Silent Hill: Revelation (2012) [Blu-ray]
Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Return to a place of insanity and blood-curdling chills in this shocking sequel to one of the most surreal and gruesome horror films ever created. Heather Mason (Adelaide Clemens) and her father (Sean Bean) have always tried to stay one step ahead of the malevolent forces intent on their destruction. But on the eve of her 18th birthday, a dangerous revelation leads her deeper into a demonic world that threatens to trap her in a nightmarish landscape forever. Based on the hugely popular video game series and written and directed by Michael J. Bassett (Deathwatch), it's a psychological trip into absolute terror unlike anything you've ever known.

Storyline: Heather Mason and her father have been on the run, always one step ahead of dangerous forces that she doesn't fully understand, Now on the eve of her 18th birthday, plagued by horrific nightmares and the disappearance of her father, Heather discovers she's not who she thinks she is. The revelation leads her deeper into a demonic world that threatens to trap her forever. Written by Anonymous

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on February 11, 2013 -- Silent Hill: Revelation has a creepy cover (fleshy mouths *shiver*), a lead actress who's a dead ringer for Michelle Williams, and a limited bit of genre cred fueled by Silent Hill's small but fervent fanbase. (For the record: terribly flawed flick, decent visuals.) Oh, and of course Sean Bean, an otherwise talented actor who's inadvertently built a career around dying on screen. And... yep, that's about it. Revelation is terrible. Just terrible. Every time Maxime Alexandre's cinematography and the sequel's rusty boiler room atmosphere delivers, every time writer/director Michael J. Bassett (Deathwatch, Solomon Kane) transplants a still-beating heart from the Silent Hill videogame series that's genuinely chilling, the film descends into direct-to-video mediocrity, plumbs new depths of awful, and then plunges even deeper, to circles of cinema hell lesser horror sequels wouldn't send their most hated enemies.

After quickly explaining away the time gap between Silent Hill and Silent Hill: Revelation, the critically impaled sequel clumsily introduces a now-teenage Sharon Da Silva (Adelaide Clemens, The Great Gatsby), supernaturally freed from Silent Hill by her mother (Radha Mitchell, The Crazies) and living on the run from a sinister cult with her adoptive father Chris (Sean Bean, Black Death, The Lord of the Rings). Sharon, renamed Heather Mason by her dear ol' paranoid dad, moves from town to town, school to school, suffering from nightmares and growing angstier and angstier by the day. But when the cult finally closes in and Chris disappears, Heather and boy toy Vincent (Game of Thrones' Kit Harington) head to Silent Hill, which promptly dispenses with reality and spirals into a bad black metal music video complete with an evil albino priestess (Carrie-Anne Moss, The Matrix), a bound and blind old man (Malcolm McDowell), a ghost girl (Erin Pitt) and her tormented mother (Deborah Kara Unger).

From there, Revelation bounces between thinly veiled videogame clichés -- Collect pieces of a secret amulet! Search out helpful NPCs! Boss fights! -- and poor man's Lovecraftian hackery -- Plans for gestating dark gods! Monstrous transformations! Horrors beyond description! (But not really!) -- and struggles to frighten, or even function, on most every level. All it's missing is a few loading screens and, well, a good videogame. Worse, in spite of sticking to various story elements from Konami and Team Silent's first three entries in the Silent Hill game series, Bassett struggles to understand and re-purpose elements that made the original PS2 games the survival horror classics they remain. It all leads to its share of twists too, although the only real twist that would have surprised me is if Revelation turned out to be as serviceable a loose videogame adaptation as its predecessor.

Clemens actually pulls off something of a respectable performance made even more respectable as Bean trips over his accent, Harington rolls out an embarrassing Johnny Depp impression (circa 1988), McDowell pops up in his 186th ill-advised cameo, and Moss, slumming for a paycheck, exchanges waifish gravitas for dark camp villainy in her yearly check-in. Not that it matters. The monsters are the star of the Silent Hill show, and Revelation has... stuffed bunnies, mannequin spiders and leather-belt cultists. Thankfully, it also has shambling bodies. Hellraiser-esque castaways. Cleaver wielding corpse-nurses. Plus, fan-favorite beastie of the psyche Pyramid Head, an asset despite being utilized as a glorified get-out-of-jail-free card. Alas, the beasties' implementation isn't as welcome as their appearances. Bassett grasps for gasps and screams but comes up with unintentional laughs instead, neglecting storytelling and performance refinement in favor of coagulated visuals, and reveling in cartoonish CG-generated gore. (To say nothing of the film's gimmick-laced 3D kill shots, which are an even bigger distraction in 2D.) Is there refuge hidden somewhere in the latest Silent Hill? Not really. Fans of the videogame will lament the botched sequel and missed opportunities even more than genre junkies will lament the lack of an effective horror pic.

User Comment: c_chaos_1313 from United States, 1 November 2012 • I must say that this has to be the best video game to movie adaption I have ever seen. First off, I am a major fan of the games. I have played them all more than once. Silent Hill was the first video game I ever owned and the first "adult" game I ever finished. So I'm automatically going to somewhat like the movie, just throwing it out there. The first Silent Hill movie was pretty good, although it strayed far away from the video game story at times and felt a little like a TV movie. The new Silent Hill movie, however, is a fangirl's dream come true. It is so true to the third game that I constantly found myself impressed by the scenes. If you love Silent Hill you will love this movie, if your not a fan of the games then you will probably think its a jumpy movie you didn't understand much of. But with it being said that I am a fan of the game, it impressed me greatly.

Summary: BEST VIDEO GAME - MOVIE adaption ever seen.

User Comment: Savo from United States, 26 October 2012 • I went into Silent Hill Revelation with high expectations. I liked the original film for its having successfully captured the feel of the original games, even if it wasn't terribly accurate to the actual plot of the game. I wasn't too happy that they skipped adapting Silent Hill 2, but I'll take what I can get for SH adaptations. Although I felt I got my money's worth, I wasn't as mesmerized by the film as I thought I would.

Revelation's story is a mixed bag. The film is a bizarre hybrid of both the first movie's and the game's canon, but it does a good job of tying the various threads together into a coherent plot. If you liked the original film's straight-forward take on the cult of Silent Hill and Alessa, you'll like this one. It may be missing a lot of the subtlety, but the core story is still enjoyable. However, a large amount of the dialogue is really awkward and sometimes even wince-inducing. Tidying up the dialogue and making it feel more natural would have made a noticeable difference in the final film. Overall, the story and dialogue were better in the original movie.

If you're looking for a straight adaptation of Silent Hill 3, look elsewhere. Characters have their personality and role shifted, plot twists are removed and added, and there are a whole lot of "Wait, that never happened in the game!" moments. I would describe this film as being "inspired" by the original game, as it really only covers the most important details of the original plot. However, there are a lot of clever references to the original game and to entries throughout the series that will doubtlessly please the Silent Hill addict.

Silent Hill Revelations carries over a flaw from the original in that it is absolutely obsessed with the black magic and demonic side of Silent Hill and downplays the psychological and surreal elements of the original games. The dream-like feeling that the original games inspired in players is mostly gone, even more-so than the first. However, this does in some ways create a more exciting film and lends itself well to some visceral chase sequences and graphic fights with the monsters of everyone's favorite hell-hole.

However, many of these changes are understandable. The original game thrived on atmosphere and bombarded the player with cryptic notes and bizarre occurrences as they solved puzzles and fought monsters. Film is a very different medium from video-games, so logically a lot of things had to be changed to create a story that would fit the pacing of a film. As a result, I don't have too many hard feelings about the changes made to the story.

The acting side of things is fairly positive. Adelaide Clemens does a fantastic job as Heather. She looks exactly like Heather did in the game and delivers a performance that makes Heather into a much more likable character. Sean Bean gives a decent but underutilized performance as Harry. Kit Harington is by far the weakest link in the cast in his awkward portrayal of a high-school aged Vincent. The rest of the cast give decent, if not extraordinary performances.

Visually, the film is better than you'd expect. They slashed the budget to less than half of the original's, but the film still looks pretty good. Monster costuming is phenomenal just like the first. The cinematography is fairly good and does a good job of drawing you into the film, even if the first film was better in this regard. The more large-scale visual effects and a few of the monsters are obviously CGI, but it's not too distracting.

The 3D in the film is alright, but not necessary by any means. There's some decent depth, a few cool pop-out moments, and overall it improves the look of the film, but it's hardly revolutionary. Although it is a cash-in, I respect the fact that they went to the trouble to film it in 3D instead of using a post-production job. If you decide to see this film, I'd recommend shelling out the extra few bucks to see it in 3D, as I feel it earns the up-charge.

If you liked the first film, I'd definitely recommend this film. If you're in the market for an entertaining horror film this Halloween, there are worse ways to spend your money. Silent Hill fans will have fun, as long as they aren't too picky over the particulars of the original plot. If you were displeased by the original or perhaps haven't even seen it, I'd advise passing on this one, but for everyone else I'd give this film a thumbs up.

Summary: Satisfying for fans of the original, but missing that SH touch.

[CSW] -2.4- I rented the 2D version and this is what I thought of it. While the original had a few nice moments and layered on the spooky atmosphere, REVELATIONS plods along from one set piece to another. There seems to be little purpose to the story other than to link scenes of creepy creatures. Malcolm McDowell shows up in a bit role as an asylum inmate, chewing the scenery and adding nothing valuable to the whole process. Two moments early in the film--both featuring clowns--shows totally wasted potential. The whole thing is an exercise in tedium as there is no attempt made at atmosphere or suspense. There's a silly cultic medallion factored in, references to a mysterious "god" (more wasted potential), and a better HELLRAISER vibe than the last six HELLRAISER films. Even if you're a fan of the video game or the original SILENT HILL, you won't be missing anything by skipping this. I won't be getting the 3D version.
[V3.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box 10/10 - The motion add to and didn't subtract from the movie, they seem to have gotten the hang of just the right amount.

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