The Story:

Years after the events of Silent Hill we follow the tale of Heather and Harry Mason, or as you might remember them Sharon and Christopher Da Silva. They are on the run for reasons to be revealed in the film. Heather soon finds out that she needs to go back to Silent Hill to save her father from a horrible fate and embarks upon the quest. Will she save him and be able to make it out herself? That's to be found out in the film.

Hated:

It was short. Too short. As you'll read below, they touched upon quite a few interesting creatures and locations in the story, but they are rushed and quickly forgotten. If not forgotten, just kind of thrown to the sidelines. That is one of the selling points of this franchise to me; the reason the creatures exist at all. In fact, I learned more about the mannequin monster at the Comic Con panel than they showed in the film. It was like they had the intention to go into detail and then chose not to because they thought they were running out of time. I would have totally sat through an extra half hour of film for a bit more on all of the new horrors in this film.

Next, and pretty much my only other major gripe, is the set design. Not in the way that you think though. In general the sets looked amazing and were pulled off well. What was the problem for me is that there always seemed to be some new area or alcove created after being defined as not being there. Case in point, there is a scene where Heather creeping down a hall of the Asylum. It is shown that each "cage" has a crazed inmate in it and there are melted faces underneath. Pretty much just two ways to go. Then Pyramid Head shows up and out of nowhere there is a small little cage for her to slide into and to safety. It bugged me as it seems like the writers just needed something that the set designers didn't want to accommodate for. I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend the rest of the scene trying to figure out where the hells the magic escape hole came from.

Loved:

First and foremost the creature design and implementation. I was overly impressed with how everything looked in the film. Yes we have hit an era where this is not hard to do, but when trying to please fans of the franchise and excite those just watching for the scares; you have a certain level you need to push for. This was hit on the mark in my eyes. Even the iconic nurses and pyramid head seem to have been given a perfect upgrade to make them just that extra level of creepy. Mix that in with the new creepy creatures and you really get to see Silent Hill come to life in a spectacular and horrific way. Horrific in a good way.

Speaking of making it come to life, it also seemed like there was care to show that anyone could happen into Silent Hill at any time, even though not fully expanded upon. During the film you get to see a few other people who just happened to make a wrong turn toward the foggy town and become trapped just like everyone else. It is passing and suffered from what I spoke of above in the "shortness", but it shows that they are thinking grand scale. Silent Hill isn't just a town of nightmares; it is something that anyone could actually end up in. This is something I wish they would have touched a bit more on in the first film, and now the second, but at least it shows they are trying. It was enough to make me enjoy it just that little bit more.

Lastly, and this is totally my love of the setting, the carnival. Nothing makes me happier than seeing an old style carnival. I loved it in the Silent Hill games and loved seeing it in the film now. It was done in great perfection to me. It may not have been a 100% recreation, but it fit so well. Like I said, it is more of a personal thing here, but it made me love Silent Hill: Revelation that much more. That and it got featured twice. When you see the film, you'll see what I mean.

Overview:

In the end Silent Hill: Revelation was a fun, short romp through a spectacular franchise. Emphasis on short though. I will also say that it isn't as great as the first film, but as sequels go, it is pretty damn enjoyable. It is not like most other sequels or video game based films, in a good way. I'd recommend checking it out in theaters. If you miss out, definitely catch it when it hits home entertainment systems. Especially since the ending alludes to another film coming in the future.

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D stars Adelaide Clemens, Kit Harington, Carrie-Anne Moss, Sean Bean, and Malcolm McDowell. It hit theaters on October 26^th.