It was 2006 when the first "Silent Hill" film graced cinema screens. So I was
more than a little surprised when this sequel emerged in 2012. Picking up several years after the original, we're re-introduced to Sean Bean's character Christopher, except he's
now going by the name of Harry and he's somehow managed to get his daughter back from the alternate dimension that she was trapped in at the end of the last film.
His daughter Sharon (Adelaide Clemens), or Heather as she is now called, believes her mother was killed in a car crash and that the reason they have changed their names and moved is because her dad killed an intruder in self defence a few years back, and is wanted by the police. But Heather keeps getting these strange nightmares about a place called "Silent Hill" and is plagued by strange hallucinations of bizarre creatures stalking her.
When her father goes missing, she finds out that "Silent Hill" is not just a nightmare, but is all too real and that her mother was not killed in any car crash. Realising her parents are being held there, and aided by her friend Vincent (Kit Harington) she travels to the town to see if she can find them. But why are the dark forces that inhabit the town so eager to lure Heather back?
Also starring Malcolm MacDowell and Carrie Ann Moss, this second outing proves to be considerably less entertaining than it's predecessor. Part of the problem being that you really need to have seen the first film to understand who the characters are which, because it came out so long before this one, most people will probably have forgotten about. Indeed, they really could have done with some sort of narrative to link the 2 films, as if you're unfamiliar with the previous film you'll wonder what on earth is going on with Sean Bean's character.
In addition, it wasn't immediately obvious that the scene showing how Sharon/Heather escaped from the alternate reality was a flashback, so it looked like they had another daughter who his wife manages to free. Plus there's this whole thing about the Silent Hill monsters hiring a Private Investigator to track them down. Which was odd, when they can just pop up randomly in Heather's hallucinations? Also, I'm not quite sure how Malcolm MacDowell got involved with this, but his presence alone is not enough to make this watchable for the casual viewer.
Whilst the film isn't a total loss, I can really only recommend this to fans of the original, as they're the only ones who might be able to figure out what's going on here. The film was originally shown at cinemas in 3D, but you don't miss anything by viewing the 2D version.
