Silent Hill: Revelation

Silent Hill: Revelation is a 2012 psychological horror film, directed and written by M. J. Bassett.  A sequel to the 2006 film Silent Hill, it stars Adelaide Clemens, Kit Harington, Martin Donovan, Malcolm McDowell and Carrie-Anne Moss, along with Sean Bean, Deborah Kara Unger and Radha Mitchell returning from the previous film.  It is based on the survival horror video game Silent Hill 3 by Konami.  Revelations plot follows adult  Heather Mason (Clemens) who, discovering on the eve of her eighteenth birthday that her presumed identity is false, is drawn to an alternate dimension existing in the fictitious American town of Silent Hill. 

Bassett had expressed her openness to fans' suggestions of actresses for Heather's role.  On a total estimated $20 million budget, filming lasted from March to May 2011 in Canada, with the 3D RED Epic camera used for the process; audio mixing took place in France. 

Silent Hill: Revelation was released in Canada on October 26, 2012 by Open Road Films and on November 28, 2012 by Metropolitan Filmexport.  The film was a moderate box office success, grossing over $56 million worldwide, but has received negative reviews by film critics and fans alike. 

Plot

In January 2011, Sharon Da Silva (Adelaide Clemens) and her adoptive father Christopher (Sean Bean), have spent the past few years moving from town to town and assuming different identities, including the names Heather Mason and Harry Mason.  Heather believes that they are on the run from the police because Christopher killed a man in self-defense and that her adoptive mother Rose (Radha Mitchell) died in a car crash.  In fact, he has been protecting her from a cult of Silent Hill, called the Order.  Rose was able to free Heather (Sharon) from the fog world using one half of a talisman called the Seal of Metatron, but she herself remained trapped in Silent Hill. 

Heather meets fellow student Vincent Cooper (Kit Harington), but is haunted by hallucinations of Silent Hill.  She is approached by private investigator Douglas Cartland (Martin Donovan) regarding her identity.  Heather warns her father, but he is abducted by the Order and taken to Silent Hill.  Unaware of this, Heather goes to a mall to wait for him, but enters the mall's Otherworld.  Douglas explains he was hired by the Order to find Heather, but decides to help her when he discovered who his clients were.  A monster, the Missionary (Liise Keeling), kills Douglas.  Heather returns to the real world and flees, unfortunately leaving her a suspect of Douglas' murder. 

Vincent escorts her home, but they find a message instructing Heather to go to Silent Hill.  On the way to rescue her father, Heather reads a letter from her father detailing the truth of her background and lost memories.  Heather and Vincent travel to the town, but stop at a motel, where Vincent reveals that he is the son of the Order's leader Claudia Wolf (Carrie-Anne Moss), and was sent by her to ensure Heather came of her own volition to Silent Hill.  He reveals that Heather is a part of Alessa Gillespie (Erin Pitt), a girl whose immolation 38 years ago by the Order lead to creation of the town's shifting dimensions.  The resulting argument triggers a shift to the Otherworld.  The Missionary grabs Vincent, but not before he tells Heather to find his grandfather Leonard (Malcolm McDowell), who possesses the other half of the Seal of Metatron. 

Heather ventures into the foggy dimension to find her father.  She encounters Alessa's mother Dahlia (Deborah Kara Unger), who reveals that Claudia intends to complete the purpose intended for Alessa at her burning.  After a shift to the Otherworld, Heather finds Leonard who, after informing her that the Seal of Metatron will reveal "the true nature of things," fuses Heather's half of the amulet with the one he possesses and becomes a monster.  After being knocked out and carried off, Heather regains consciousness and grabs the amulet from within his body, killing Leonard.  As she runs away, she summons Pyramid Head (Roberto Campanella), the entity created to protect Alessa (and by extension Heather), with her pleading and hides from him.  Shortly after, she witnesses Vincent being taken away by the Order after being deemed insane by Claudia for betraying them. 

Heather saves Vincent and they go to Lakeside Amusement Park where the Order's sanctuary is hidden.  Dark Alessa (Erin Pitt and Adelaide Clemens), the manifestation of Alessa's wrath, confronts Heather who embraces her counterpart, absorbing her, and making Alessa complete once again.  Heather confronts Claudia, who is holding Christopher and Vincent hostage.  Claudia explains that Alessa's destiny was to be the incubator for a deity worshiped by the Order, who would punish all sinners upon its birth, completing Heather's destiny as well.  Remembering Leonard's words, Heather gives Claudia the Seal of Metatron, revealing her to be the Missionary.  Heather summons Pyramid Head, who kills the Missionary, allowing Heather to rescue Vincent and Christopher. 

As the fog fades from the town, Christopher decides to stay in Silent Hill to find and free Rose, leaving Heather and Vincent to care for each other.  They manage to hitch a ride away from the place in a truck driven by Travis Grady (Peter Outerbridge).  Travis mentions to Heather (now referring to herself as Sharon) and Vincent that they were lucky he was there since he had not been driving in that direction for a long time.  A couple of police cars, followed by a prisoner transport, enter the area of Silent Hill, which is then consumed by the fog.  In a post-credits scene, Pyramid Head is seen walking through an unknown area in Silent Hill. 

Cast

 Adelaide Clemens as Heather Mason / Sharon Da Silva, the troubled adoptive daughter of Rose and Chris Da Silva, who has been running away from Silent Hill with Chris for six years; and as Dark Alessa, in teenaged form, the tormented daughter of Dahlia Gillespie, who was severely burned by the cult and exacted revenge on them. 
 Kit Harington as Vincent Smith, a classmate of Heather and secretly a member of the Order and the son of Claudia Wolf, sent to take Heather to Silent Hill. 
 Sean Bean as Harry Mason / Christopher Da Silva, the adoptive father of Sharon, who has been keeping Heather's true identity and memories a secret out of protection for six years. 
 Carrie-Anne Moss as Claudia Wolf, the priestess of the Order of Valtiel, sister of Christabella and Dahlia, daughter of Leonard, and the main antagonist of the film, who holds Christopher captive. 
 Malcolm McDowell as Leonard Wolf, the grandfather of Vincent and father of Claudia, who was chained down and abandoned by the cult. 
 Martin Donovan as Douglas Cartland, a detective hired by Claudia to spy on Sharon and Vincent to capture them. 
 Deborah Kara Unger as Dahlia Gillespie, the ragged and depressed biological mother of Alessa Gillespie, who wanders through Silent Hill's alternate dimensions. 
 Radha Mitchell as Rose Da Silva, the adoptive mother of Sharon and wife to Chris, who is trapped in the fog world after the events of the first film. 
 Heather Marks as Suki, a girl who took a wrong turn and got lost in the fog. 
 Roberto Campanella as Pyramid Head, a humanoid monster wearing a triangular shaped helmet who protects Sharon and Alessa. 
 Erin Pitt as Young Alessa Gillespie, the tormented daughter of Dahlia Gillespie, who was severely burned by the cult and exacted revenge on them; and as the younger Sharon Da Silva, along with Dark Alessa, who is seen frequently haunting Heather. 
 Peter Outerbridge as Travis Grady, a character from Silent Hill: Origins who makes a cameo near the end of the film. 

Production

Development
Following the release of Silent Hill, Christophe Gans, its director, stated that a sequel "is officially ordered and is already well underway."  However, he then declined to direct the film, stating he "had other projects in mind."  Silent Hills writer Roger Avary had planned to return to the sequel, before his arrest in 2008 for vehicular manslaughter.  M.J. Bassett replaced Gans and Avary as writer and director. 

In 2009, video game artist Masahiro Ito, who participated in the development of multiple installments of the Silent Hill series of video games, was asked to design the creatures and the look of the "Otherworld" dimension featured in the film, but declined the offer because of other obligations.  Jeff Danna and Akira Yamaoka composed the film's soundtrack. 

Casting
Bassett expressed in her official blog that she was open to fans' suggestions of whom to cast as main protagonist Heather Mason, provided that the actress could provide a realistic portrayal of an eighteen-year-old and that she would be "well known;" having a page on the website IMDb was cited as a requirement.  Australian actress Adelaide Clemens was eventually cast in the role.  Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Deborah Kara Unger, and Roberto Campanella were all contacted to reprise their characters, which they accepted. 

Filming and audio mixing
Principal photography began in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on March 7, 2011 and wrapped in May 2011, with the 3D RED Epic camera used for the process.  Street and bridge scenes were shot in Galt from March 21 to March 26, and scenes set at Silent Hill's Lakeside Amusement Park were filmed at the Cherry Beach park on April 7, 2011.  The final theatrical mix for the film was completed on February 2, 2012.  The film's audio mixing took place in Paris, France, and was handled by a team of six people. 

Release
Silent Hill: Revelation had its premier in Hong Kong on 25 October 2012.  It was theatrically released in the U.S. through Open Road Films on October 26, 2012.  Two clips were screened at San Diego Comic-Con International 2012, and a trailer was issued on July 27, 2012.  The film was released direct-to-video in Australia on March 6, 2013. 

Reception

Box office
Silent Hill: Revelation opened at #5 at the box office, taking in a weekend number of $8 million, and grossed a total of $55,975,672 worldwide.  This made it a moderate box office success from its $20 million budget. 

Critical reception

Silent Hill: Revelation was panned by film critics, and currently holds an 10% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 60 critics, with an average rating of 2.96/10.  The site's critical consensus reads, "Mediocre effort even by the standards of video game adaptations, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D features weak characters and an incomprehensible plot with a shortage of scares."  On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 16 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike."  Dennis Harvey of Variety said that Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is a "cheaper, cheesier sequel that's worse than its predecessor on every level (save being a half-hour shorter) and takes no special advantage of the stereoscopic process." 

Possible sequel
In October 2012, M. J. Bassett stated that if she was to make a sequel, instead of adapting from an existing game, she would prefer to use the stories in the graphic novel adaptations. 

In January 2020, Silent Hill director Christophe Gans announced in an interview that a new Silent Hill film is in development and the former will be set in a small American town ruled over by Puritanism. 

References

External links
 
 
 
 
 
 

Category:Silent Hill
Category:2012 films
Category:2012 3D films
Category:2012 horror films
Category:Canadian films
Category:Canadian 3D films
Category:Canadian supernatural horror films
Category:French films
Category:French 3D films
Category:French horror films
Category:English-language films
Category:Live-action films based on video games
Category:2010s psychological horror films
Category:2010s sequel films
Category:2010s supernatural horror films
Category:Works based on Konami video games
Category:Films produced by Don Carmody
Category:Films scored by Jeff Danna
Category:Films shot in Toronto