Silent Hill: Revelations

While I’m certain it’s not the rousing endorsement the filmmakers were looking for, the best review I can express about “Silent Hill: Revelations” is the following: “Not as bad as I thought it was going to be.”-R. Walls

That’s not to say there aren’t some issues with the plot, but judging from the first movie, and the critical reactions to this film; I expected a disaster.  Fans of the game series will be particularly content with this installment.  Visually, the film keeps in tradition with the games, as well as remaining in-line with the first.  My most significant concerns going into revelations were its connections to the first film.  With the way the first film left off, to see the father character (Sean Bean) from the original, now with his daughter Sharon (Adelaide Clemens) didn’t make much sense; as the first movie left us with Sharon trapped in the foggy world of Silent Hill, with her mother, Rose (Radha Mitchell).

While revelations does ask for some epic leaps of faith in tying those loose ends up, in my opinion this would have been better suited for a sequel of its own.  The entire experience felt like watching the third of a trilogy, rather than a direct sequel.   Because the movie has so many references to the first, it really can’t stand independently- this made the setup feel clustered. Also, early in the film, the filmmakers rely on quick-flash and jump scare tactics to rile the audience.  This is unnecessary, particularly in a storyline that has so much alternate creepy imagery and environments, bang-cuts become unwarranted and stale (at one point, they even use a pop-tart coming out of a toaster to try to illicit a startle).

“Hello.  I am Heather.  I just moved here.”

Lastly, and more so early in the film, many of the acting performances leave much to be desired, most notably when Sean Bean is speaking into the mirror, recounting all of the aforementioned missed time.  Much of the dialogue during the setup seems stiff, and unnatural; which is disappointing, given the past performances of the cast. The above transgressions aside, Silent Hill: Revelations does an adequate job at joining the two films.  It also remains true to the source material, lending particularly from the video game Silent Hill 3.  More than can be said for certain other video-game-turned-film entries from the survival horror genre (can you hear me Resident Evil: Apocalypse through Retribution?)

“Go to Hell!”

“Can’t you see?  We’re already here, and you’re not wanted”

What Revelations does particularly well into the second and third acts, is use everything in its arsenal to try to envelope its audience in the available “creepy” of the environment.  Clowns, dolls, dilapidated carnivals, small spaces, spiders, heights, and psychopaths are all sprinkled about to cover all the bases in the phobia department. While panned by critics, Silent Hill: Revelations pulled in over $30 million in profits at the box office alone; home media sales will certainly drive this figure much higher.  Critical acclaim is not intended for all things film; so long as the fans enjoy it, it doesn’t blaspheme the source material and rarely takes itself too seriously, we can hope for more from the Silent Hill franchise going forward.   For those that did not enjoy the first film, or have no history with the game series; then this film is probably not for you.