Monsters, cultists and parallel reality: analysis of the film “Silent Hill: Revelation” (2012). Silent Hill: Revelation The Meaning Of The Film & Its Ending, Explanation Of The Plot
Country: Canada
Genre: horror, fantasy
Year of production: 2012
Director: M. J. Bassett
Cast: Adelaide Clemens, Kit Harington, Deborah Kara Unger, Martin Donovan, Malcolm McDowall
“Silent Hill: Revelation” (original title Silent Hill: Revelation) – a continuation of the horror movie, released in 2006. The second part was filmed based on the horror game “Silent Hill 3” from Konami. It should be noted here that, according to the director’s idea, the sequel should fully reveal the meaning of the first Silent Hill film. At the same time, the picture turned out to be as autonomous as possible, for which it received negative reviews from film critics who reproached the director for not knowing the source material. Let’s make a complete analysis of the idea in order to understand what hidden meaning the creators put into the plot.
What is the movie about
The events of the first part develop exactly according to the storyline of the horror game “Silent Hill” from Konami. According to the content, Rose and Christopher DaSilva adopted a girl who is tormented by nightmares. The child often says the name of the city “Silent Hill”, and the desperate mother decides to take Sharon to this ghost town.
Frame from the film.
Here it turns out that the city is overrun with terrible monsters, which gave rise to the Dark essence of Alessa – a girl who was practically burned alive by local religious fanatics. The unfortunate woman decided to take revenge, and wants only one thing, to break into the only place inaccessible to herself – the church, where members of the religious community headed by Christabell are hiding.
To save Sharon, Rose helps Alessa’s dark side infiltrate the temple and take revenge. The woman and the girl go home, but she cannot meet her husband. She becomes a hostage of Silent Hill and is in a parallel reality.
The sequel to the film, Silent Hill, develops this plot. It’s been 7 years since the end. Rose continues to be a hostage of the cursed city, but she manages to take possession of the seal of Metatron and resurrect Sharon – transport her to our reality.
The girl lives with her father, they constantly change names and move. The content of the film “Silent Hill” -2 takes the viewer to the moment when Sharon goes to study already in the seventh school, her name is Heather, and nightmares based on Silent Hill continue to haunt the girl.
At the new school, Heather meets a guy named Vincent, who takes a liking to her. After school, the girl notices that she is being followed and arranges to meet with her father at the mall so as not to bring strangers to the apartment. Here, Heather is tormented by visions of monsters, and she learns that the man stalking her is private detective Douglas Cartland, who was hired by members of the cult from Silent Hill to bring Heather back. The man wants to help the girl, but the mall falls into a parallel world where one of the monsters kills the detective.
Heather falls out into our reality already, and meets Vincent near the center. The guy takes her home. Here, the girl discovers that her father has disappeared, and “Return to Silent Hill” is written in blood on the wall. She does not know how to drive a car, so she persuades Vincent to drive her.
The main characters of the 2nd part of the film are Vincent and Heather. Their roles were played by Kit Harington and Adelaide Clemens. Frame from the film.
On the way, the girl studies her father’s papers. The couple stops for the night at a motel near their destination. Here Vincent confesses to the girl that he is the son of the high priestess of the Order of Valtiel, and his mother, Claudia Wolf, sent him to find Heather. Alessa pursues the members of the order, so they are forced to hide in the dungeons. Heather is the only chance to destroy the demon. The girl quarrels with her guide, but darkness falls, and the guy is kidnapped by one of the monsters. Heather herself loses consciousness, and when she wakes up and opens the motel door, she finds herself in Silent Hill.
Here the girl meets Dahlia, Alessa’s mother, who tells her that the Dark Entity completely controls the city, turning it into a personal hell. The mother accuses Vincent of betrayal and sends him to a psychiatric hospital to “repair” the damaged mind.
Heather also comes to the clinic to talk to the grandfather of the guy who Claudia hid here. The girl is talking to a deranged and blind old man. She wants to know what the seal of Metatron means, which she had along with her father’s papers. The old man claims that this is the key that reveals the true essence of things. As a result, Heather has the second half of the seal, and she manages to save Vincent.
Together they try to get into the dungeons in order to free their father. At the amusement park, Heather meets with Alessa, and during the dialogue on the fiery carousel that the Executioner spins, she is reunited with the Dark Half. In the dungeons of the order, the girl gives Claudia the seal to see her true nature. The leader of the order turns into one of the monsters of Silent Hill, and dies in the battle with the Executioner.
Heather, along with her father and Vincent, leave the city, where no more ash falls. However, the man decides to stay behind to try and find Rose. The girl and the guy leave on a passing truck. At the end of the film, the camera zooms in on the “Welcome to Silent Hill” sign, behind which the haze swirls again. What does this Silent Hill ending mean? Let’s try to find an explanation.
Plot transcript
From the description it is clear that the second part is a logical continuation of the first. The idea of the director was that the sequel would become a full-fledged explanation of the movie “Silent Hill”. However, the idea clearly failed, which is confirmed by the angry reviews of film critics.
The only explanation that comes to mind after watching is that evil will never die. After all, the first part showed a completely completed story, albeit with an open ending. Based on the second part, Alessa herself revived the Order of Valtiel. Anger boils in her soul, which requires an outlet. No wonder the Dark Entity informs Heather that this is Hell. She simply executes sectarians, trying to extract maximum pleasure from each victim. After all, the order is even controlled by one of the monsters.
Silent Hill itself is in a parallel reality. This is no longer a physical settlement, but a kind of branch of the Underworld on earth. This is clearly demonstrated by the scene at the end of the film, when Heather and Vincent leave in a truck. If in the first part this road was closed, now there is quite busy traffic here. However, sometimes a portal opens between the worlds, and people get trapped in Silent Hill. This is indicated by the girl Heather met in the Dollmaker’s workshop.
Therefore, the clue to the plot may lie in the fact that the director turned the mystical and atmospheric Silent Hill into an ordinary anomalous zone.
Frame from the film.
The meaning of the ending
It is noteworthy that the explanation of the ending cannot be unambiguous. On the one hand, for Heather, this story is over. She turned out to be stronger than her Dark half, and escaped from this trap. On the other hand, Silent Hill itself has not disappeared anywhere, and will continue to collect its bloody harvest among random travelers.
Looking for meaning in the fact that Christopher stayed in the city to find a wife is not worth it. This is an elementary reference to the filming of the third part, to give a logical explanation for the plot of the new plot. However, given the fact that the second part of the film was not accepted by the audience and critics, this story did not continue. Therefore, the meaning of the ending of the movie “Silent Hill 2” can be reduced to a happy ending, and do not look for hidden subtext here.
