Silent Hill

There's something retch-inducingly postmodern about basing films on video games and yet here, at least, the premise has horror potential. A young mother takes her troubled adopted daughter to the ghost town of her birth, where a nightmare lies in wait. Although the script reaches for gravitas with its timely message about the power of faith corrupting, what will really impact on any viewer is the demon guy with the fuck-off big knife. Predictably, the dialogue is as subtle as spilled intestines and a good portion of the film is spent fulfilling the geek-movie quota of attractive women running, sweating and panting hysterically. Gans ('Brotherhood of the Wolf') presents a beautiful spectre in Silent Hill itself and the hellish sequences are stunningly realised; CGI exploited to unusually gritty and visceral effect. Ultimately though, the age-old battle between plot and visuals proves time-consuming and delivers an ending that won't satisfy skeptics. [Caroline Hurley]