As horror movies based on video games go, the original Silent Hill was a pretty good film. It had all the right parts in the right places: creepy locations, a dark back story and inventive, other-worldly creatures to torment the main characters.
Silent Hill: Revelation 3D promises to be a return to the damned town of Silent Hill with our heroine having turned 18, to finally put this evil baby to bed, as it were.
Will she appease the evil? Can she send the demons back to hell? Is it scary?
We say, “It’s better than Paranormal Activity 4 and Resident Evil: Retribution, added together.”
TAYLOR: You can take the girl out of Silent Hill but you can’t take Silent Hill out of the girl.
HOWE: After enjoying the first Silent Hill (I know, a lot of people didn’t) I was really looking forward to Revelation. Now having witnessed it, I wish they had left it where it belongs; as a game on the consoles. Don’t get me wrong the film is beautiful; just what you would expect a game would look like on the big screen. It’s just the game-to-screen crossover doesn’t work this time.
TAYLOR: I agree, the production design, the sets and special effects were excellent and Revelation contained some effective 3D, which I enjoyed. However, the script was lacking both in plot and especially dialogue. Part of the problem might also have been the acting, Sean Bean, who’s usually okay, wasn’t. Malcolm McDowell, who is usually awesome, was merely okay. I’d never heard of the two kids portraying the main characters, Adelaide Clemens and Kit Harington.
HOWE: I didn’t even realize Carrie-Anne Moss was in it until the credits came up. Her makeup was that good. The story was still very similar to the original. They still had the crazy cult that think theirs is the truth and everyone else shall perish, the beautiful yet deadly nurses as well as Alessa the young witch.
TAYLOR: The film is polished, even more so than the original. It’s very pretty. I have no problem with the video game plot device of setting up goals and achieving them. I blame the writing as, although the actors in the film are adequate, better dialogue would have made me care more. But for what it is, a horror movie of a spooky video game, it deserves to be given some slack.
HOWE: I cut it some slack the moment I sat down, hoping it didn’t have some terrible acting in it like the last time out. The female police officer in Silent Hill was atrocious, and just when I thought we had made it safely through this one, they threw in a truck driver right at the end who made the copper look like a seasoned actor. I’ve seen better acting at elementary school plays.
–– Taylor gives Silent Hill: Revelation 2.5 stitched up faces out 5.
–– Howe gives it 2 spider mannequins out of 5.
Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is currently showing at Galaxy Cinemas in Vernon.
–– Brian Taylor and Peter Howe are movie reviewers who live in Vernon, B.C.
