Silent Hill: Revelation (2012) Blu-ray 3D [Region Locked]

[mseeley]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Thanks for the feedback eggfushen. Yeah, some of the acting was a bit stalled at times when they had to speak, but I enjoyed the film, creatures and especially 3D.

My Mini Review of Silent Hill Revelation 3D:

Previews seen in 3D before the movie started:
Call of Duty Black Ops II 3D video game: Looks great in 3D.
Oz: Great and Powerful 3D: Awesome 3D. The online trailer didn't do it justice. Looks like a promising new take on the land of Oz.
Hansel and Gretel 3D: Great 3D. This looks really cool for action/horror.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D: Really good 3D. The preview is basic slasher stuff though. No personality shown in Leatherface.

Slient Hill Revelation's filmed 3D: Holy crow! The 3D was amazing. Very strong 3D throughout the entire movie. The 3D layers are right up there with Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D and I'd go so far as to say Hugo 3D. Just watch the opening logo to know what you're in for. Bassett totally nails the 3D and I look forward to his next 3D movie for certain. He's one of the best 3D director's out there if this is his starting point. Pop outs are far out of the screen also. Superb 3D example of what I look for with 3D. I was sitting in the mid row where people can walk past at a Cinemark 3D theater. Flawless playback of the 3D projection. Awesome 3D.

Movie: This one really focuses on the exposition (background of why things are they way they are), and the lead actress playing Heather Mason does a good job. It's interesting and I like the main lead actress, along with Sean Bean who is a great actor. The new creatures are cool, along with Pyramid Head and that crazy, wrapped straight jacket-like walker. The movie was good for a horror, but I'm tough to scare, so the jump scares don't faze me.



Well, I enjoyed it. Some of the uppity critics probably don't even want to see a horror movie but still have to submit a review, so I don't blame the movie for holding back from the general press, though I would offer it to the horror sites for an early review.



Cool. I hope you enjoy it.



A new theater, nice. Hopefully they have all of the 3D projectors set up properly.



Yeah, this one is a worthy sequel IMO. I hope you like it as much as SH1. I will have to see it again before I can be sure, but I enjoyed this one slightly more than part 1.

I do think this will be a love it or hate it movie for some, but I really liked it and will buy the Blu Ray 3D disc day one.

Spoiler: For those who have seen it, at the very end, there's a hint of the next movie's potential story,

[Show spoiler]where a prison bus and police caravan drive past into Silent Hill. This is a nod to the latest Silent Hill: Downpour 3D game, which I'm still playing, about the Prisoner escaping the bus Fugitive style, and finding himself in Silent Hill.

You got a Black Ops 3d trailer!??? LUCKY!!! . Really happy to have finally confirmed that the game is in 3d it's 3d enabled on ps3 correct?

But yeah the new theater was incredible. Great seats and HUGE screens! Everything was just about perfect. Going again for sure! Only problem was that they still didn't have the 3d set up right away like. Experienced at the old theater. They got it fixed pretty quick, so it isn't a huge deal and the 3d projection was pretty nice .

I also thought the Texas Chainsaw trailer had good 3d. I was thinking to myself when I watched it that you'd like it haha

Anyways, I completely agree with our 3d assessment. Absolutely perfect use of 3d, and Michael Bassest clearly knows how to stage and maximize 3d effectiveness! Reference quality and a must buy on Bluray 3d for me for sure!

I also like the movie itself. The story was still interesting, even if it was a little dumbed down from the first. The set design and effects though we're still pretty outstanding

Great way to begin the weekend for me!

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by mseeley

You got a Black Ops 3d trailer!??? LUCKY!!! . Really happy to have finally confirmed that the game is in 3d it's 3d enabled on ps3 correct?

But yeah the new theater was incredible. Only problem was that they still didn't have the 3d set up right away like.

I also thought the Texas Chainsaw trailer had good 3d. I was thinking to myself when I watched it that you'd like it haha

Anyways, I completely agree with our 3d assessment. Absolutely perfect use of 3d, and Michael Bassest clearly knows how to stage and maximize 3d effectiveness! Reference quality and a must buy on Bluray 3d for me for sure!

I also like the movie itself. The story was still interesting, even if it was a little dumbed down from the first. The set design and effects though we're still pretty outstanding

Great way to begin the weekend for me!

Glad the theater got it on track for the 3D. I wondered if this level of Silent Hilll's 3D would hold up for the whole movie and it did. Really great layers and depth. This is how horror movies need to make their 3D, very strong. It makes you feel as if you're almost there with the characters, compared to a flat screen of 2D with no visual 3D dimension to reach at.

Yeah, the Black Ops II 3D trailer for PS3. The 3D looked top of the line. It was a combination of a story trailer mixed with some gameplay scenes. Looks great. I like the guys who can fly with those web suits.

I'll probably check out TCM 3D for the 3D, but wonder if the story would be half as interesting as the original, which really focused on developing the characters and their unique personalities including the villains. These days, movies tend to hide the villain and reveal them only for the action scares, making the villain just another mindless, undeveloped attacker with no personality. Hopefully they considered that, but the preview hints otherwise.

Oz 3D looks outstanding for 3D, and the movie looks interesting also.
Hansel and Gretel's 3D still looks great after three views in theaters.

Good point about the composition of the 3D in Silent Hill Revelation. Really well done and I'll say one of the best uses of 3D I've seen this year in theaters for 2012. I'd like to see this one again if I get the chance, though next week is Wreck it Ralph 3D, which is on my list.

[mseeley]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Glad the theater got it on track for the 3D. I wondered if this level of Silent Hilll's 3D would hold up for the whole movie and it did. Really great layers and depth. This is how horror movies need to make their 3D, very strong. It makes you feel as if you're almost there with the characters, compared to a flat screen of 2D with no visual 3D dimension to reach at.

Yeah, the Black Ops II 3D trailer for PS3. The 3D looked top of the line. It was a combination of a story trailer mixed with some gameplay scenes. Looks great. I like the guys who can fly with those web suits.

I'll probably check out TCM 3D for the 3D, but wonder if the story would be half as interesting as the original, which really focused on developing the characters and their unique personalities including the villains. These days, movies tend to hide the villain and reveal them only for the action scares, making the villain just another mindless, undeveloped attacker with no personality. Hopefully they considered that, but the preview hints otherwise.

Oz 3D looks outstanding for 3D, and the movie looks interesting also.
Hansel and Gretel's 3D still looks great after three views in theaters.

Good point about the composition of the 3D in Silent Hill Revelation. Really well done and I'll say one of the best uses of 3D I've seen this year in theaters for 2012. I'd like to see this one again if I get the chance, though next week is Wreck it Ralph 3D, which is on my list.

I'm incredibly stoked for Wreck it Ralph and I hope it's gonna be at my new Cinemark's XD screen. On the Cinemark website, it was on list of many titles that would be on XD screens. I still have yet to check out XD. I'm so excited to see more movies at the new theater!

[UFAlien]

The 3D in this was really good. Shame about the actual movie.

[mseeley]

Originally Posted by UFAlien

The 3D in this was really good. Shame about the actual movie.

I thought the movie was good. The acting was a little spotty, but that is really just a nitpick for me on the whole. I hope this turns into a hit if it can. More silent hill 3d sequels please!!!

[UFAlien]

I was waiting years for the movie and I really wanted to like it... but the writing was just amazingly awful. Almost every line of dialogue was terrible, clunky exposition. The script was like a train wreck of ideas cobbled from the previous film and the games and mooshed together to try and make some semblance of a plot.

[Zivouhr]

UFAlien. How did you like the first one, and what would you improve in the story for the 2nd one, this way they don't make the same mistakes if there is a part 3?

I wouldn't say there wasn't a story in spite of all of the exposition about explaining the past, as Heather kept progressing towards her end goal of saving her father through her interactions with the characters around her. Not much of a story beyond that to be picky but I still liked it.

The scene where the lady turned

[Show spoiler] into the mannequin on the table was a lot like the scene from the horror Tourist Trap (from the 80's) where the guy would plaster up the victims and turn them into living mannequins. Not much of a spoiler, but better safe than sorry with spoilers.

The shot where she first enters the Amusement park near the end of the movie looked like we could walk right into the screen. Kick @ss 3D in the movie.

[Lovemy3D]

Well, I've decided to go into work Tuesday after all. Just felt bad about leaving them high and dry for a movie. But I should still be able to get out in time for the 2:50pm showing. I believe that theater also has a discount on Tuesdays as well. So that's nice. Just sucks cause I'll be tired after working. A couple times I went after work I ended up being too tired to get into the movie. Happened with Legends Of The Guardians.

I'm taking someone that has no idea what Silent Hill is other than what I told them. A creepy super natural horror about a haunted town. Didn't really know how to describe it, lol. I hope the story is such that they will be able to follow it well enough going in clueless to what it's about.

[UFAlien]

It'd be easier to talk about what I WOULDN'T need to do differently... this thing would've been laughed out of my sophomore screenwriting class.

One very, very important rule: Whenever possible, show, don't tell. This movie flagrantly disregards that at every turn. Almost every line of dialogue is painful, awkward exposition. They explain all sorts of things all the time whether they need to be explained or not. They even have characters say the completely obvious out loud multiple times.

And yet despite that, there are still unanswered questions - the ones that actually matter.

[Show spoiler]Where did Rose find her half of the Seal of Metatron? How did Leonard get the other half, and how the hell was it inside of him? How did Sharon un-merge with Dark Alessa when they recombined at the end of the last movie? How did Heather's new hometown suddenly start turning into the Otherworld (this one I can infer had something to do with the presence of Claudia or her own coming of age, but with all the nonstop exposition spew it was pretty jarring it was never explained)? Why during all the crap that went down in the first movie did we never hear anything about any Order of Valtiel, Claudia, or any of the other mythology cherry-picked from the games and tossed in here? Where the hell were all of them? If the Order wanted to impregnate Alessa with the God, how and why was none of this ever mentioned in the first movie? It was extremely clear in Gans' film they burned Alessa because they thought she was a witch, and not because of any ceremonial plan to birth a God. The cult's new motive (and look) clashes terribly with what was previously established. And what happened to the whole subplot with Heather being a murder suspect? They never bring it up again after it's mentioned.

And the structure is just terrible. Everything is jammed together with no room to breathe. There's an endless parade of game references, plot points from the games, and useless exposition all crammed into the 90 minute runtime. The script is so busy having characters yell arcane terminology and convenient justifications for whatever happens that it has no time to give them any depth. The sole exception is

[Show spoiler]the attempt at a love story between Heather and Vincent, which is one of the least convincing and most left-field cinema romances I've ever seen.

Things get mowed through so fast that important characters are barely even in the movie. Douglas Cartland,

[Show spoiler]the private eye who knows her past, only has two scenes before he dies offscreen and is carted out in the next one. All he does is introduce the phrase "Order of Valtiel" and tell Heather to ask her dad about her past. He's completely useless except as fanservice - Heather would've figured all this out pretty soon anyway.

Rose, the first film's protagonist,

[Show spoiler]only shows up in one flashback and only long enough to retcon the first film's ending and introduce the sequel's MacGuffin.

Dahlia also

[Show spoiler]only has one scene, and it's just an explanation of the first film's plot with some of the elements that clash with this one conveniently left out.

And Claudia,

[Show spoiler]who is ostensibly the main villain of the movie, only has two scenes outside of her monster-form. She never seems like a credible threat because she's just not there long enough.

And Pyramid Head was a total letdown. In the first film,

[Show spoiler]he was left somewhat ambiguous. It was implied he was following the will of Alessa, but he was a random murder machine punishing all the creatures and townspeople indiscriminately, including Rose. When he got too close, Alessa had to save Rose by calling off the Otherworld. He was a threat, so he was scary. In this movie, it's made explicitly clear that he's her bodygaurd of sorts. He shows up only to kill whatever's threatening Heather/Alessa at the moment and is never even implied to be a threat to the protagonists. That completely neuters him. He's not scary at all anymore.

And WHAT is the deal with the so-called-climax?

[Show spoiler]Heather merges back with Dark Alessa by hugging her? That's their confrontation? And then Pyramid Head shows up and has a Godzilla fight with Claudia's monster-form?

I thought this was supposed to be a horror movie?

The movie needed to slow the hell down to give the characters and horror scenes room to breathe. It's much scarier if you can care about the characters, or at least believe they're people instead of just plot point vending machines. Similarly, rushing from one random horror scene to the next with all that inane prattle in between isn't nearly as impactful as the constant, overpowering barrage of well-executed suspense scenes and terrors that made up the first whole hour of the original, save for the "breather" moments with Sean Bean. It also really needed to trim the fat. Even if it were two hours like the first one, there's still too much in terms of pointless and over-explained mythology and useless characters included just to please people who wanted it to be "more like the games".

I quite liked the first movie. It wasn't a gem of a script by any means, and some of the dialogue there was laughable too - especially during the final act or the part where

[Show spoiler]Dark Alessa explains the plot to Rose and the audience in a long monologue

- but it made some really smart choices too. By saving most of the exposition for the last third of the film or so, it built a sense of mystery, menace, and atmosphere. This allowed it to actually be pretty damn scary. The sequel is in full-on "explain everything all the time" mode from the very beginning and never gets that chance.

The first movie also wasn't afraid to NOT slavishly adhere to the game's plot, keeping the basic structure but ditching a lot of the confusing, overcomplicated, or downright nonsensical claptrap

[Show spoiler]- the Flauros, the ridiculously indecipherable plot to birth a god or something, the drug smuggling, the hospital conspiracy -

and pared things down to a simpler if still nightmare-logic-fueled plot that actually fit better into the movie's runtime (which was longer anyway) without filling it with too many distractions.

This sequel is too busy trying to maintain some kind of connection to the first film to actually do a direct Silent Hill 3 adaptation, but it does try to cram in as much from the games as possible no matter how much it overcomplicates or bloats the too-short script or makes no sense as a continuation of the original.

And the first movie wasn't afraid to be at least a little ambiguous on some points, leaving you to work things out with the context and implications given. Bassett's script has no middle ground like this: Either it's explicitly explained away as clumsily as possible, or it's simply ignored to create a plot hole.

[Jack_Ryder_2012]

got to watch this sunday night, and it was right up there with avengers and prometheus for me, awesome 3d all thru the movie. i cant wait to buy this on 3d blu ray and with the release date of RE retribution already being next month i may not have to wait long! still tho great movie only parts annoying to me where vincents character (he seemed really annoying in some parts) and the ending monster battle, they could have done way better then that it made the ending feel kind of flat, but it was cool to see travis from origins at the end, but its still a must own for me we didnt get the black ops 2 trailer, but i will be seeing texas chainsaw massacre and hansel and gretal both of those looked amazing

[mseeley]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

UFAlien. How did you like the first one, and what would you improve in the story for the 2nd one, this way they don't make the same mistakes if there is a part 3?

I wouldn't say there wasn't a story in spite of all of the exposition about explaining the past, as Heather kept progressing towards her end goal of saving her father through her interactions with the characters around her. Not much of a story beyond that to be picky but I still liked it.

The scene where the lady turned

[Show spoiler] into the mannequin on the table was a lot like the scene from the horror Tourist Trap (from the 80's) where the guy would plaster up the victims and turn them into living mannequins. Not much of a spoiler, but better safe than sorry with spoilers.

The shot where she first enters the Amusement park near the end of the movie looked like we could walk right into the screen. Kick @ss 3D in the movie.

i think my favorite 3d shot when she's in the hallway at her school and the camera zooms out when the lights start to flicker. that and that same sequence when see the creature walking in view of the camera in that same scene. super strong 3d lmao

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Lovemy3D

Well, I've decided to go into work Tuesday after all. Just felt bad about leaving them high and dry for a movie. But I should still be able to get out in time for the 2:50pm showing. I believe that theater also has a discount on Tuesdays as well. So that's nice. Just sucks cause I'll be tired after working. A couple times I went after work I ended up being too tired to get into the movie. Happened with Legends Of The Guardians.

I'm taking someone that has no idea what Silent Hill is other than what I told them. A creepy super natural horror about a haunted town. Didn't really know how to describe it, lol. I hope the story is such that they will be able to follow it well enough going in clueless to what it's about.

Although it leaves unanswered questions in the plot, I think the 3D and horror atmosphere were great. I hope they'll be able to follow the basic idea of the plot without getting caught up in the details the characters are talking about.

Originally Posted by UFAlien

It'd be easier to talk about what I WOULDN'T need to do differently... this thing would've been laughed out of my sophomore screenwriting class.

One very, very important rule: Whenever possible, show, don't tell.

[Show spoiler]This movie flagrantly disregards that at every turn. Almost every line of dialogue is painful, awkward exposition. They explain all sorts of things all the time whether they need to be explained or not. They even have characters say the completely obvious out loud multiple times.

And yet despite that, there are still unanswered questions - the ones that actually matter.

[Show spoiler]Where did Rose find her half of the Seal of Metatron? How did Leonard get the other half, and how the hell was it inside of him? How did Sharon un-merge with Dark Alessa when they recombined at the end of the last movie? How did Heather's new hometown suddenly start turning into the Otherworld (this one I can infer had something to do with the presence of Claudia or her own coming of age, but with all the nonstop exposition spew it was pretty jarring it was never explained)? Why during all the crap that went down in the first movie did we never hear anything about any Order of Valtiel, Claudia, or any of the other mythology cherry-picked from the games and tossed in here? Where the hell were all of them? If the Order wanted to impregnate Alessa with the God, how and why was none of this ever mentioned in the first movie? It was extremely clear in Gans' film they burned Alessa because they thought she was a witch, and not because of any ceremonial plan to birth a God. The cult's new motive (and look) clashes terribly with what was previously established. And what happened to the whole subplot with Heather being a murder suspect? They never bring it up again after it's mentioned.

And the structure is just terrible. Everything is jammed together with no room to breathe. There's an endless parade of game references, plot points from the games, and useless exposition all crammed into the 90 minute runtime. The script is so busy having characters yell arcane terminology and convenient justifications for whatever happens that it has no time to give them any depth. The sole exception is

[Show spoiler]the attempt at a love story between Heather and Vincent, which is one of the least convincing and most left-field cinema romances I've ever seen.

Things get mowed through so fast that important characters are barely even in the movie. Douglas Cartland,

[Show spoiler]the private eye who knows her past, only has two scenes before he dies offscreen and is carted out in the next one. All he does is introduce the phrase "Order of Valtiel" and tell Heather to ask her dad about her past. He's completely useless except as fanservice - Heather would've figured all this out pretty soon anyway.

Rose, the first film's protagonist,

[Show spoiler]only shows up in one flashback and only long enough to retcon the first film's ending and introduce the sequel's MacGuffin.

Dahlia also

[Show spoiler]only has one scene, and it's just an explanation of the first film's plot with some of the elements that clash with this one conveniently left out.

And Claudia,

[Show spoiler]who is ostensibly the main villain of the movie, only has two scenes outside of her monster-form. She never seems like a credible threat because she's just not there long enough.

And Pyramid Head was a total letdown. In the first film,

[Show spoiler]he was left somewhat ambiguous. It was implied he was following the will of Alessa, but he was a random murder machine punishing all the creatures and townspeople indiscriminately, including Rose. When he got too close, Alessa had to save Rose by calling off the Otherworld. He was a threat, so he was scary. In this movie, it's made explicitly clear that he's her bodygaurd of sorts. He shows up only to kill whatever's threatening Heather/Alessa at the moment and is never even implied to be a threat to the protagonists. That completely neuters him. He's not scary at all anymore.

And WHAT is the deal with the so-called-climax?

[Show spoiler]Heather merges back with Dark Alessa by hugging her? That's their confrontation? And then Pyramid Head shows up and has a Godzilla fight with Claudia's monster-form?

I thought this was supposed to be a horror movie?

The movie needed to slow the hell down to give the characters and horror scenes room to breathe. It's much scarier if you can care about the characters, or at least believe they're people instead of just plot point vending machines. Similarly, rushing from one random horror scene to the next with all that inane prattle in between isn't nearly as impactful as the constant, overpowering barrage of well-executed suspense scenes and terrors that made up the first whole hour of the original, save for the "breather" moments with Sean Bean. It also really needed to trim the fat. Even if it were two hours like the first one, there's still too much in terms of pointless and over-explained mythology and useless characters included just to please people who wanted it to be "more like the games".

I quite liked the first movie. It wasn't a gem of a script by any means, and some of the dialogue there was laughable too - especially during the final act or the part where

[Show spoiler]Dark Alessa explains the plot to Rose and the audience in a long monologue

- but it made some really smart choices too. By saving most of the exposition for the last third of the film or so, it built a sense of mystery, menace, and atmosphere. This allowed it to actually be pretty damn scary. The sequel is in full-on "explain everything all the time" mode from the very beginning and never gets that chance.

The first movie also wasn't afraid to NOT slavishly adhere to the game's plot, keeping the basic structure but ditching a lot of the confusing, overcomplicated, or downright nonsensical claptrap

[Show spoiler]- the Flauros, the ridiculously indecipherable plot to birth a god or something, the drug smuggling, the hospital conspiracy -

and pared things down to a simpler if still nightmare-logic-fueled plot that actually fit better into the movie's runtime (which was longer anyway) without filling it with too many distractions.

This sequel is too busy trying to maintain some kind of connection to the first film to actually do a direct Silent Hill 3 adaptation, but it does try to cram in as much from the games as possible no matter how much it overcomplicates or bloats the too-short script or makes no sense as a continuation of the original.

And the first movie wasn't afraid to be at least a little ambiguous on some points, leaving you to work things out with the context and implications given. Bassett's script has no middle ground like this: Either it's explicitly explained away as clumsily as possible, or it's simply ignored to create a plot hole.

You explained that well UFAlien. Thanks.
While I took a more passive approach to viewing the movie more as an experience as a guest in Silent Hill, your points about the story are valid. There were plenty of unexplained things in it, considering it's a continuation of the first one.

[Show spoiler]
With Carrie Ann Moss as the evil order leader, I thought maybe she was in one of the games I didn't play, and maybe that was the reason she appeared with her followers (as the previous followers were wiped out), but now that I think about your points, I'd have to watch it again to see why Alessa is punishing them and where they get their knowledge of how to bring about the sacrifice of Heather so they can escape the hell they're stuck in. Good points also about the merging of Alessa and Heather at the end; did the emblem give Heather the advantage over Alessa? And I liked Pyramid Head on Heather's side, but you're right about it sapping away the tension. That would've been really cool if he was stalking Heather the whole movie as a villain.

Originally Posted by Jack_Ryder_2012

got to watch this sunday night, and it was right up there with avengers and prometheus for me, awesome 3d all thru the movie. i cant wait to buy this on 3d blu ray and with the release date of RE retribution already being next month i may not have to wait long! still tho great movie only parts annoying to me where vincents character (he seemed really annoying in some parts) and the ending monster battle, they could have done way better then that it made the ending feel kind of flat, but it was cool to see travis from origins at the end, but its still a must own for me we didnt get the black ops 2 trailer, but i will be seeing texas chainsaw massacre and hansel and gretal both of those looked amazing

Yeah, kick @ss 3D here. RE: Retribution December 21st I read, also great 3D. Great year for 3D movies.

Originally Posted by mseeley

i think my favorite 3d shot when she's in the hallway at her school and the camera zooms out when the lights start to flicker. that and that same sequence when see the creature walking in view of the camera in that same scene. super strong 3d lmao

That was a great 3D shot, yes. Whoever the cinematographer and stereographer was, and if Bassett had something to do with that, they really knew their stuff with the 3D. Awesome.

[UFAlien]

I agree the 3D was great. That, the music, and a smidgen of decent suspense was about all I liked in this.

As you your spoiler-hidden-bit,

[Show spoiler]Claudia, Vincent, and Leonard are all characters from Silent Hill 3, where they were all much better-written and more important save perhaps Leonard, who was barely in it. My issue is that the Order from the games, which is actually pretty similar to the one in this movie, is a completely different cult from the one in the first movie. Originally I was pretty sure I'd read in an interview with Bassett that he was going to present it this way - that Claudia's followers were a different cult. That would have explained why they weren't mentioned in the first film and why they had such obviously different motives. But for whatever reason the finished film tries to make the case that the witch-hunters in the first film were actually the Order all along, which just doesn't make sense. It also saddles the script with the dual task of explaining the Order's mythology - which it needs to since it really wasn't the cult in the first film - AND trying to tie it in with the first film. The attempt at a connection is unconvincing and pointless and it doesn't leave enough room for the Order's mythology to be established without all the terrible dialogue.

What Claudia says in the movie is that Alessa was "chosen" to brith the God because she was the only one who could survive a witch burning. Although it's not stated in the film, leaving another plot hole, this is because in the games the vessel for the God needed to experience extreme suffering to become a suitable host for the dark deity. According to Claudia, they weren't expecting that Alessa's power would manifest as "Dark Alessa" and the Otherworld by tapping into the town's power. That in itself makes sense - at least as much as anything in the franchise does - the issue (besides the aforementioned plothole) is that the first film very explicitly showed us she wasn't "chosen" for a ceremony to birth a god; they thought she was a witch because she was a virgin birth and they wanted to eliminate her for good. Dark Alessa herself even explained in the first movie that this was a fairly routine witch burning for them until it all went wrong - "they had been called upon many times to restore innocence."

Technically you COULD make the argument that no one mentioned this in the first film, but it's still true... but it's a stretch. It's kind of important, and really seems like the sort of thing that Dark Alessa would've mentioned to Rose during her long monologue. The fact there was NO mention whatsoever of Valtiel or this ceremony or anything by any of the cult members in the original also makes it really jarring. It would've worked much better if it were, say, a separate cult that came to Silent Hill hoping to use the town's power to contact their God and unexpectedly ran into the wrath of Alessa.

[Lovemy3D]

I liked it. I can agree with some of what UFAlien is saying. But I thought it was fun anyway. I don't go to a something like this expecting the greatest movie ever. I was just expecting some weird creepy fun, with great 3D. and that's what it was. And that girl is damn cute. I hope she turns up in more movies.

Maybe I'm just getting old. But I've learned that picking apart, and over analyzing a movie will ruin even the best of them for you. Sometimes if you want to enjoy a movie, you just have to enjoy it for what it is, rather than to remain frustrated it doesn't live up to certain expectations.

I was actually glad when they stopped and started discussing what was going on. Because before that it just seemed like a bunch of random weirdness.(however cool. lol) It was getting a little confusing even for me, being somewhat familiar with Silent Hill. I didn't play the first game. Just the second one, and most of the fourth. (Which I didn't like as much.) And I saw the previous movie of course. ( I should have watched again first.) It was nice when there was finally a set mission to follow.

I noticed they would amp up the 3D every time she would get sucked into The Silent Hill world. And then when she actually walked into Silent hill the 3D got much stronger. And pretty much remained that way for the rest of the movie.

I'll have to watch it again, tiredness did play a role. I know I missed some stuff due to a tired mind. I stayed up too late watching 3D movies the night before lol. But I'll wait for the 3D BD.

My favorite 3D moments that stand out to me right now, were the elevator scene.

[Show spoiler] And the freaky spider legged creature. That thing was wicked.

And also the moment when she walks into Silent Hill. Plus, the opening of the movie. That was cool.

Oh, I also got nice treat I'll post in the Wreck It Ralph thread.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by UFAlien

I agree the 3D was great. That, the music, and a smidgen of decent suspense was about all I liked in this.

As you your spoiler-hidden-bit,

[Show spoiler]Claudia, Vincent, and Leonard are all characters from Silent Hill 3, where they were all much better-written and more important save perhaps Leonard, who was barely in it. My issue is that the Order from the games, which is actually pretty similar to the one in this movie, is a completely different cult from the one in the first movie. Originally I was pretty sure I'd read in an interview with Bassett that he was going to present it this way - that Claudia's followers were a different cult. That would have explained why they weren't mentioned in the first film and why they had such obviously different motives. But for whatever reason the finished film tries to make the case that the witch-hunters in the first film were actually the Order all along, which just doesn't make sense. It also saddles the script with the dual task of explaining the Order's mythology - which it needs to since it really wasn't the cult in the first film - AND trying to tie it in with the first film. The attempt at a connection is unconvincing and pointless and it doesn't leave enough room for the Order's mythology to be established without all the terrible dialogue.

What Claudia says in the movie is that Alessa was "chosen" to brith the God because she was the only one who could survive a witch burning. Although it's not stated in the film, leaving another plot hole, this is because in the games the vessel for the God needed to experience extreme suffering to become a suitable host for the dark deity. According to Claudia, they weren't expecting that Alessa's power would manifest as "Dark Alessa" and the Otherworld by tapping into the town's power. That in itself makes sense - at least as much as anything in the franchise does - the issue (besides the aforementioned plothole) is that the first film very explicitly showed us she wasn't "chosen" for a ceremony to birth a god; they thought she was a witch because she was a virgin birth and they wanted to eliminate her for good. Dark Alessa herself even explained in the first movie that this was a fairly routine witch burning for them until it all went wrong - "they had been called upon many times to restore innocence."

Technically you COULD make the argument that no one mentioned this in the first film, but it's still true... but it's a stretch. It's kind of important, and really seems like the sort of thing that Dark Alessa would've mentioned to Rose during her long monologue. The fact there was NO mention whatsoever of Valtiel or this ceremony or anything by any of the cult members in the original also makes it really jarring. It would've worked much better if it were, say, a separate cult that came to Silent Hill hoping to use the town's power to contact their God and unexpectedly ran into the wrath of Alessa.

Thanks again UFAlien for that detailed explanation. You know more about the games than I do, and this is helpful as I haven't played SH3.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Lovemy3D

I liked it. I can agree with some of what UFAlien is saying. But I thought it was fun anyway. I don't go to a something like this expecting the greatest movie ever. I was just expecting some weird creepy fun, with great 3D. and that's what it was. And that girl is damn cute. I hope she turns up in more movies.

Maybe I'm just getting old. But I've learned that picking apart, and over analyzing a movie will ruin even the best of them for you. Sometimes if you want to enjoy a movie, you just have to enjoy it for what it is, rather than to remain frustrated it doesn't live up to certain expectations.

I was actually glad when they stopped and started discussing what was going on. Because before that it just seemed like a bunch of random weirdness.(however cool. lol) It was getting a little confusing even for me, being somewhat familiar with Silent Hill. I didn't play the first game. Just the second one, and most of the fourth. (Which I didn't like as much.) And I saw the previous movie of course. ( I should have watched again first.) It was nice when there was finally a set mission to follow.

My favorite 3D moments that stand out to me right now, were the elevator scene.

[Show spoiler] And the freaky spider legged creature. That thing was wicked.

And also the moment when she walks into Silent Hill. Plus, the opening of the movie. That was cool.

Oh, I also got nice treat I'll post in the Wreck It Ralph thread.

Yeah, that spider creature was pretty cool. All pieced together from other former humans. The young lady who played Heather was great IMO, even though a few of her lines were stilted at times, she still conveyed good emotion. And she is cute, agreed.

I still enjoyed it even if parts were unexplained, though it's also nice to know about all the parts that went unexplained or were disjointed from the previous film from the story perspective.

Cool about the free ticket.

[Lovemy3D]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Yeah, that spider creature was pretty cool. All pieced together from other former humans. The young lady who played Heather was great IMO, even though a few of her lines were stilted at times, she still conveyed good emotion. And she is cute, agreed.

Yeah, I enjoyed her performance.

I still enjoyed it even if parts were unexplained, though it's also nice to know about all the parts that went unexplained or were disjointed from the previous film from the story perspective.

True. UFAliens post are informative. Thanks UFAlien. I know some people that played the Resident Evil games hate the movies because of them diverging from the game story too much. I never had the pleasure of playing any of those games. But I think I'd still enjoy the movies if I had. Even though the movies may be flawed, it's still fun to watch. Especially in 3D.

Cool about the free ticket.

[UFAlien]

Actually, my problem here is kind of the opposite... the first movie was quite different from the games and I liked it. A lot of the script issues in this sequel come from them trying (and failing) to reconcile the plot of the first film with the plot of the games.

[Zivouhr]

I'd be interested if a studio could take the actual script and cinematography from one specific game, maybe Silent Hill 3, and replicate it shot for shot with a live action movie, if they have the rights to do that, with the exact music also. There are hints of it in video game based movies, but most only use the game as a source and then create their own take on it.

Replicate the Games:
So in Silent Hill 1 for example, the father, not the mother, would be driving the vehicle when it crashes after the apparition appears in the cloudy rural road. He'd wake up in his crashed car in the foggy town of Silent Hill, get out and explore, then spot who he thinks is his daughter Cheryl in the foggy distance and continue from there

[Show spoiler]with the baby demons stabbing his legs, waking up in the diner, talking to the female cop, hearing the radio static, the flying monsters breaking through the windows, etc.

All in 3D of course.

I betting the decision makers don't want a replica though. Sometimes that means we end up with Super Mario Brothers the movie with Dennis Hopper as King Koopa, looking nothing like the video game character among most other things, but thankfully, the Silent Hill movies resemble the games really well in contrast of Super Mario Brothers' movie effort.

[UFAlien]

The other issue with a direct shot-for-shot translation of the games is that it'd be way too long. The first Silent Hill takes anywhere from 5 - 8 hours to play through for most people. The movie could be made shorter with editing - you don't need to show him running all around the town, for example, which you need to do in real-time in the games - but there's still just so much more stuff there that there's no real way to cram it all into a palatable feature film runtime. Think of all the stuff that was left out:

[Show spoiler]The entire Alchemilla Hospital subplot with Nurse Lisa and Dr. Kaufmann, the connected drug smuggling/weird demon-killing liquid subplot, the trip to the antiques shop and the discovery of the altar there, the trip through the sewers, the showdown between Cybil and Harry in the amusement park, Alessa's plan to use the Seal of Metatron all over the town to stop the cult's plans...

Trying to fit all that into the movie would make it epic-length, even if you used the sloppy rapid-fire exposition of Revelation. Trying to make a practical direct adaptation of the game, then, would result in what was basically a crappy remake of half the game's story with big chunks missing; a watered-down copy of what's already available. That's why I supported the path the first film took by using the atmosphere, visual style, music, and some characters and important plot elements, and then building an original story for the film around it.

I think that my ideal Silent Hill movie at this point would be a totally original story set in the town, akin to what Silent Hill 2 did for the game series. Of course, sequel prospects aren't looking super hot right now, and even if they did make one, they'd probably take the easy way out. After all, Bassett gave us three sequel hooks by

[Show spoiler]teasing an adaptation of Origins with Travis Grady, an adaptation of Downpour with the prison transport, and the still-unresolved plot thread with Chris looking for his wife in town - not to mention whatever happened to Dahlia or the real adult Alessa.

As much as I'd like to bring back Radha Mitchell in a bigger part and get some closure on the story, I don't think I'd want to see a direct sequel to Revelation. For one,

[Show spoiler]the end of this movie makes a big deal about how Alessa and the Order's power over the town has been broken, meaning that Otherworld is gone. So if there was going to be an Otherworld at all, it'd need to spring from Chris himself, or perhaps Rose or the prisoner implied to be Murphy from Downpour if they continue that plot thread as well. It could be interesting, but it'd also be too bound to what had come before for my tastes - though at the very least it could give Chris some much-needed character development.

What I would be okay with is

[Show spoiler]a cameo or something from them in the sequel, maybe with Dahlia. It's pretty clear she wouldn't leave Silent Hill even if the defeat of the Order set her free from the fog world, because she'd have no place to go. I don't remember what happened to the Seal of Metatron at the end of Revelation, but if Chris doesn't have it then there's a decent chance he'll find Rose, but they'll be unable to escape. It could be interesting seeing them as permanent residents of the fog world alongside Dahlia.

One thing that's quite confusing/ambiguous in the games and not really touched upon much in the movies is the nature of the Otherworld and how people and things travel in and out of it.

[Show spoiler]In the first Silent Hill game, most of the characters at first exist only in the fog world. Cybil is there in the fog world, but when Harry starts talking about the Otherworld she's completely lost. Then of course, we're introduced to Lisa, who only exists in the Otherworld. By the end, the major characters are all together in the Otherworld for the summoning attempt of the God. As best as I can tell, moving in or out of the Otherworld was controlled or at least influenced by Alessa and/or the cult's power in the first game. Everyone who was in the fog world or Otherworld together saw the same monsters, which were drawn from Alessa's psyche and/or the cult's mythology.

The cult isn't in the second game at all; instead, only the town's own innate power comes into play. It takes people with damaged psyches and sort of "projects" them out into their personal hells. The main character, James, meets a few different people in town - a girl named Angela, a boy named Eddie, and a little girl named Laura. Angela and Eddie see monsters, but it's implied that they're not the same ones as James, since most of the monsters he sees are pulled from his own psyche. Laura, who knew James' wife and has a personal connection to him, claims not to see any monsters at all and is in fact quite casual about her time in the town despite the fact that she appears to be trapped in the fog world with the rest of them. This implies the fog world is a sort of shared dimension that customizes itself to each person in it, and everyone perceives it differently. Perhaps they're all on slightly different planes close enough to interact but distant enough that the monsters remain separate. Frankly, it's confusing as all get-out if you really try to think about it and probably wouldn't fly in a movie at all.

The other notable bit from Silent Hill 2 is that we also get a glimpse of Angela's Otherworld. Or fog world. It's not really very clear.

Stairs Of Fire (James and Angela) - YouTube

James just says it's hot... we can't tell if he can actually see the flames, but Angela makes that assumption. She also says it's always like that for her, so either she's always in the Otherworld yet still able to interact with James when he's in the fog world, or her fog world is always flamey, making it very different from any other established in the series. What is more definite is that monsters CAN affect people who they did not originate from; that odd protrusion on the wall there comes to life and is actually a monster sprouted from Angela's psyche, which attacks James. Her turmoil apparently either became strong enough to project into James' world or pull him temporarily into hers.

To be palatable to most movie audiences, this needs to be made a great deal simpler. It wasn't much of a concern in the first movie, though -

[Show spoiler]in the movies, the entire town of the fog world and everyone in it just seems to "turn into" the Otherworld when "the darnkess" comes. The exception here is the monsters, some of which - the Grey Children and insects in the first movie, Pyramid Head in both - exist only in the Otherworld, which somewhat implies it's still a different world/dimension/plane of existence as opposed to just a transformation. Alessa was clearly still controlling it, at least to some extent, since she was able to call it off when necessary - such as when Rose was overwhelmed by the Grey Children or trapped by Pyramid Head. It also activated at opportune times on occasion, chasing away the cult members who found Rose in the school and luring her to their church when she needed to learn about them. It's implied in the first and explicitly stated in the sequel that Alessa had some sort of powers anyway, so these probably granted her this level of control. Dahlia even states that "Only the dark one (Dark Alessa) opens and closes the door to Silent Hill." The events in the fog world/Otherworld could slightly affect the real world - doors opening, Chris smelling Rose's perfume - but not by much.

In Revelation, it's established that the Seal of Metatron apparently can be used to free someone from the fog world/Otherworld, though it seems to be used for this purpose only once. They also establish some vague ritual involving an unspecified "sacrifice" and carving the image of the Seal into your body to obtain temporary leave. Claudia and some of the Order members obviously leave, as Claudia is seen in her monster form in the mall and cult members have been chasing them around for a long time. Vincent says at the motel that the Otherworld is activated because of Heather's proximity to Dark Alessa, which explains that, but not why the Otherworld shows up at her school and the mall. It can be assumed it may have something to do with her proximity to Order members (Vincent at the school, Claudia in the mall), though that leaves open the question of why it isn't always the Otherworld when she's around Vincent.

More pressing is the incidental female character in the mannequin scene who explains she ended up in the Otherworld by taking a wrong turn in the fog. In the first movie, Chris and Detective Gucci entered the town with no problems and existed on the "real world" plane, so it seems odd that this completely unrelated character was for some reason sucked into this dimension. It could have something to do with the Order, I suppose - after all, they were also able to bring Chris into the Otherworld when they captured him, so maybe they have some control over who gets in and who doesn't. It's just frustrating that the movie explains so much useless crap and then leaves these big gaps in logic for things that actually matter.

Heather, Vincent, and Chris are seemingly freed from the Otherworld/fog world dimension after Claudia's defeat because Alessa's revenge is complete and her power over the town/creation of that dimension has ended, but Chris willingly walks right back into the fog to look for Rose - though logically, wouldn't she have been freed too? Seems like a stupid idea to me.

So basically we have no idea how the Otherworld is supposed to work now that

[Show spoiler]Dark Alessa and the cult are gone.

And on a loosely-related tangent, if we HAD to have an adaptation... I wouldn't mind seeing a Silent Hill 2 movie done with Angela as the main character. She was always pretty fascinating to me, and she has relatively little screen time in the game.

Sorry this is so long, hopefully it's not just annoying rambling XD