I will admit that when I think of movies from twenty years ago that needed a sequel or a revisit, SILENT HILL was definitely not anywhere on my list. I mean, I don’t really have a list at all so I am making a bad joke here, but sitting down to watch RETURN TO SILENT HILL was more out of necessity on my weekly moviegoing adventures than anything else.
I never want to be hard on “bad” movies anymore; I am getting older now and not wishing to pile on movies I consider poor or not worth seeing…and yet here I am seeing the movie and not enjoying it, and truly trying to find any purpose other than seeing an sequel that’s also based off the video game of the same title.
This one is pretty airy on its story as it features James (Jeremy Irvine) trying to find his wife Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson, also playing many parts here) and as he goes past that infamous “Welcome To Silent Hill” poster all of the horrors and nightmares will ensue for James. This also parallels with a car crash that resulted in a death, so of course there’s reason to have bad feelings and dealing with loss and all of that important stuff.
The director here is Christopher Gans, who directed the first but is more known to me for the wonderful BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF from many years ago. Here he mostly shoots the entire movie in the dark (I did see this in a cinema with VERY good projection) with varying levels of visual effects and design. There is also one atrocious edit featuring a character here where the movie cuts about eight frames as she finishes a sentence, then cuts to her head moving to hear a reaction that is so out of nowhere that I scribbled down in my notes “THAT’S the edit you are going with???”
I will throw this movie ONE bone at least….actress Hannah Emily Anderson plays multiple roles here along with Mary and variants of her, and I can tell she put a lot of work into her costumes, makeup and has a good level of enthusiasm here. She’s about the only decent performance in a whole mix of actors who are pushing things way over the top and overreacting to everything.
It was more fun watching the audience at my screening react to this. Six people walked out before it was over, and two younger moviegoers left near me and I overheard a girl saying “I just don’t know how I feel about that one”, which is usually code for not liking it at all. “The video game was very different” was another remark I overheard, and I have no idea what that means. Either way, I don’t feel alone in disliking this one, but If you have seen EVERY movie out there right now and have a real necessity to give RETURN TO SILENT HILL a shot….go for it. I won’t judge you. Just as long as you have seen every other movie in your town first.
RETURN TO SILENT HILL is now playing in cinemas.