Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)

The Gist: Six years after escaping Silent Hill and with no memory of the events that took place there, Sharon (now called Heather) is turning 18 and shadows and memories of the demonic town are messing with her sanity.  Her Father Harry is trying to keep her safe but when he is abducted by minions of the town, Heather/Sharon must face her nightmares and memories and return to Silent Hill to save him.

Video Games Players: Adelaide Clemens (Heather/Alessa), Kit Harington (Vincent), Carrie-Anne Moss (Claudia Wolf), Sean Bean (Harry), Radha Mitchell (Rose Da Silva), Malcolm McDowell (Leonard), Roberto Campanella (Red Pyramid)

My Take: I really enjoy the Silent Hill games (except for Shattered Memories) and I liked the first movie.  This one left me feeling like I had just watched an hour and half of cut scenes from the games.  Pretty much everything except for the scene in the high school (named All Hallows) felt like a video game.  Even the lead character Heather looked computer generated in some scenes.  While the effects were generally pretty good the setting just felt too fake and green screeny.  The acting was kind of meh and I was particularly disappointed with Kit Harington’s performance as Vincent, the attractive young man sent from Silent Hill to lure Sharon back.  He is a much better Jon Snow.   I’m not sure I really followed the story once Heather/Sharon reaches Silent Hill.  I didn’t know if they wanted her back to kill her or so she could stop Alessa.  It felt very muddled.  The appearance of the wonderful Malcolm McDowell was weak and again kind of confusing.  On and on it went with the darkness stripping the world away (good effects but very video gamey) and monsters popping up everywhere but there was no scare factor, even with the creepy creatures.

Final Thoughts: I am quite disappointed with this movie but not surprised that it wasn’t very good.  I read the reviews and knew what I was getting into but still I was hoping for something redeemable.  What I found was poor acting, lame sets and a muddled storyline.  The only 2 things that I did find to be good were the creatures –the mannequin spider thing, Red Pyramid and the naughty nurses were all fantastic – and the end credits with the killer song and imagery.  One final thing that I thought was a nice touch was the last scene; when Sharon is leaving Silent Hill there is a prison transport bus heading into the town which is reminiscent of the opening sequence of the newest game, Silent Hill Downpour.