Resident Evil. Doom. Alone in the Dark.

If you're a fan of horror movies and games, those seven word are sure to stir up some creepy feelings in the pit of your gut...and not in a good way. I'm happy to say that Silent Hill has broken the curse of video game-to-film adaptations. This movie is good enough to please fans of the game series as well as those who may have never paid a visit to the lonely town of Silent Hill.

10 years ago, Rose Da Silva (Rhada Mitchell) and her husband (Sean Bean) adopted a young girl who was left on the doorstep of the local orphanage. As the years pass, little Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) has nightmares and sleepwalking incidents while babbling about the town of Silent Hill. In an effort to keep her adopted daughter from the mental home, Rose decides to take a trip to the ghost town of Silent Hill so that she might face whatever memories might be causing the nightmares. On the way to the town, Rose has an accident while trying to avoid a young girl in the road. When she comes to, Sharon is missing. Rose heads into the town to find her daughter and finds that the Sharon won't be the only person facing nightmares in this town.

The acting is surprisingly strong for a video game film. The films main ladies face a lot of creatures which were done with CGI, yet still seem to find that place to come across as genuinely frightened even though they never saw a lot of the terrors that eventually make it to the screen. The secondary storyline with the guys doesn't go much into the really scary stuff but they get the job done quite well.

The effects for this type of movie could not have been done with traditional prosthetics so CGI is the order of the day and it's done very well. The transformation of the town from the foggy "normal" town into a Hellish dark world will surely leave some images for your own nightmares. The creatures are varied and each one more impressive than the last. The classic terrors from the game make an appearance as well as a few new freaks.

As for the plot, there are a few glaring holes here and there. Why doesn't Rose use her cell phone as soon as she finds her daughter missing? How can anyone miss the giant church in the center of town until it's pointed out to them? There are a few other smaller mistakes. However, this is based on a game in which the plot is so obscure that it's almost impossible to explain, so it's easy to overlook most of them. It's obvious that the writer knew the game and got a plot that is as good as any of the storylines in the series. The tale is explained enough so that you're satisfied but, like the game, leaves a bit up to your imagination. If you were ever able to explain exactly what'd happened, it wouldn't be Silent Hill.

It's not something that you've heard often (if at all), but this is a video game adaptation worthy of seeing. It's definately the best video game ever put to film. Even if you're not a fan of the game, there's enough creepy stuff here to give you the worst nightmares since Van Damme bumbled his way through the hideous Street Fighter.