Film Review - Silent Hill

Film title : Silent Hill

Year of production : 2005

Director : Christophe Gans

Genre : Action horror

Brief plot outline:

A desperate mother Rose, takes her adopted daughter Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill to try and cure her of her tortured nightmares. Little does Rose know that Silent Hill bears a terrible secret of an apocalyptic disaster that burnt down the town 30 years ago. Sharon disappears into the fog and on Rose's quest to get her back, she discovers deformed creatures who arise in the darkness who for some reason want nothing more than to kill her beloved daughter. Rose is determined to find out why but ends up delving deeper into the town's twin dimension, luring her further away from home than she'll ever realise.



Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why?

One scene which impressed me the most was where we first see the deformed creatures a few chapters in. Rose is desperately searching for her adopted daughter Sharon and ends up running into some sort of underground basement which is dark and creepy. The only light we have is from Rose's flickering lighter which maximises the tension as we cannot see any further than a few metres away from Rose. She comes to a wire fence and looks up and sees a blood dripping body with what appears to be a gas mask on. The camera pans up to a bird’s eye view to allow the audience to see an alien type creature creeping up behind her. Rose turns around and the creature begins to scream whilst flames are igniting it's body. There soon becomes a whole pack of them who chase her continuously. The camera cuts to a high angled shot where we see many more of these creatures streaming in from the outside. It then cuts back inside to Rose where we see her being caught by these creatures but all of a sudden they self-ignite and burn away into the air leaving ash falling all around her. This impressed me due to the good effects used to give the desired effect on the audience. It made me shudder as it's the first time we see the deformed, burning creatures.

Another scene which impressed me was in the scene in the church where Alessa is causing havoc and killing members of the cult with the barbed wire wrapped around her. It is so detailed and exposed and we see all the blood and gore in full. The special and after effects are very well disguised and this draws the audience in even more. The clip below shows this scene.

 How has watching the this film helped you understand this genre of film-making? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How?

From watching this, I can tell that a lot of work has been put into the cinematography and editing to create the gory effects and make the alien type creatures look fairly realistic. This is primarily an action horror so many quick montage scenes are used to keep the audience pinned to the screen and feeling excited.

Mise-en-scene

There is body horror throughout the whole film. Particularly during the church scene when Alessa rises from the ground strapped to her bed with barbed wire wrapped around her and expanding out under her control. We see the leader of the cult get picked up and ripped in half by the wire, splaying her insides everywhere which we see in full view.

Restricted narration is used when Rose’s accompanying policewoman, Cybil, gets brutally beaten by two creatures. We see them repeatedly hit her with batons and we hear the thud when hitting her body and her groans of pain. However, she is actually off screen so we do not physically see the attack, but instead hear it through restricted narration. This creates an even more shocking scene as we are left to imagine the image of her being beaten.

The town, Silent Hill, where most of the film is set, is a creepy location in itself. This is due to the deserted feeling of it and the dark gloomy atmosphere along with the ash continuously falling.

There is low key lighting used throughout most of the whole film to give it an eerie, sinister feel.

Sound
There is parallel music used a lot throughout the film along with high pitched sound effects when the creatures are on screen.

Editing

There is use of collision cutting when Rose runs away from creature in masks near the beginning of the film. She runs all around the deserted school with strange extra diegetic sounds along with with the banging of doors and we hear her footsteps as she runs. There is then use of collision cutting when she enters one particular classroom. All the sound stops and it goes silent as she explores the room. This suggests that this room is of some significant importance as the silence indicates that there may be something that Rose should look for and it also makes the audience pay full attention to it.

Cinematography

There are many close ups of the creatures throughout the entirity of the film, this causes an uncomfortable feeling for the audience and creates drama.

There is a canted angle shot when the elevator is going down the shaft when Cybil is getting beaten up.

Characters & Representation

Psycho killer - This could be Alessa, however she cannot be fully blamed for the way she is. Also the creatures are very viscious killers.

Slow moving monster - Some of the creatures are slow moving.

Quick moving monster - Some of the other creatures are very quick moving.

Male hero -  Rose's husband could count as the male hero as he attempts to find them but unfortunately doesn't.

Female survivor/final girl - Cybil does well to survive the beatings but then gets burnt alive in the church. Rose survives all the way to the end and even finds her daughter so she could also be the final girl.

Themes

There is fear of death and violence throughout the whole film.

Lonliness/being trapped - Rose fears of Sharon being trapped alone so does her best to find her.

Narrative

Open ending -  The ending is fairly happy because they got back home until we realise they've gone back in a different time zone so will never be reunited with her husband therefore making it sad at the same time. We do not know what will happen after this regarding going back to their normal lives so this leaves it open for a sequel film. 

Ideologies
Feeling outside CDI - All the creatures are obviously outside of the CDI. Sharon/Aessa also are as they were previously one person but were split into two.

Sadism - The leader of the cult burns everyone who she thinks is a witch and has no hesitation of doing so as seen in the video clip below.

Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? Why?

I would like to include the special effects in my own trailer as they really helped to determine the creatures as the evil characters that they are.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer? Why?
The narrative wasn't ever so clear so for me I wouldn't produce a trailer with a similar storyline to this film as some parts were a bit unclear as to why they were happening.

What was the best aspect/most enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? How?
The best moment in the film in my opinion was the ending as it was just so unexpected. I didn't fully understand it the first time I watched it so I re-watched to see any bits that I missed which helped me understand it better. We feel empathy for Rose and Sharon as we want them to find their husband and father respectively.

How does the film reflect its institutional or historical context?
Silent Hill reflects its institutional context as censorship has become a lot more relaxed over the years and this amount of body horrow would not have been allowed in the past. It is a "15" rated film but I feel it could easily pass as an "18" due to the sheer amount of blood and gore.