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Silent Hill: Revelation 3D begins with Heather (the stunning Adelaide Clemens), about to turn 18 and she hopes for a more stable life as she and her father, Harry (Sean Bean sporting an impossibly abysmal American accent), have been on the run for some time, moving from one house to another, and changing schools, ever since the events of the original film, which resulted in her mother Rose (Radha Mitchell) being captured and forced to spend an eternity in the town of Silent Hill.
Naturally, the one thing any girl wants to do is find her mother, but there’s a problem: despite the fact that graphic, bloodied signs appear round her house telling her to “Come to Silent Hill”, it’s a place that no-one should venture into… because you don’t escape, or, at least, the chances aren’t good. That said, before long, a new reason to pay a visit has been forced upon her: Dad’s been captured and taken there. So she has to go. She won’t be alone, though, as new friend Vincent (Kit Harington) has also joined her school and tags along for the ride, much to her initial annoyance.
At this point I’ll have to admit to the fact that I haven’t seen the original film, and I was drawn to this sequel by the fact the trailer made it look like the same sort of crash-bang-wallop 90-odd minutes of 3D mayhem that I experienced and enjoyed with Resident Evil: Retribution. And it delivered.
Sure, the acting mostly amounts to another teenage blonde girl shrieking when all hell breaks loose around her, literally in this case, and a brief, unexpected appearance from Malcolm McDowell is always welcome, but when Red Pyramid (Roberto Campanella) turned up to dispense his own form of justice with a long blade that proved ‘armless’ (ho ho), I thought he was some variant of Axe Man from the Milla Jovovich series as I know little of the content in the Silent Hill franchise, other than the fact that I tried to once play a game on the Xbox 360, got nowhere after 30 minutes than down the road a bit, switched it off and the game actually disappeared shortly after… Hmm… maybe it’s in Silent Hill?
Anyhoo, all you need to know is that this is a kick-ass piece of 3D slasher-thriller entertainment with some incredibly inventive special effects and wonderful use of the 3D, and at the time this was in the cinema, I had just taken delivery of a 3D TV and I was unsure if there was a problem with mine because, while items at a reasonable distance into the screen looked wonderful in 3D, the same could not be said for anything intended to be right up close, where it looked rather a blur. Having only seen a few cinema 3D films previously, I waited until my next visit to clarify this, and on watching this film I saw it’s down to there not being something quite right in the fiming technique, since Life of Pi had no such issues. Either way, I was glad I haven’t wasted a ton of money on a TV I thought was broken.
Sadly, the night I saw this at the Odeon in Manchester was the last night it was ever going to screen. Like the afore-mentioned Resident Evil film, it didn’t hang around long, so when the next film in either franchise comes along, rush to see them before they disappear. And when this turns up on 3D Blu-ray, Watch it on the biggest screen you can. It’s fab!
Presented in the original 2.35:1 theatrical ratio and in 1080p high definition, the picture is sharp and detailed with no problems whatsoever, allowing you to indulge in the wonderful fun that awaits you, as well as all the horrors along the way. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 50″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
As for the sound, this is in DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio and there are sound FX all over the shop, either in quiet ambient moments or when all hell breaks loose.
The extras are as follows, some of which are in 3D themselves, which is a nice touch:
- Introduction by director Michael J. Bassett (0:46): The idea here, is that you watch this before watching the film… although I never watch any extras before I see the film.
- A look inside Silent Hill 3D (3D) (3:08): For such a short piece, there are two chapters within. It’s just a brief featurette about the film, containing chat from key cast and crew members, but while it packs a lot in, it still leaves you wanting more.
- Making Of (45:20): And here comes a lot more about it, right on cue. Featuring more chat from cast and crew members, as well as on-set footage, there are 9 chapters to this piece, but, oddly, they’re thrown in rather at random around every 5 minutes.
- Universal Attraction: A Halloween Horror Night (4:41): A Silent Hill ‘maze’ attraction is built at the San Diego Comic Con 2012 convention, which looks pretty cool, even though it’s just a haunted house with Silent Hill characters in it. This features a brief Q&A with Adelaide Clemens and director Michael J. Bassett, as well as producer Samuel Hadida.
- Deleted and extended scenes (3D) (11:14): There are 9 of them here, each With optional director’s commentary. I’d put back the first and the penultimate one, but the rest I would simply leave as nice little extras as they don’t add enough to be put back in.
- Trailer (3D) (2:24): The theatrical trailer in the original 2.35:1 ratio and it looks as wonderful in 3D as the film does.
Note that ‘A look inside Silent Hill 3D’ is only on the 3D version and not the 2D, although if you were to play the disc in a 2D player then you can see the same thing in 2D…. not that you would normally buy a 3D disc if you only had a 2D machine, but I’m just covering all the bases here. Basically, there’s no reason why a 2D version of such a short extra shouldn’t be also on that disc.
The menu has some slight animation of Red Pyramid as if he’s in the corridor with the prisoner and their arms… but nothing untoward happens. In the background is a short piece of the theme music.
There are subtitles in English only and the chaptering is maddening at how poor it is. While there are chapters coming out of their ears in the extras, the film itself has a paltry 12 during the 94-minute running time.
And while I’m at a quick moan, I don’t rate the artwork on the packaging at all. It pales in comparison to that of the original movie poster, as you can see here.
Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is out now on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8 10 10 4 |
| OVERALL | 8 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 94 minutes
Year: 2012
Distributor: Lionsgate
Cat no: LGB94967
Released: March 25th 2013
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Redcode RAW (4.5K) (dual-strip 3-D))
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Michael J. Bassett
Producer: Don Carmody and Samuel Hadida
Screenplay: Michael J. Bassett
Music: Jeff Danna and Akira Yamaoka
Cast:
Heather: Adelaide Clemens
Harry: Sean Bean
Claudia Wolf: Carrie-Anne Moss
Rose Da Silva: Radha Mitchell
Leonard: Malcolm McDowell
Douglas: Martin Donovan
Dahlia: Deborah Kara Unger
Red Pyramid: Roberto Campanella
Sharon/Young Alessa: Erin Pitt
Travis Grady: Peter Outerbridge
Detective Santini: Jefferson Brown
Detective Cable: Milton Barnes
Suki: Heather Marks
Mannequin Girl: Rachel Sellan
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.