Silent Hill: Revelation
Year: 2012
Director: M.J. Bassett
Starring: Sean Bean, Adele Clemens & Kit Harrington
Runtime: 95 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 20/10/23
Director: M.J. Bassett
Starring: Sean Bean, Adele Clemens & Kit Harrington
Runtime: 95 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 20/10/23
For its many faults Christophe Gans’ 2006 Hollywood adaptation of Silent Hill is something that fans of the game are generally very happy with. It remains one of the best videogame to film adaptations of all time thanks to its faithfulness to the source material, and it also works as a horror film in its own right for those unfamiliar with the games. It didn’t exactly set the box office on fire though, only just about scraping one hundred million dollars on a fifty-million-dollar budget. But the game’s publisher Konami saw potential for growth and so a sequel was greenlit, with Gans unable to return due to other commitments. With Konami being their usual selves and not really caring who handles the project so long as it happens at a low cost and almost guarantee’s a profit, they brought in M. J. Bassett to direct and gave her a budget of just twenty million, whilst also wanting it to be a special effects heavy thrill ride that leaned into the big 3D trend of the time. Suffice to say that Silent Hill: Revelation did not meet anybody’s expectations when it released in 2012.
Unable to remember her traumatic childhood, Heather Mason (Adelaide Clemens) and her father Harry (Sean Bean) are constantly on the move following Harry’s murder of a man trying to abduct Heather.
Heather is having increasingly frequent visions of a hellish world with horrific creatures, and when her father is abducted, she learns of her connections to a town called Silent Hill and to the cult that live there. In order to escape the town’s demonic influence, Heather must fight back against these pursuers and face the town, its dark past, and her inner demons.
Unable to remember her traumatic childhood, Heather Mason (Adelaide Clemens) and her father Harry (Sean Bean) are constantly on the move following Harry’s murder of a man trying to abduct Heather.
Heather is having increasingly frequent visions of a hellish world with horrific creatures, and when her father is abducted, she learns of her connections to a town called Silent Hill and to the cult that live there. In order to escape the town’s demonic influence, Heather must fight back against these pursuers and face the town, its dark past, and her inner demons.
Where the first Silent Hill film is a flawed yet reasonably competent horror film, Revelation is just straight up rubbish. There is not a single aspect of this film that works particularly well, and even the bits that seem to do alright when looked at in isolation, when held up against the first film or the games it just looks like a cheap imitation by someone who either didn’t know what to do, or just didn’t care.
M. J. Bassett is not exactly a filmmaker I’d rate particularly highly, but I don’t doubt that most of the problems I and so many others have with Silent Hill: Revelation were actually the result of Konami. Around the early 2010’s Konami had a particularly nasty reputation for just being a bit of a crappy company who seemed to be doing everything in their power to destroy everything they touched, and in 2012 alone they managed to botch the release of two Silent Hill games (the HD remaster of Silent Hill 2&3, and the PS Vita exclusive Book of Memories) by being generally incompetent and refusing to give the development studios the time and money they needed to get the projects done.
What makes Silent Hill: Revelation so bad then? Let’s start with the story. Revelation is a loose adaptation of the third Silent Hill game, which is a direct sequel to the first game, so it makes sense to have this as a direct sequel to the first film which was an adaptation of the first game. However, the way in which the story is set up is done so hastily with so little explanation as to why Heather (formerly Sharon) doesn’t remember her childhood, how she managed to escape the spirit world, and even why they’re on the run. I mean, it is there, but it’s so blink and you’ll miss it and poorly explained that you wonder why they bothered to include it at all.
The film has a really weird pace to it too where everything is always moving so fast, and yet nothing really happens at all. Before you’ve even really got to grips with what’s happening and why you’re suddenly at the end of the film. The one saving grace I can give to the film is that it doesn’t feel ninety minutes long, but I also couldn’t really tell you what happened even though this is now the third time I’ve watched the film.
The ending does provide a nice little nod to other two other Silent Hill properties, Origins and Downpour, which was clearly Konami hedging their bets on being able to finance two more Silent Hill films based on those games. Obviously, they never came to pass, but it’s one of the few things about the film that works well, and it’s probably because it’s the only time the games are actively referenced. For a film that is based on Silent Hill 3 and includes a number of locations and set pieces from that title, it feels nothing like it.
M. J. Bassett is not exactly a filmmaker I’d rate particularly highly, but I don’t doubt that most of the problems I and so many others have with Silent Hill: Revelation were actually the result of Konami. Around the early 2010’s Konami had a particularly nasty reputation for just being a bit of a crappy company who seemed to be doing everything in their power to destroy everything they touched, and in 2012 alone they managed to botch the release of two Silent Hill games (the HD remaster of Silent Hill 2&3, and the PS Vita exclusive Book of Memories) by being generally incompetent and refusing to give the development studios the time and money they needed to get the projects done.
What makes Silent Hill: Revelation so bad then? Let’s start with the story. Revelation is a loose adaptation of the third Silent Hill game, which is a direct sequel to the first game, so it makes sense to have this as a direct sequel to the first film which was an adaptation of the first game. However, the way in which the story is set up is done so hastily with so little explanation as to why Heather (formerly Sharon) doesn’t remember her childhood, how she managed to escape the spirit world, and even why they’re on the run. I mean, it is there, but it’s so blink and you’ll miss it and poorly explained that you wonder why they bothered to include it at all.
The film has a really weird pace to it too where everything is always moving so fast, and yet nothing really happens at all. Before you’ve even really got to grips with what’s happening and why you’re suddenly at the end of the film. The one saving grace I can give to the film is that it doesn’t feel ninety minutes long, but I also couldn’t really tell you what happened even though this is now the third time I’ve watched the film.
The ending does provide a nice little nod to other two other Silent Hill properties, Origins and Downpour, which was clearly Konami hedging their bets on being able to finance two more Silent Hill films based on those games. Obviously, they never came to pass, but it’s one of the few things about the film that works well, and it’s probably because it’s the only time the games are actively referenced. For a film that is based on Silent Hill 3 and includes a number of locations and set pieces from that title, it feels nothing like it.
The characters are all pretty awful, and the performances even more so. I pointed out in my review of the first film that Sean Bean’s performance and character was one of the worst things about the film, and somehow in this he’s even worse. He doesn’t have anything to do here other than be the damsel in distress, and he can’t get a single line out without sounding like a Yorkshireman. Now of course, he is a Yorkshireman, but the fact of the matter is he can do accents, we know he can, so why isn’t he bothered here?!
I do think the worst offender this time around goes to Kit Harrington though, who plays Vincent. The character doesn’t actually need to exist in the first place because his only reason for being in the story is to convince Heather to return to Silent Hill which she does of her own accord anyway, without any persuasion from him, and then he turns against the cult because of the power of boners despite only knowing Heather for little more than a few hours. Then to add insult to injury much like Bean he just doesn’t really bother to do a convincing American accent. To be fair, I’ve never heard him do one in anything else so he might just not be able to do one, but his attempt seems painfully half-arsed.
Clemens can’t deliver a convincing enough performance to be leading lady. Radha Mitchell was one of the best parts of the previous film, and her passion was what really gave the film such emotional weight. But Clemens has about as much charisma as dry Weetabix. She can’t pull of the dual role necessary for Heather either when playing Dark Alessa, where even Jodelle Ferland could do a half-way convincing job as a pre-teen.
Carrie-Anne Moss also shows up for about five minutes as the main antagonist of the film and whilst this is certainly one of her worst roles, she’s just introduced far too late and so we have no reason to hate her other than she’s the cult leader. Compare that to Alice Krige’s Christabella from the first film, who was by far the best actress in the whole thing, and who was given loads of character development and screen time, and it’s even more disappointing.
One side note I’d just like to mention, the extras are also terrible. So many of the people that die in this film can be seen breathing whilst laying on the ground. The most obvious one is when Harry stabs and kills a man, who then lays perfectly still with blood pouring out of him, but he’s very clearly still breathing. It’s just laughable.
None of this is aided by some of the most stilted and uninspired dialogue I’ve ever heard in a feature film. There is no nuance or mystery, everyone just says exactly what is on their mind or states the obvious all the time. It feels like it was written by a studio executive, rather than an actual writer.
Silent Hill: Revelation was designed to appeal to a wider audience by including more action sequences, and of course jumping on the 3D trend. But the problem is that neither of these two elements are any good. The action is specifically designed around the 3D effects, so you’ll regularly have things coming directly at the camera, but the 3D effects are barely there. Obviously, nobody watches 3D content anymore, but I have the ability to, and Revelation in 3D is one of the worst offenders of misusing 3D because not only does it do everything around the whole jumping out of the camera thing, but nothing actually ever looks like it’s coming out of the screen because the 3D is so poorly implemented.
This increased reliance on 3D effects means that there’s an increase in the amount of CGI needed, and whilst the first films effects certainly weren’t good, Revelation’s are significantly worse. Everything looks shiny like it’s made of plastic. Environments are painfully obviously green-screened and monsters look worse than they do in the games.
None of this is helped by the bad cinematography and editing which just makes everything look even worse. Shots are poorly framed, the editing is often confusing and erratic, and it makes for an overall unpleasant viewing experience.
But I think the cherry on top of all of this is the really terrible set design. There are so many instances of the same set and props being used over and over again, but just in a different layout to make it look like a different room. In conjunction with the bad camerawork and editing this makes the film almost impossible to follow because everywhere looks identical.
There’s nothing about Silent Hill: Revelation that works. Every single component that went into making this film is at odds with each other, nothing meshes well, and nothing feels like a good decision. Whether it’s the poorly written story that doesn’t appeal to fans or newcomers because it can’t decide whether it’s a sequel, an adaptation, or just something new; or whether it’s the piss poor acting and dialogue; or the fact that it’s just generally poorly shot and edited, and the special effects look crap. Revelation is a dumpster fire through and through, and I wouldn’t recommend anybody watch this, no matter how die hard of a Silent Hill fan you are.
I do think the worst offender this time around goes to Kit Harrington though, who plays Vincent. The character doesn’t actually need to exist in the first place because his only reason for being in the story is to convince Heather to return to Silent Hill which she does of her own accord anyway, without any persuasion from him, and then he turns against the cult because of the power of boners despite only knowing Heather for little more than a few hours. Then to add insult to injury much like Bean he just doesn’t really bother to do a convincing American accent. To be fair, I’ve never heard him do one in anything else so he might just not be able to do one, but his attempt seems painfully half-arsed.
Clemens can’t deliver a convincing enough performance to be leading lady. Radha Mitchell was one of the best parts of the previous film, and her passion was what really gave the film such emotional weight. But Clemens has about as much charisma as dry Weetabix. She can’t pull of the dual role necessary for Heather either when playing Dark Alessa, where even Jodelle Ferland could do a half-way convincing job as a pre-teen.
Carrie-Anne Moss also shows up for about five minutes as the main antagonist of the film and whilst this is certainly one of her worst roles, she’s just introduced far too late and so we have no reason to hate her other than she’s the cult leader. Compare that to Alice Krige’s Christabella from the first film, who was by far the best actress in the whole thing, and who was given loads of character development and screen time, and it’s even more disappointing.
One side note I’d just like to mention, the extras are also terrible. So many of the people that die in this film can be seen breathing whilst laying on the ground. The most obvious one is when Harry stabs and kills a man, who then lays perfectly still with blood pouring out of him, but he’s very clearly still breathing. It’s just laughable.
None of this is aided by some of the most stilted and uninspired dialogue I’ve ever heard in a feature film. There is no nuance or mystery, everyone just says exactly what is on their mind or states the obvious all the time. It feels like it was written by a studio executive, rather than an actual writer.
Silent Hill: Revelation was designed to appeal to a wider audience by including more action sequences, and of course jumping on the 3D trend. But the problem is that neither of these two elements are any good. The action is specifically designed around the 3D effects, so you’ll regularly have things coming directly at the camera, but the 3D effects are barely there. Obviously, nobody watches 3D content anymore, but I have the ability to, and Revelation in 3D is one of the worst offenders of misusing 3D because not only does it do everything around the whole jumping out of the camera thing, but nothing actually ever looks like it’s coming out of the screen because the 3D is so poorly implemented.
This increased reliance on 3D effects means that there’s an increase in the amount of CGI needed, and whilst the first films effects certainly weren’t good, Revelation’s are significantly worse. Everything looks shiny like it’s made of plastic. Environments are painfully obviously green-screened and monsters look worse than they do in the games.
None of this is helped by the bad cinematography and editing which just makes everything look even worse. Shots are poorly framed, the editing is often confusing and erratic, and it makes for an overall unpleasant viewing experience.
But I think the cherry on top of all of this is the really terrible set design. There are so many instances of the same set and props being used over and over again, but just in a different layout to make it look like a different room. In conjunction with the bad camerawork and editing this makes the film almost impossible to follow because everywhere looks identical.
There’s nothing about Silent Hill: Revelation that works. Every single component that went into making this film is at odds with each other, nothing meshes well, and nothing feels like a good decision. Whether it’s the poorly written story that doesn’t appeal to fans or newcomers because it can’t decide whether it’s a sequel, an adaptation, or just something new; or whether it’s the piss poor acting and dialogue; or the fact that it’s just generally poorly shot and edited, and the special effects look crap. Revelation is a dumpster fire through and through, and I wouldn’t recommend anybody watch this, no matter how die hard of a Silent Hill fan you are.