Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, based on the acclaimed survival horror videogame franchise by KONAMI, is a sequel to Hadida and Carmody’s earlier collaboration, Christophe Gans’ Silent Hill.
For years, 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 terrifying 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 in Silent Hill forever. (synopsis from IGN.com)
Categorically, I love horror video games, and I am very open minded when it comes to making a motion picture based on a video game. I even get that “I’m so excited” feeling and do a little dance. Unfortunately, the majority of the time, I end up pretty disappointed. I did enjoy the first Silent Hill, but I really didn’t enjoy this sequel at all. I’m not saying it’s a bad film, it’s just a mediocre one.
What went wrong?
Let’s start out with characterization and character development. There was a tendency in this movie to just throw in characters as killer or monster fodder or to present us with characters that have no background or developed story. The best example of monster bait are the two girls who were introduced with the mannequin spider creature. They’re only role was to die horribly. Nothing else. No background, no story. The same goes with the two Pure Ones who escort Vincent (played by Kit Harrison) into the asylum. They’re only role was to die at the hands of the nurses. One of the largest characters who could have used some additional development is the leader of cultists in Silent Hill: Claudia Wolf played by Carrie-Anne Moss.
This brings me to another issue I had with the movie. Carrie-Anne Moss’ character. It was a completely flat, uninteresting, and did nothing to
create a feel of insanity, terror, etc. That’s what that role needed. Something that would indicate why she would act as inconsistent as she was. I really felt let down by Moss’ performance.
One of the other issues that I had was with the general production itself. Anytime there was a build up to a scare or a conflict, the sensation was dropped as soon as possible. The scenes with Malcolm McDowell had great potential, excellent tension, but it was resolved too quickly, with a limit of detail.
On the plus side, the creatures of night were amazing as they were in the previous film and in the video games. The nurses were disturbingly sexy, while the other creatures invoked the whole “creepy” vibe. From the creatures that look like they are in a membrane, to the nurses, to the mannequin spider, all the creatures were a huge success.
Then we have the return of Pyramid Head himself. I’ll never forget the scene in the first movie where Pyramid tears the skin off of a girl who gets in his way. In this film, his role is a little different. He is still vicious and violent, but he also plays a defensive role to Sharon. The scene where he is lopping off the arms of prisoners is pretty epic, as well as the final battle scene. It was different seeing Pyramid in somewhat of a positive role.
One thing that I do wish there would have been a greater presence of would be actual jump scares. There really weren’t any at all. There needed to be a greater focus on developing tension and scares and less of a dependence on forcing too much of a story into a short period of time.
Don’t get me wrong. This wasn’t a horrible movie. There was a good story and it was interesting to see how they were going to continue on from the original. Overall, I would rate this movie a 5 out of 10.
Anyone else check it out? Let me know what you thought and leave a message on the post!
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jacobia
