(France/USA/Canada, 2012, dir. Michael J. Bassett)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0938330/
Plot Summary: A young woman and her father are on the run from a fiendish cult who live in a town called Silent Hill. After her father is kidnapped by the cult, the girl returns to Silent Hill to rescue him and face her destiny.
A sequel to 2006’s ‘Silent Hill’, this schlocky horror thriller connects the dots but doesn’t add much flesh to the franchise. Despite lengthy periods of exposition, it includes so much lore from the prequel and the videogame mythos (nine episodes and counting) that newcomers, and even those who have watched the previous film, may be confused by the plot.
The back story is delivered to the viewer in some of the most clunky, contrived conversations ever put on the screen. The first third of the film is truly excruciating – a particular low point being a scene in which detectives discover a body in a shopping centre. You can sense the scriptwriter straining to have them relay the appropriate facts in as few lines as possible. It’s only once Heather, the vivacious young heroine played with aplomb by Adelaide Clemens (recently seen in the BBC’s ‘Parade’s End’), has arrived in the mysterious fog-bound town of Silent Hill that the film starts to get going.
In Silent Hill, the computer-generated nasties come out of the woodwork, and it’s quite fun as long as one suspends all critical faculties. Naturally, the first place Heather walks into in Silent Hill is…an abandoned mannequin factory. To no great surprise, she’s attacked by reanimated mannequins and a spider monster. Unfortunately the only escape route leads to…the lunatic asylum. And then, the only way she can get to where the cult is holding her father is…through the derelict funfair. Of all the bad luck!
The 3D effects are used sparingly and appropriately. (Who doesn’t love the old ‘knife stabbing into the camera’ trick?) And Heather is a sympathetic heroine. But it should be said that, apart from a scene in which she is pursued by blind demon nurses (a fan favourite from the games), the film is not in the least bit scary. The production design is a mishmash of HR Giger meets Hellraiser meets Doom, as imagined by a teenager. The monsters are slightly repetitive, each being humans with some variation of body or facial disfigurement. They’re creepy at first, but eventually you start to think ‘Oh, he’s missing a nose. That must be painful – no wonder he’s grumpy.’
Also some of the horror seems to be imaginary, occurring only in Heather’s head, dispelling any suspense. Plus, as becomes clear later, it’s not obvious why the monsters are pursuing Heather – they should be on her side (one of the many, many plot holes).
Generally, the acting is abysmal. Kit Harington plays Heather’s boilerplate love interest with a complete lack of charisma. Some of his lines are so bad, the only explanation is that he was mistakenly sent an earlier draft of the script and no one noticed. His Game of Thrones cast-mate, Sean Bean, returns from the first film. For some reason (laziness?) he’s written to be somewhat of a simpleton, like a parent in a children’s program. Grimacing through his scenes, he delivers his lines as haltingly as a lobotomy patient.
And then, halfway through the film, Malcolm McDowell pops up as an actual lobotomy patient: a demented vagrant trapped in a lunatic asylum. He clearly enjoys hamming up his one scene. A sample line: ‘I was Master of the Order, how could I not know the Seal of Megaron?’ (there are lots of references to this infamous Seal). One hopes these fine British actors aren’t taking the same downward, schlock-bound career trajectory as (Sir) Ben Kingsley.
In the end, Silent Hill Revelations is not clever or original. But it’s entertaining. And one can’t be too harsh on a film which includes the line ‘Well, everyone knows you should never build on top of a Native American burial ground!’ Indeed.
camschel 