Silent Hill (2006)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 4.5/5

Can't Believe It's Been Five Years...

I am a big fan of the Silent Hill games and the German dub of Silent Hill film holds a special place in my heart. I lived in Germany from 2003 and 2006 and in the final years of being a teenager was spent living in a foreign country where I learned the language as well as learning French. While living in Germany, I frequented the Kino (German for Cinema) and would watch whatever they'd be playing in English every Sunday morning at 11 am. Well, this was my last night in the country before I flew back to the United States to go back to Hawaii.

The days prior I looked up showtimes to try to kill some time before I left the country; I had never watched a movie in the Kino dubbed over in German. This was my last chance to do it and I took the opportunity. Silent Hill was playing only at 11 pm and that was my only chance to go see it. I was barely old enough to get in to see it, I was 16 and the film was rated 16. I went to the kino and bought my ticket and the employee told me in the best English he could that the film wasn't in English and I told him to sell me the ticket. In Germany you can pick where you want to sit, so I sat in the 11th row and the 9th seat.

When the film started, I saw the Universal logo and then Focus Features logo and with the Focus Features logo we hear the Silent Hill theme play, like how it does in the U.S. release with the Sony logo. And I hear the dubbing for Radha Mitchell and I understood it. My three years of learning German paid off as soon as the film started and it was one of the greatest rewards I could ever give myself. For that, with my personal experience, I give the film a 5/5 because it was a good farewell to a country that gave me so much and that the film is almost exactly like the first video game.

The video on this release by Concorde is miles above what Sony released here in the U.S. on Blu-ray. The quality is dull on the U.S. release and here it has details to it and this makes for the better experience. There's a nice level of grain present. 5/5 for the video. The audio is superb, the German dub is loud and fierce. However the English audio isn't a loud but it still does the job. The only pro about the Sony release is that PCM English audio, that was awesome; audio is 5/5.

There are no extras present on this release like the Sony Blu-ray. Which is a shame since the U.S. DVD had an hour long documentary on it. Overall, even with the extras missing on the disc, I give it a 4.5/5. It is far superior to the Sony Blu-ray in almost every way. And it's great how the German release is Region All. I paid $23 to import this and I am very happy with it.