By: Piper Rodolf
“Silent Hill: Revelation”, a film mainly composed of scenes containing mangled human forms and protruding blades,leads to a disappointing and lackluster portrayal of a classic video game series.
Although “Silent Hill: Revelation” contains many petrifying images and otherworldly monstrosities it fails miserably in both an overly complicated plot, clunky dialogue, and unconvincing characters. This leads the viewer to wait in anticipation for the onslaught of jump scares and pointless occurrences to end.
In prior installments to the series Harry Mason (Sean Bean), an average man searching for his missing wife visits a town called Silent Hill in which a cult, the order of Valtiel, runs rampant attempting to end the curse cast upon them by a demon child named Alessa.Yet after having found his wife and battling the cult and the monsters set upon them by the curse he finds a child whom he raises on his own.
This child is Heather Mason (Adelaide Clemens), a girl who has traveled all over the U.S. with her estranged father searching for a place where they can settle down and escape their ill-fated past. Unknown to her though she was created by the demon, Alessa, who put a part of her soul into her. As Harry also disappears Heather must make the journey back to Silent Hill, her birthplace, and battle for her own life as well as her fathers against malformed creatures and an ancient cult.
Clemens’ fails to react realistically to any situation she encounters including both the battles she must fight in order to save her own life against monsters and even typical human interactions. This is especially evident as her only friend, a dark and mysterious outsider named Vincent (Kit Harrington), tries to woo her as she goes through these dangerous obstacles.
Harrington can’t manage to keep the viewers’ attention as he incoherently conveys his thoughts and concerns regarding current situations in which he shouldn’t be involved in. He is unable to think for himself and has shaky dialogue which only creates a more confusing plot in which he plays no significant role in.
While lacking in a strong storyline and characters “Silent Hill: Revelation” has tantalizing visual spectacles. Throughout many scenes, entire buildings deteriorate into fleshy, post-apocalyptic masses brewing with monsters and the demonic powers they wield.
Even the horrific monsters who dwell in the cult town of Silent Hill are unable to maintain their position in the plot as their appearances become too frequent and predictable. The majority of which are identical to the creatures found in the previous film in the series.
The only potential for enjoyment in the plot is dependent on whether or not one has experienced the popular videogame series created by the Japanese entertainment company, Konami. Although the movies series is only loosely based on the games it creates a level of relatability and fascination that makes it possible for fans of the games to enjoy.
Only those who enjoy repetitive jump scares and the Silent Hill games or gore and cliche haunted house horror can sit through this film and experience any level of satisfaction. Unless the gore and cliche haunted house horror. “Silent Hill: Revelation” is available for viewing in the majority of theaters globally and is rated R.
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