REVIEW: “Silent Hill” sequel has little to offer fans
The long-awaited horror movie sequel “Silent Hill: Revelations” finally came out to the joy of video game and horror fans everywhere. There was a promised return of horror icons like Pyramid Head and the monster nurses by an awesome trailer that promised to thrill and frighten.
What we got instead was something else entirely.
The “Silent Hill” movies are based on the video games of the same name, where the player has to traverse a nightmarish realm avoiding freakish monsters and delving into the mysteries of the town Silent Hill. The game pulls a lot of references from ideas of psychology, with many of the monsters representing different emotions. Pyramid Head, for example, represents both hatred as well as self-loathing, which suit the executioner of Silent Hill perfectly.
The sequel picks up where the first movie left off, with the young Sharon being returned to the real world from the horrors of Silent Hill. From then on, Sharon and her father are constantly on the move to escape the horrors they left behind. But evil never rests, and when Sharon’s father disappears, she is forced to return to the Silent Hill to face the evils within.
The film’s substance isn’t very well constructed. The plot is confusing, and there are elements of certain Silent Hill games mixed into the movie you won’t catch if you’re not familiar with them. However, this is not too significant, as Silent Hill games are often known for being disconnected and causing more questions than answering them.
It gets worse with lackluster acting and hokey plot elements, such as an evil cult, despite the fact that in the last movie almost everybody was slaughtered. When it comes to frightening moments, the movie succeeds in frightening views because many of the monsters having the creepy power they often do in the video games. It could be argued that they were the best “actors” in the film, but regrettably does not save the movie as a whole.
Overall, “Silent Hill: Revelations” is a very poor sequel in comparison with the original. Sequels are difficult to make as successful as the original, and for video games, it’s even harder to make a successful movie adaptation of it. Still, this movie fails on both ends and you don’t want to pay money to see it. At least it was more tolerable than “Paranormal Activity 4”.
