Silent Hill: Revelation

Yea, so this movie wasn't exactly stellar, but I can't understand why there are so many 1 star votes for this film. I just got around to seeing this movie last night and it certainly wasn't the worst film I've ever seen, but reading some of the reviews around here (and on the critic sites) one would think this film is just a steaming pile of poop.

Well, it wasn't. The acting was decent, and I thought the lead was reasonably good. There were more "jump scares" than I would've expected, since the real horror of the games stems from atmosphere and a feeling of isolation. The monsters and CGI were passable - not great by certainly not bad by any means. The 3D was actually VERY good (maybe the best I've seen), though there were a couple of times that the use of the 3D was pretty cliché (think knives COMING RIGHT FOR YOU!!!). The only real gripe I had was with the scripting/story. I was impressed that the plot stayed as true to the games as it did, while still meshing well with the story from the first movie. I'm sure this was no easy task, but the amount of story they crammed into this film was too much considering the runtime of the movie. The exposition dialogue was REALLY cheesy at times, but I can understand the need for such when considering probably half of the target audience will have never played the games. I just would've hired a better writer.

TL;DR: Not as bad as the critics say, but certainly not the film I was hoping this to be. Worth the price of admission for 3D, as it's really well done.

1) A much smaller budget than the original (20 mil vs 50 mil).

2) Jump scares. The original had none because of the great story/plot which gave the entire film a terrifying & unnerving feel. This sequel is so cheesy and pretentious that in order to call itself a horror film there needs to be long quiet pauses followed by doors slamming or monsters making loud noises causing the audience jump.

3) "3D"... throw in some scenes where swords thrust out toward the audience even though this kind of gimmicky nonsense breaks any feel of authenticity the movie might have had, even when watching it without the 3D glasses.

4) Flavor of the week actor(s)... Kit Harrington from the popular HBO series "Game of Thrones" is supposedly a high school student along with the main character, but unfortunately he looks (and is) 26 years old... he just feels out of place throughout the film.

I really enjoyed the original (as well as the games) and wanted this one to be good as well. Unfortunately Silent Hill: Revelation sets out to do two things: A) Continue the story SOMEWHAT from the first film to satisfy Silent Hill fans while having characters reveal story lines piece by piece in "plot dumps" that seem forced and out of place. B) Try to make as much money as the original, but with a terrible script, less money, and MUCH less passion.

"Everyone has a different nightmare in Silent Hill, I am theirs." Heather Mason (Clemens) has been plagued by nightmares ever since she was little. Her and her father (Bean) constantly are on the move trying to find a way to help her. One day when Heather is at school her father is taken and the only thing left are the words Silent Hill. Heather must now venture into her nightmare in order to get him out. It might just be that I'm older but movies like this don't tend to scare me at all. When the goal is to just out gore the previous scene it really has an impact on the movie. I knew going in that this wasn't gonna be an amazing movie anyway and the actual story wasn't really that bad but when mixed with the armless zombie things and gallons of blood it really is more of a distraction then anything. Again though it may be because I'm too old. Younger fans of this stuff may enjoy it, I did not. Overall, OK story line but tried to be Saw. I give it a C+.

I think the biggest issue with this sequel was making it a sequel to the 2006 film to begin with. Because how the director for that film changed so many things from the video game this sequel had to suffer for it. Although Sean Bean as Harry Mason /Christopher Da Silva gets a lot more to do compared to the last film, his daughter Heather/Sharon feels very underutilized compared to her role in Silent Hill 3. The character Vincent is the biggest downgrade as he's unrecognizable and has now been reduced to a generic semi love interest. It's also depressing to know the slow scare buildups from the last film have now been replaced with underwhelming predictable jumpscares.

Although far from a good movie there's definitely highlights. Going in I was thinking this movie was just going to be 3D CG garbage but to my surprise they use many sets and props that look really good so it definitely scores high for production value. There's a few epic sequences like a mannequin monster, another creepy scene with the nurses, and a pyramid head battle that's quite a spectacle. Also Malcolm McDowell has a role im pretty sure was really fun to play.

While it sadly lacks the slow tense psychological thriller tone of the previous movie, it seems like the makers of this were just trying to make a fun dumb video game adaptation for the fans. Definitely one to get some friends together and drink and laugh to.

Usually as sequels tend to go, the first is always better, and in this case it's really really really true. Plot what plot?? The movie really tried to tie in the previous storyline but fell completely flat, trying to cash in more on the franchise. The only thing making it somewhat watchable is the awesome visuals and Sean Bean with Kit Harington, before they even worked together on Game of Thrones.