Silent HIll: Revelation

It's like T2. In this one Pyramid Head's
the good guy?

"Prepare for a THREE DEEE RIDE THROUGH HELL"

Happy Tuesday everyone! For those of you in the path of the hurricane, I hope you're not dead! I'm setting this to autopost in case my power's out, so who knows, maybe I'm sitting in the dark, and the situation has devolved into cannibalism! If so, then what more fitting movie to talk about than a Silent Hill film in THREE DEESSSSS. For the record I did not see this movie in 3D, because I hate 3D movies and really REALLY don't want to pay 13+ dollars for a movie ticket. That sucks. Silent Hill: Revelation is a direct sequel to the original Silent Hill movie (if you missed it I reviewed the original on Thursday) following Chris, now Harry (Sean Bean) and Sharon now Heather (Adelaide Clemens), who are on the run from a mysterious group, who want Heather for some sinister purpose. This movie is clearly intent on hedging very closely to the plot of Silent Hill 3, and that is to its credit. Like I said on Thursday, in my opinion Silent Hill 3 was the best one. So how did this movie stack up to the original?

I feel a lot better, now that this bunny is here with me.

I went in to this movie with pretty low expectations. I'd seen the trailers, and noted that 3D was actually included IN THE TITLE, and that is never a good sign. You know what else had the 3D in the title? Piranha 3D is the answer. That is just not the company you want to be in. Anyway, back to Silent Hill 2. The movie starts the same way as Silent Hill 3, which I thought was a nice touch. There are a lot of moments in this movie that evoke moments from the game, but I felt like there was at least some genuine attempt for them to fit into the movie, as opposed to say the cheap attempts to evoke nostalgia that the resident evil movies so often attempt. Heather awakens from a terrifying hell amusement park nightmare, and then heads off for her first day at a new school, where she meets Vincent (played by Kit Harrington, who you might know as Jon Snow in the Game of Thrones TV series). Now I knew from the game that going by his name, he was probably there to follow Heather, but if I hadn't his more or less immediate fixation on her would have seemed really strange (and his willingness to put himself in danger for her). Heather suffers from almost constant hallucinations of some nightmare place (Silent Hill naturally) and that made for a pretty cool effect. Eventually her father is kidnapped, forcing her to return to Silent Hill to try and save him.

Heather is at least smart enough not to go without a gun.

The plot of the movie was competent, following that of SH3 so that it never loses its way. Like the first movie however, this film suffers from some of the absolute worst script writing I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing. The dialogue is stilted, stagey, and sometimes just plain hokey. It gets a little better as the movie goes on, but it stays pretty awful throughout. You can sort of tell that the actors feel the same way, and they seem to have an understandably tough time delivering some of their lines with any kind of sincerity. I don't blame them.

Claudia doesn't seem like a very nice lady. Also is she related
to the guy from the second Hellboy movie?

So how does the movie redeem itself? Very similar to the way the first one did. While the movie is devoid of any kind of written skill, the atmosphere it evokes with its visuals, and scene pacing is Silent Hill right down to the gory, decaying details. The soundtrack is again drawn from Akira Yamaoka's work, though it felt like they recycled tracks more in this movie than in the first. The way that the film's atmosphere captures the essence of Silent Hill almost redeems this movie, but in the end, the script sucks too bad, and there are just too many aspects of the plot that are really hammed up. I would say that fans of the series would enjoy parts of this movie, but Silent Hill fans are some of the pickiest, and touchiest people I have ever encountered, and I'm sure they would all be disgusted with this movie for its shortcomings. I think that it's an okay film to take in as a matinee, but ultimately you can live without seeing it. That being said, this movie still manages to be one of the best game adaptations to date (which I know isn't saying much but still). If you've got a few open hours, come for the spooky visuals and clever set pieces, but go home before the characters start talking.

That's all for now! Assuming I have power again by Thursday, I will give it a rest with the horror for now, and review a movie not about dismembered bodies!

Pyramid Head's Fiery Hell Carousel is the worst ride EVER.