Heather
Mason’s teenaged years have been difficult.
Her name is actually Sharon Da Silva, but she and her father
Christopher, currently known as Harry, constantly move to new towns under assumed
identities. Supposedly, he is on the run
from the law, but it is really to keep a step ahead of a bizarre death cult. Yet, they constantly call her back to their shunned
ghost town through supernatural means.
There will be a macabre homecoming in store for her in Michael J. Bassett’s
Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (trailer here), which opens
today across the country.
Considered
one of the better film adaptations of a video game, the first Silent Hill struck some chords with viewers
by seriously addressing themes of faith and sacrifice. To save her daughter, Rose Da Silva accepted
banishment on the other side of Silent Hill’s dimensional portal. Her husband has done his best to protect
Sharon/Heather. However, when Rose sends
him a Candyman-style inter-dimensional warning, it may already be too
late. Sleazy gumshoe Douglas Courtland
tracked down the Da Silvas before he fully appreciated the nature of his
clients. In order to save her father,
Sharon/Heather resolves to give her tormentors the showdown they want.
Those
who have played the survival game will know there is a complicated backstory to
Silent Hill, involving Alessa, the all-powerful witch-girl, whose curse holds
the cult’s powers in check. There are
also a number of monsters living in this netherworld, including fan favorite
Pyramid Head. Apparently, one of the
knocks on the first film was his relative lack of screen time, so it is rather
odd Revelation also uses him rather
sparingly. However, Malcolm McDowell
has a long and unleasant scene as blind bogeyman Leonard Wolf, the former cult
leader committed by his own daughter. Gee
whiz, it has been quite a while since his career-defining work with Lindsay
Anderson, hasn’t it?
Frankly,
it is pretty easy for non-gamers to follow Revelation’s
first two acts, but once Sharon/Heather arrives at Silent Hill, all bets
are off. Sure, there is a clear
narrative chain of events, but the underlying logic of the how’s and why’s is
rather vague. In fact, it is rather like
watching someone playing a videogame when you do not understand the rules.
Adelaide
Clemens is perfectly credible horror heroine, even delivering a promo-reel
worthy speech early in the film. Of
course, Sean Bean certainly knows his way around a special effects-driven
production by now. As Da Silva, he helps
elevate the proceedings with his earnest everyman presence. In contrast, McDowell and Carrie-Anne Moss do
not exactly make classic villains as the Wolf family cultists.
