Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Menu Animation & Audio Audio Commentary Deleted Scenes Featurette-Silent Hill At Universal Hollywood Horror Nights Trailer-Red Dawn, End Of Watch, The Last Stand
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	90:40 (Case: 94)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Michael J. Bassett
Studio Distributor	Davis Films Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Adelaide Clemens Kit Harington Carrie-Anne Moss Sean Bean Radha Mitchell Malcolm McDowell Martin Donovan
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	Jeff Danna Akira Yamaoka

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

“Prepare for a Ride Through Hell”

     The 2006 screen adaptation of the computer game Silent Hill was a rare success in the foray of transforming popular games into a popular film. Six years later Silent Hill: Revelation follows up on the original with Heather Mason (Adelaide Clemens - recently seen on TVs Parade’s End) on the run with her father Harry (Sean Bean). Heather is the daughter of the first Silent Hill heroine, and the residents from Silent Hill now want her back to fulfil a prophecy. The prophecy foretells that if Heather returns then Silent Hill will be freed from the Indian curse and the demonic Alessa (also played by Adelaide Clemens). In order to avoid the threats from Silent Hill the pair skip from town to town over the years, however Heather is nevertheless experiencing hallucinations and violent dreams which start to interfere with her perceptions of reality. Starting at a new school Heather is drawn to Vincent (Kit Harington) and they realise that there is a connection between them.

     When ever more bizarre events occur and then her father disappears, Heather comes to the determination that her only course of action is to return to Silent Hill and confront her destiny. Vincent warns her not to go but accompanies her anyway as he is actually part of the “Order” who have been waiting one hundred years for Heather’s arrival and the fulfilment of the prophecy. Vincent comes to realise that Heather is actually the innocent alter-ego of the evil Alessa and that for the evil to be released Heather/Alessa must be made “complete”. Heather’s father Harry is being held captive under the town by Vincent’s mother Claudia (Carrie-Anne Moss) and can only be rescued by finding the lost half of an amulet. The missing half is being held by Vincent’s blind father Leonard (Malcolm McDowell) who is consigned to an asylum called the “sanctuary”. When Vincent is taken by a monster on the route to the asylum Heather is forced to enter Silent Hill by herself. Needless to say events get even more bizarre as indescribable monsters and creatures create chaos and “Pyramid Head” cleans house. Will Harry be rescued and will the good Heather overcome the evil Alessa to free Silent Hill from the Indian curse? Well you could probably guess that answer.

     It’s a bit of a problem when fifteen minutes into a film you still have absolutely no idea what is going on. Even more of a concern is that after around two thirds in you switch to the audio commentary because – a: it gave a bit of information on what was going on, and b: the commentary was more entertaining than the film itself. Director Michael Bassett wrote the script so it probably all made sense to him, but really this is probably the most incomprehensible plot I’ve encountered. There are far too many story developments, flashbacks, hallucinations, dream sequences and the like to be understandable without taking notes and repeating scenes. Despite the handsomely created monsters even the action sequences were boring because I just couldn’t get involved in proceedings. Thankfully Clemens as the perky heroine did well as the main character because Bean and Moss were atrocious. The latter two have got acting credibility so we can only hope this mess will be deleted from their filmography. Even Harington seemed as wooden as a board and he must be enormously thankful that success in Game Of Thrones will ensure his future.

     Possibly on a big screen with high definition 3D effects Silent Hill: Revelation might have been mildly enjoyable. In plain old SD TV however it was a total bore and could not be recommended.

Video

     The video is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and is anamorphically enhanced. This is the same as the cinematic aspect. Definition overall is pleasing with plenty of detail on display. Grain increases and detail fades during dimly lit scenes with black levels also becoming a bit muddy. It is nevertheless quite good and everything is still easy to see. I didn’t see any obvious examples of compression artefacts with the dual layer disc being more than adequate for a relatively short feature and few extras. There was some colour banding where spotlights broke through the dark but nothing out of the ordinary. Colour was used well throughout especially during the climax where vibrant reds and golds leapt from the screen. Apart from that the hue is appropriately sombre with dull blue and greys predominant.

     This is a dual layer disc but I could not detect the layer change using my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Default audio track is Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded at 448 Kb/s. There is also Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kb/s, audio commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kb/s, and descriptive audio Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kb/s. For the purpose of this review I listened to the 5.1 track in entirety and sampled the 2.0 stereo track on occasions. As you’d expect there are no issues with the audio presentation although it’s not as spectacular as you might hope for. The surrounds and LFE come alive during the action sequences but there is nothing outstanding about it to really grab your attention. The audio is synchronised with the video and dialogue is always clear and easy to understand. The 5.1 track is obviously preferred if you have the correct playback equipment.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

     The menu featured looping video and audio.

Trailers

     Appearing before the main menu are Red Dawn (2:21): Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded at 224 Kb/s, End Of Watch (2:16): Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded at 448 Kb/s, The Last Stand (1:57): Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded at 448 Kb/s.

Audio Commentary

     Director Michael J. Bassett provides commentary throughout the film and it pleasing to note that he is very informative and interesting. Bassett doesn’t fall into the trap of merely describing what is on screen but usually provides informative background relating to the events being portrayed. It’s a sad indictment on his film that I found the commentary more interesting than the film itself.

Deleted/Extended Scenes (11:15)

     Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded at 224 Kb/s. They are: The Missionary Kills Harry; Harry Looks For Work; Heather At School; Heather and Vincent At School; The Butcher; Heather and Vincent At The Bus Stop; Heather In The Streets Of Silent Hill; Heather meets Rose; Heather and Vincent In Silent Hill.

     Interesting but there is no description given on why these scenes were not included.

Silent Hill At Universal Hollywood Horror Nights Featurette (4:31)

     Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded at 224 Kb/s. Very brief interview setup with Director Bassett and Clemens at Hollywood Horror Nights. Also producer Samuel Hadida makes a short appearance. Basically a promotion for the Hollywood Horror Nights “Silent Hill” attraction which seems genuinely scary given the screaming that Clemens was doing whilst going through the maze (I don’t think she was acting).

     This release appears identical to the Region 1 offering apart from language options. This title is also available on Blu-ray with 3D or 2D options and BD combo packs (3D BD, 2D BD, DVD, Digital Copy). Additional extras on the BD are: Video Introduction, Making of Silent Hill, A Look Inside Silent Hill 3D in 3D. The Blu-ray also contains an extra four minutes running time which is presumably taken from the deleted/extended scenes.

     Silent Hill: Revelation is a mess of a film. It lacks depth, cohesion and a decent script. Apart from Clemens the acting was woeful (was Bean really attempting an American accent?) and Carrie-Anne Moss was used really badly. Most of the horror effects weren’t particularly scary and even the climactic final scenes did not impress. Pyramid-head was the only monster that grabbed my attention but maybe in 3D there would be more impact. The obvious “jumping out” 3D effects are a bit jarring on a 2D TV screen and after a while you start looking for them. In summary – avoid.

     The video quality is good.

     The audio quality is good.

     The extras benefited from the audio commentary and the deleted scenes were interesting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall