Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)

(On Cable TV, August 2013) I’m not sure anyone was asking for a Silent Hill sequel, but there it is.  And there’s just about no reason to watch it.  The plot is instantly forgettable, the mythology is borderline-incomprehensible, the scares are decidedly ordinary and the actors are merely serviceable (although it’s fun to see Sean Bean alongside Kit Harington playing a teenager outside Game of Thrones, and Adelaide Clemens really does look a lot like Michelle Williams).  What Silent Hill: Revelation does have going for it are occasionally moments of oppressive atmosphere in the tradition of the first film.  They are farther apart that could be expected, though, as about half the horror set-pieces end up feeling contrived, badly adapted from other superior films or simply more grotesque than chilling.  Otherwise, that’s pretty much it.  Sharp-eyed viewers will easily spot that the film was shot in Canada (the bilingual notices on the school-bus being a dead giveaway) but that’s really not enough to warrant a look for such a dull film.