obviously. And obviously — video games. In the early 1980s, a simple game called Mario Bros made its debut. Mario, a likeable plumber in blue overalls, accompanied by his inseparable brother Luigi (the option for a second player), moves through successive levels of the game, defeating numerous enemies and collecting point-boosting bonuses.

After the title was taken over by Nintendo and renamed Super Mario Bros, the game achieved phenomenal success and entered the Guinness Book of Records, where it was recognized as the highest-grossing video game in history. The potential was enormous, so subsequent installments of the game began to multiply, along with accompanying gadgets, until finally an animated series based on it was produced.

Only one step, then, separated the creators from the decision to make a feature-length film. The live-action production was released in 1993 and, despite its star-studded cast (Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo), was immediately criticized for the film’s very loose connection to the game’s premise. The poor reception of the film made the money people realize that adapting a video game — especially when its narrative layer is rather sparse — is by no means a simple matter. On the one hand, such a case offers quite a lot of interpretive freedom.

On the other hand, with virtually no depth to the main characters and the specific realities of a platform game world, it is extremely difficult to create something that is both coherent and not merely a series of level jumps, while still retaining certain references. In the case of Super Mario Bros, the idea of an adaptation was treated somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Today, when a game has fanatics rather than fans, a bad adaptation can provoke wild fury in the masses.

And some titles do just that. Among the weakest are Alone in the Dark and Far Cry by the inestimable Uwe Boll, as well as Dungeons & Dragons with Jeremy Irons, which placed 39th on the list of the worst films of all time published by Empire magazine in 2010. There are, however, films that have achieved considerable success. Many still consider Mortal Kombat from 1995 to be the best adaptation in history. Lara Croft with Angelina Jolie in the lead role and Prince of Persia were also well received, while the undisputed king remains Resident Evil — the film series already numbers seven or eight titles, with no end in sight.

Adaptations that maintain a high standard also include the 2006 horror film directed by Christophe Gans. Silent Hill is based on narrative elements from the first three installments of the Japanese video game series of the same title, released by Konami Corporation.

The story seems typical for a horror film. A married couple adopts a girl; years later she begins to have nightmares in which she wanders through the ghostly town of Silent Hill. The girl’s adoptive mother takes her — against her husband’s will — to the deserted town that the child conjures up in dreams and gloomy drawings. On the way, they have an accident. Rose da Silva loses consciousness, and her daughter Sharon disappears from the car…

Silent Hill, unlike the aforementioned Super Mario Bros or Prince of Persia, is a game with an extremely elaborate, multi-threaded plot full of distinctive characters. The film’s screenplay was continuously consulted with fans of the game on the screenwriter’s blog (Roger Avary, Oscar winner for Pulp Fiction). The creators were determined to avoid a situation in which straying too far from the game’s storyline would cause a complete break with the original.

Avary therefore introduced many necessary modifications, combining threads, changing relationships between characters, and creating a coherent, self-contained film narrative set within a specific timeframe. He did so cautiously and thoughtfully, ensuring that his changes were accepted by the majority of fans. The film was criticized for certain missteps, such as the fact that in one of the final scenes the entire story is practically served to the viewer on a platter. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that this was handled with sensitivity and — unfortunately — was also necessary for the film to be understandable to viewers who had no prior contact with the game.

What constitutes the strength of Gans’s film is its faithful recreation of the game’s atmosphere. Silent Hill creates a terrifying universe — the Japanese excel at this — full of uncanny monsters, set within expressive production design and accompanied by Akira Yamaoka’s unsettling music. It is the only game I have never played, yet could watch for hours, waiting in tension for the ominous, trouble-heralding sound of the siren. The film delivers the same emotions.

When Rose enters the ash-covered town, shrouded in dense fog, she does not yet know what awaits her. The viewer familiar with the title anticipates the typical signs — paint begins to peel from the walls, everything is flooded with rusty blood, hideous creatures crawl out from the corners — a barbed-wire-bound man, demonic nurses, and He: Pyramid Head. Wearing his characteristic black headpiece, with a massive blade in hand, he roams his world accompanied by thousands of crawling creatures. An incredible feeling, to see him on the big screen.

The roles of the da Silva spouses are played by Radha Mitchell and Sean Bean. Both perform excellently — she as the worried mother, he as the desperate father — but the show is stolen by the resident horror girl, Jodelle Ferland, in a triple role as Sharon da Silva, Alessa Gillespie, and Dark Alessa. The last of these deserves special attention: Ferland, making excellent use of her natural attributes, once again creates a powerful portrayal of a demon child. When listing the cast, one must also mention Laurie Holden, now better known from The Walking Dead, as the brave police officer Cybil, and Alice Krige, who delivers a bravura performance as Christabella. The latter puts on a true tour de force as a fanatical cult leader.

I am a fan of video game adaptations. I believe that in the vast majority they provide uncomplicated yet decent entertainment, irreplaceable after an exhausting day. Titles such as Doom, Silent Hill, or the Resident Evil series have a warm little corner in my cinephile heart. I often return to them.

We can only wish for as many productions like Silent Hill as possible. The film is coherent, atmospheric, and made — and continues to make — an impression even on viewers who are not fans of the game. Fans will certainly find certain shortcomings, but it is known that not everything can be done and compromises are sometimes necessary. Silent Hillchooses the best path between fidelity to the game and concessions to cinematic adaptation.