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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 when I recently took delivery of a 3D Tv 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. Haven’t 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 an inherent trait of the 3D itself. So I’m 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!
Cert: 
Running time: 94 minutes
Year: 2012
Released: October 31st 2012
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Redcode RAW (4.5K) (dual-strip 3-D))
Viewed at: Odeon Cinema, Manchester
Rating: 8/10
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.