Blu-ray Review: ‘Silent Hill: Revelation’ is Shockingly Bad

CHICAGO – You may be rolling your eyes. Oh, look, another critic ripping on a bad horror movie. But you may not know that not only am I a horror movie fan in general but I particularly liked the first “Silent Hill” film, to the point that I’m quoted on the DVD case for the flick. I approached the critically reviled “Silent Hill: Revelation” thinking that I might again be in the minority but would be happy to be so. I am not. This is a bad, bad, bad movie, breathtakingly incompetent in ways that can be fascinating when they’re not so straight-up stupid.

Rating: 0.5/5.0

How do people as talented as Sean Bean, Carrie-Anne Moss, Malcolm McDowell, Deborah Kara Unger, Martin Donovan, and Adelaide Clemens (so good in HBO’s “Parade’s End,” premiering this week) get sucked into nonsense like this? The film has a VERY loose plot about Heather (Clemens) and her father (Bean) being pulled back into the supernatural world of Silent Hill but it makes no sense. I’m fine with horror movies that leave logic at the door as long as they replace it with surreal tension. “Revelation” is just numbingly boring. There’s no reason to give a damn about anything that’s happening and the visuals don’t have nearly the power they did last time. Even if this mess had gone straight-to-DVD, it would have disappointed. The true shame is that it will probably make people look less fondly on the original by association. Just pretend this one doesn’t exist.

Silent Hill: Revelation was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 12, 2013
Photo credit: Universal

Synopsis:
Return to a place of insanity and blood-curdling chills in this shocking sequel to one of the most surreal and gruesome horror films ever created. Heather Mason (Adelaide Clemens) and her father (Sean Bean) have always tried to stay one step ahead of the malevolent forces intent on their destruction. But on the eve of her 18th birthday, a dangerous revelation leads her deeper into a demonic world that threatens to trap her in a nightmarish landscape forever. Based on the hugely popular video game series and written and directed by Michael J. Bassett (Deathwatch), it’s a psychological trip into absolute terror unlike anything you’ve ever known.

Special Features:
o A Look Inside Silent Hill: Revelation

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com