Silent Hill

This had potential to be a decent movie. With Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) at the helm, art direction by the folks behind such films as A History of Violence and Dead Ringers, and the decent casting of Radha Mitchell, this looked to be the video-game adaptation to beat all video-game adaptations. Then the studio decided to hide it from the critics. At first, it seems as if the studio was being a little paranoid. Silent Hill is a terrific-looking movie. Its combination of atmospherics, camerawork and excellent old-school and CGI effects make it one of the year’s better-looking films to date. And while the setup for the movie isn’t exactly first-rate, the film is far from bad for its first half hour or so. Then, quite appropriately considering the subject matter, the film goes to hell. The second half, when a religious cult becomes the film’s focus, is incomprehensibly, unforgivably awful.