• Visual Effects
• Plot
• Cinematography
• Direction
• Scares

Silent Hill: Revelation

Director: Michael J. Bassett

Writer: Michael J. Bassett

Cast: Adelaide Clemens, Kit Harington, Sean Bean, Carrie-Ann Moss, Malcolm McDowell, Martin Donovan

Cinematography: Maxime Alexandre

Creature Designer: Patrick Tatopoulos

I have to be honest, there were only two reasons that I wanted to see this movie. And their names are Sean Bean and Kit Harington. If you watch HBO’s Game of Thrones you know what I’m talking about. When I saw the first trailer for Silent Hill: Revelation, just seeing Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Ned Stark (Sean Bean) on the screen was enough to make me excited about this movie. Unfortunately, I’d never heard anything about the film before that moment watching the preview. Subsequent research told me that Silent Hill: Revelation was actually a sequel to the 2006 movie Silent Hill, which in turn is based off a video game of the same name. I was unable to rent the original movie (it’s not available on Netflix) and I haven’t played the game, so I was going to see this sequel without the benefit of the back story. But with a horror movie, that really shouldn’t hinder your experience. It doesn’t have to be complicated – a few creepy creatures, some blood/gore, a scary story and you’re in business. The fact that the original tale is based off of a video game doesn’t bode well for this being a great horror film. But when you have names like Sean Bean (who’s also from The Lord of the Rings), Carrie-Ann Moss (from The Matrix trilogy), and Malcolm McDowell (from Halloween and A Clockwork Orange) in the cast list everything else should just fall into place, right?

Summary

On the eve of her 18th birthday, Heather Mason is starting at a new school. Meeting new people has become second nature to her and her father, who move around a lot to escape a mysterious past. Heather has always been haunted by strange nightmares about a place called Silent Hill, but now dark creatures start breaking through to her real life. When her father suddenly goes missing she must look deep into her past in order to save his life and figure out who she really is. Now Heather must make a journey to where her childhood dreams have always been leading her. But returning to Silent Hill is going to be incredibly dangerous, because a lot of it’s current residents don’t want to ever see her leave.

The Good:

The Creatures

While I knew most of the actors in the film, I also recognized the name of the creature designer – Patrick Tatopoulos. He’s a judge on the SyFy show Face Off which has contestants create incredible prosthetic make-up for different challenges. It’s one of the only reality competition shows that I watch and it’s for a good reason – the make-up that they do is freaking awesome to see. Patrick Tatopoulos is a judge because he’s a brilliant creature designer who’s worked on movies like Underworld, Independence Day, and I Am Legend. His work is on full display here, with some truly terrifying creatures that look absolutely amazing. Every single one of them looks creepy and is guaranteed to give you some nightmares. Watching them move and bite at the screen in 3D was also pretty cool. My only wish was that we got to see more of them, because they were some of the best parts of the movie.

The Atmosphere

The town of Silent Hill is a creepy little place where everybody is stuck in this hell dimension with a bunch of crazed demon creature thingys who like torturing everybody. There is a constant snow of ash and debris raining down on everything, and the lights are all constantly flickering on the point of leaving us in darkness. The whole area is amazingly creepy and immersive – and the 3D makes it even more awesome. They did an amazing job with giving us a very haunted feeling whenever “the darkness” comes on the screen. You expect something to jump out at you every time a character’s back is turned, and that is the environment you want for a good horror movie.

The Bad:

The Story

I suppose seeing the first movie or playing the game would have helped with this, but I was completely confused the entire time about what exactly was happening. There are just too many different plot points and complex story lines to fit into what should be a simple horror movie. There’s this demon child Alessa who destroyed the town of Silent Hill and released all those torture-loving monsters. Heather is somehow apart of Alessa’s soul, and is the only one who can destroy her. There’s this brotherhood of people running around the town trying to get Heather so that she can birth their other demon god to cleanse the Earth of sin. And then there’s this little golden seal thing that really has no explanation behind it at all, but it can turn people into creepy looking creatures and also help you to escape Silent Hill. If you didn’t understand any of that, you’re not alone. I watched the whole movie and I still really don’t get it. It’s unfortunate that something that looks so cool is so terrible when it comes to plot.

The Acting

When you have great actors in a movie, you expect them to be awesome. Unfortunately, this movie seemed to suck all of the acting talent out of everyone involved. Perhaps it was the completely terrible dialogue coupled with an incoherent plot. But I just kept asking myself why these people were even in this movie? Trinity from The Matrix (Carrie-Ann Moss) played an albino woman whose only purpose seemed to be to explain random aspects of the story. Boramir (Sean Bean) spends most of the film tied up on a statue. Jon Snow (Kit Harington) is actually okay in the movie, but his blind faith in a woman he met a few hours ago doesn’t actually make sense. The worst offender of them all is the main character of Heather/Sharon/Alessa played by Adelaide Clemens. One of her first big monologues is a speech she gives in class about not wanting to know any of the people she goes to school with. It’s confusing and doesn’t really go along with the little that we actually learn about Heather during the course of the movie. Plus, her constant whining about saving her father gets to the point where it’s annoying. It sucks that there isn’t even a glimmer of good acting in the darkness of Silent Hill.

Overall: 1.5 out of 5 Stars

While Silent Hill: Revelation is visually stunning, the words don’t match up to the pictures. As cool as all those creatures and sets are, they just can’t make up for the terrible plot, dialogue, and mediocre acting. It’s unfortunate that I expected so much more from this movie because of the great cast. It certainly did not live up to the big name stars or cool atmosphere. While there are a few jumpy scares, there’s nothing that truly freaked me out about this film. Perhaps I might have benefited from watching the original movie, but after seeing this one I have no desire to spend money on something that is sure to be terrible.

‘Silent Hill: Revelation’ Trailer

Just for Fun…