Silent Hill

Silent Hill (2006), directed by Christophe Gans, Shout! Factory remaster, encoded in 10 bit HEVC with AAC sound, including original theatrical 5.1, three commentary tracks, and English and French subtitles.

IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384537/

Video encoded in two-pass 9 500 kbps x265 10bit with the veryslow preset for archive quality image.

Subtitles converted to VobSub and repositioned.

Note : Frequently requested, this video game adaptation doesn't quite hit the mark for me, but I like it a lot better now than when I first saw it. It's a bit too cryptic for its own good, and the final ending is a little cliché, but it's so full of phantasmagorical imagery, surreal weirdness, and beautiful cinematography that I can't help but enjoy it. Plus, the climactic scene when the (human) bad guys bite it is one of the most cathartic and glorious I've ever seen.

Rose's daughter Sharon has recurring nightmares about a town called Silent Hill, which was abandoned because of an underground coal fire (look up Centralia, Pennsylvania for the clear inspiration). She tries to go there with her daughter, but entering the town they crash the car, and when Rose wakes up, Sharon is gone, and walking through the foggy, deserted landscape, she's menaced by strange creatures, and the very location seems to morph around her. A wayward cop and a group of weird cultists soon make things even more complicated, not to mention that her daughter seems to be identical to a girl who lived in the town long ago.

This is a nice, crisp remaster, which preserves the subtle tones of the original film, both in the hazy daylight scenes and the very dark interiors. Sound is also good, and the three commentary tracks give ample information. I especially enjoy the one with master cinematographer Dan Laustsen, although there's a bit of meandering about film vs. digital that was probably a lot more relevant back in the early 2000s.

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