By Jessica Heitzman
SC Staff Writer

*SPOILER ALERT*

Step back Resident Evil fans, “Silent Hill” has perfected its game-to-movie adaption. Avid gamers of the horror genre, and anyone who enjoys watching horror movies, should be excited to see “Silent Hill: Revelation.”

PlotHeather Mason (Adelaide Clemens) and her father, Harry (Sean Bean), are constantly on the move. Heather begins to have dreams again of returning to Silent Hill as it wants her back. Heather meets Douglas and Vincent (Kit Harington) and teams up with Vincent throughout the movie to help save her father who is now stuck in Silent Hill. She returns to Silent Hill and encounters the Darkness along with Alessa’s mother.

In Silent Hill Heather must find the Seal of Metatron and connect its two halves, which is exactly what the Order of Valtiel, a religious cult, and Claudia Wolf (Carrie-Ann Moss) wants her to do so that they may awaken their god and rid themselves of the Darkness that they have actually caused.

At the end of the movie, Heather and Vincent are united with no other than Travis Grady… (Travis Grady is the man from “Silent Hill: Origins”, which is the prequel to the first “Silent Hill” game.) The appearance of Travis Grady gives clues that there will be a prequel to the first “Silent Hill” movie.

The movie’s opening scene begins with the “Open Road” logo burning or melting away to move the viewer into the Other World. There is also the classic snow, or as it may be interpreted: ash, because of an underground fire. Is it snow? Is it ash? That’s left up to everyone else to decide as “Konami” is the one who came up with both ideas and in fact helped Michael J. Basset a great deal to make the movie what it is.

Fear and GoreThe scare factor for the movie was 8 out of 10. The movie definitely had plenty of scary moments to be simply a horror film. If you’re afraid of clowns, this movie will certainly be scary for you. However, there were some scenes that the audience knew were coming.

The movie had heavy gore scenes that left audience members grossed out. The graphic scenes were enough to gross out a strong stomach.
Enemies

Although Pyramid Head wasn’t in “Silent Hill 3,” he did make a jaw dropping appearance in the movie. Director and Writer Michael J. Bassett did an amazing job taking Pyramid Head’s symbolism of “Silent Hill 2” and reworking it into this movie as Alessa and Heather’s guardian.

The Mannequin is a classic “Silent Hill” monster appearing in games 2 and 3. However, the Mannequin appears different in the game without heads, unlike in the movie.

The Lying Figure as they are known only make one visible appearance in “Silent Hill: Revelation.” They are the monsters with no arms, and they look like they are encased in a bloody, body sac. It would have been nice to see more of them.

The nurses were spectacular and spot on. The look and character mimicry of these nurses to the ones in the game were perfect. Costume designer Wendy Partridge and special makeup and creature effects designer. Paul Jones deserves an award for her accuracy and character knowledge.

Claudia Wolf turns into a monster when she unites with the Seal of Metatron. Her monster appearance is quite the scene with saws coming out of her head and knives for arms. She and Pyramid Head duke it out in a pretty epic battle scene.

The 3D aspect of “Silent Hill: Revelation” helped improve the fear factor of the movie. Blood at times would spurt on the screen, and weapons would shoot from the image as if they were to hit you. The ash or snow gave the movie further dimension to make the audience feel as though they were actually there. However, compared to the last “Resident Evil” movie, “Retribution,” RE made better use of the 3D. So, if you’re just looking for the 3D feature of the movie, save yourself some money and go for the 2D.

This second adaption of the “Silent Hill” franchise focuses mainly on “Silent Hill 3.” The movie has some differences from the game; however, there are also plenty of similarities.

DifferencesOne major difference is the use of Pyramid Head. Pyramid Head only appears in the second “Silent Hill” game. He is James Sunderland’s symbol of guilt over his wife’s death. Pyramid Head is there to punish James. In the movie Pyramid Head is supposed to be Alessa’s guardian. Since Heather is part of Alessa, Pyramid Head also protects her.

In the game Heather is accompanied by Douglas instead of Vincent, and Vincent is the one who ends up dying by the hands of his mother, Claudia. In the movie however, it’s the other way around.

Also, in the game Claudia dies while trying to birth a god, whereas the movie turns her into a monster.

SimilaritiesThe characters: Heather, Alessa, Harry, Claudia, Vincent, Leonard, and Douglas all make an appearance in the movie that are from “Silent Hill 3.”

Heather is Alessa’s reincarnation.

The enemies were accurate along with most of the storyline.

PitfallsEvery game-to-movie has pitfalls, and thankfully, “Silent Hill’s” is minor.

When Heather had to retrieve the Seal of Metatron from Leonard Wolf’s chest, she obtained it a little too easy. She had simple “insert hand here” directions.

Another not so great scene was when Heather was in the mall waiting for her father, she began to have visions of the Other World while a birthday party was being held. The children’s painted faces were contorted to look evil. Unfortunately, they weren’t all that evil looking but in fact got a few smirks.

The only other scene that was a problem was when Heather and Alessa met to reunite. The so-called “fight scene” was rather un-fightable. The two characters simply held each other tight as both of them tried to reclaim each other’s body.

If you’re a “Silent Hill” or horror fan then you definitely want to see this movie. It will have you on the edge of your seat waiting for things to pop out at you around every corner. Besides, the Order of Valtiel wants you to return to Silent Hill.

 

Email Jessica at:
jmh2643@live.esu.edu