Rose Da Silva (Mitchell) and her daughter Sharon (Ferland) travel to the ghost town, Silent Hill in West Virginia, in search of answers to her daughter's mysterious sleepwalking.
After an auto accident, Sharon disappears, sending Rose on a desperate chase through the deserted streets of the town on which ashes fall like snow.
Most of the movie involves Rose going from building to building, collecting clues as to where to find her daughter - like a video game going from level to level. But Radha Mitchell is pretty good as the main heroine scrambling from the numerous amounts of creatures and demons - when the "Darkness" comes. She manages to keep you rooting for her even though most of the time she is running around screaming out her daughter's name.
Laurie Holden is also fun as a tough motorcycle cop who helps Rose in her search. Sean Bean's character as Rose's husband was really not necessary, his scenes looking for clues in the "outside world," slowed down the pace of the movie without adding too much to the plot, and at times took us out of the experience. Oh, and you can add Jordelle Ferland to the Highly Creepy Horror Movie Kids Club - she is definitely up there with the kids from Poltergeist and Exorcist.
The film is incredible visually, especially when "The Darkness" comes, that is where all the real fun begins, because that's when we get all of the cool creatures and the goriest of kills. Pyramid Head, the coolest of the creatures, has one kill that is so unbelievably gory that you'll really want to see more of him - but then he just disappears, never to be seen or heard from again. On the technical side, this film was well done with regards to production design, camera work, and the use of ambient sound effects to really stimulates the senses. All in all it really showcases Gans' vision as a director
There's a strong spiritual undercurrent to the whole movie, but at times the religious allegory is laid on a bit thick in the second half, which could have been easily cut out, and get straight to the gory cliffhanger ending - that also guaranteed a sequel.
Overall it's a genuinely creepy and deeply disturbing experience, as would be expected by fans of the games, but there are too many breaks in the action that might take away from the experience. But it's quite surprising for a horror film to have this much depth, especially when it gets into the history of the town and the connection between all the characters.
