MINOR SPOILER!



My biggest complaint about this movie, assuming one particular theory explaining its ending is true, is the major plot hole regarding whether the Silent Hill residents are in fact alive or ghosts (the actual people, not the creatures roaming around in the dark). One theory suggests that everyone existing within the reality of Silent Hill is dead, as if in some Purgatory. However, the validity of this theory would remove all suspense from the events that take place during the movie. In addition, there's at least one younger member (a girl) of the society not originally part of the inhabitants. This fact perhaps implies that the population is still alive.

To remain on the path I was describing, the best way to sum up this movie warrants the theory that everyone in Silent Hill is a ghost, including the main character and her daughter. Why else do they "arrive at their home" and still exist in the Silent Hill reality? If Silent Hill consists of ghosts, why would anyone worry about dying--let alone feel the pain of death--if they're already dead? Why is the police officer overseeing the missing report of the main character the same cop in the flashback of Silent Hill's origin and how'd he escape from the Purgatory that the town became?

These plot holes make the horror element a moot point. There's no point to fear death if it already happened. I often overcriticize horror movies, mainly since many of them are just too ludicrous or sloppy. And this movie is definitely no different.