Silent Hill Revelation: For the Fans

For those not in the know, Silent Hill Revelation is basically an adaption of the video game Silent Hill 3. (As well as a sequel to the first movie.)

This.

In my opinion, this movie is what the first Silent Hill movie should have been. It catered to Silent Hill fans A LOT. Of course that means it's not really going to be a movie for nonfans. Or at least I don't really see how nonfans could like it.

It's got a sporadic pace, kind of like a roller coaster. From the start you're thrown into the action; the nightmare that is silent hill (much like the beginning of SH3!). Then it's slow for a while, then it's fast! then slow again. They had to put in a lot of explanations and flashbacks from the first movie (which was executed rather well) but I'm not sure it's something people would like.

Reasons:
1) Not that many jump scares
2) Weird soundtrack
3) what the fuck is going on?

There weren't many stupid decisions either. Basically: This wasn't a lame B-movie gore ride which I think made people bored with it (from what I observed in the theater I was in). The guys in the row below me were more preoccupied with all the boobies and vaginas more than anything else.

So now that I've talked about it from a nonfan point of view...Here's my fan reaction:

IT. WAS. AWESOME.

Reasons:
1) Not that many jumps scares
2) Akira Yamaoka remixed the soundtrack a bit but still very SH3
3) I KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

Chris' name was changed to Harry. Heather looks and moves like Heather.  THEY DIDN'T MAKE HER A WUSS. This was actually what I was seriously worried about. The Heather I knew was really strong and didn't take shit from anyone. She's exactly like that in the movie.

All around Badass.

There's new and old monsters! The new ones were super cool so I'm not upset about this in any way, shape or form. Some people may not be happy with what they chose to do with Pyramid Head, but I like it. Once you see the movie, you'll understand what I mean.

Now things I hated about it:
1) The actress picked for Claudia
2) Vincent

As I mentioned in my first blog post, Carrie-Ann Moss didn't care to see what the video game Claudia was like and decided to play her how she liked. That was her mistake. Her version of Claudia basically sucked. 

In this picture, we see her failing at Claudia. She isn't even happy with herself ever.

As for Vincent, I could go on and on but I'll just leave it at: I understand it's a movie but does there REALLY need to be a love interest? 

Go back to the wall, Snow!

Even with that, I have to say to Silent Hill fans, I HIGHLY recommend you see it. It was great. And if you can, see it in 3D. I had fun swatting at the ash falling in my face.

To nonfans, I'd say go see it only if you really like story and disturbing movies. Go for the creepy ambience, not for the jump scares or screaming girls.



Possible Spoilers******* Not about plot. Mostly easter eggs I suppose.

There are TONS of nerdy moments for Silent Hill fans. These include:

Locked doors
Robbie the Rabbit
Travis Grady (from SH Origins)
Possible hint at SH: Downpour
Pyramid Head
Missionary
Save Point Symbol
Metatron
The Pipe weapon!
etc, etc.

I pretty much fangasmed the whole movie.

Death Tube

What

    One of those movies not many people in the Western hemisphere have seen (or maybe even heard of). It's a Japanese horror I watched a few weeks ago. It was quite the boregorefest. 

    Basically the premises is this: There's a youtube-like website that pops up randomly once a year that can't be traced and it shows people solving puzzles and being killed when they can't finish the puzzle in time. I suppose you can compare it to SAW. There's a group of people and they have to abide by certain rules for every puzzle in order for the whole group to live to the next puzzle. Of course some just want to save themselves and usually end up getting themselves killed for it. 

    The killer is also dressed up in a bear outfit and has a silly cartoonish voice which is rather unsettling.

Yeah, no, thanks.

    Halfway in I was ready to turn it off and go to sleep. I was bored. Unfortunately, I wanted to know who would be the last survivor (or if anyone would get to live, knowing Japanese horror), so I continued on. I have to give it credit for that. It caught my curiosity enough to keep me watching.

   The movie is full of triggers and the ending is rather disappointing but they play some funny music as the credits roll.

   Not for the faint of heart. I would probably say it's an interesting gem for those who love J-Horror. 

Hunger Games and Battle Royale

People are constantly fighting about which one of these is better and which one is more terrifying. Fight no more, for I have made lists. These are based off of book and movie combined. This way you can see the similarities and differences at a glance!


Battle Royale

• Not televised
• Government mandated
• No one really knows the details (other than what they heard from rumors) but they know it exists and they hear about the lone survivor once it's over.
• Only one survivor is allowed.
• It can only last 3 days long.
• Every 6 hours, who died is announced along with danger zones.
• If someone isn't killed within the first 24 hours, everyone dies. 
• Students are chosen without prior knowledge and with their class. (Killing friends)
• Family members are told. If they try to fight it, they are shot on spot. (Or tortured then killed.)
• Students are brought to a secluded (often prior population evacuated) area. (in the movie and book, it's an island.)
• Students have the rules explained to them just before it starts.
• All students wear a necklace that is water proof. If they remain in danger zones, try to take it off the necklace will blow their head off. 
• If they try to escape the island, there are battleships waiting to kill them.
• They are allowed to commit suicide.
• Every student is issued a bag with a weapon and sustenance. They are also given a map and are allowed to take the bag they had on them when taken.

Hunger Games

• Televised
• Government?? mandated
• Only one survivor allowed. (unless the head changes the rules, apparently.)
• Lasts as long as it takes for there to be a lone survivor.
• Everyone knows about the games.
• Tributes are picked by raffle.
• People may volunteer to take a Tribute's place in the games.
• Tributes are trained before it starts.
• Tributes may gain sponsors who parachute them items during the games.
• It is a free for all to get bags of food and other items.
• The games have specialized arenas. (Specialized; ie. Forest arena.)
• Those in charge of the games may use traps against the Tributes. (ex: fireballs)
• Tributes are not allowed to commit suicide on purpose.
• Tributes are allowed to take one item with them to the games.
• There are two Tributes per District. (Killing strangers and possibly fellow district member)

If you have more to add to the lists or have a correction for me, lay it on me. I'm not a Hunger Games expert so I might be missing a lot here.

Silent Hill - The Movie

    Every Silent Hill fan's nightmare; and I'm not talking about Silent Hill itself.

    The movie was an adaptation from the game series, or rather a hybrid of two or three of the games. I won't summarize the movie but here's how it became a hybrid.

    It took the initial plot of the first game, Harry Mason looking for his daughter. 

Wow. Harry's got some legs and--hold up.

    Wait...That's not Harry...Harry isn't even in the movie? The movie creators decided people would be more worried about a female than a male so they changed the character to Rose looking for her daughter Sharon (not Cheryl in this movie. Why the name change of the daughter, I'll never know). Her husband, Christopher DaSilva, is looking for the both of them, however. While it has the first game's base plot and also a few of its characters, it also uses Silent Hill 3's soundtrack (with a few added beats here and there) and Pyramid Head from the second game.

    All-in-all this movie would have been a decent adaptation. And it was. At least I thought it was. 

    Look at it this way; it's a movie. They basically made their own Silent Hill with echoes from the video game. They gave us pretty cool camera angles and scary monsters we saw in the games. (Nurses, Pyramid Head, those annoying bugs.) 

Then there was this guy. Could be worse. Could've been a toilet.

    Pyramid Head might not have the same reason for existence as per the second game, but he did have a role and explanation. He was the punisher. He's also a sexual symbol. Alessa was born out of wedlock and raped, so I suppose you can string those together. The point is, why get mad that is isn't exactly like the game? They put everything we liked into one. A big bowl of locked drawers and checking the map 50 times. No, seriously. That's in the movie. Go watch it again if you didn't notice. 

    I felt that this movie did rather well at being a video game made into movie. (Better than Doom!) However, we now have Silent Hill Revelation 3D coming out in October. It has a different everything; director, writer, etc. This is pretty worrisome. Especially when one of the actresses herself admitted to not even caring to look at the video game as reference for her character. (Carrie-anne Moss playing Claudia, in case you were wondering.) Also, their remake all together of the character Vincent. 

Snow, what are you doing? Go back to the Wall.

    Pretty sure he's supposed to be a middle aged man, not a teenager attending school with Heather (whose name isn't even Heather!). But I'll keep my reservations for now.