'Silent Hill' sequel: It's Hell, all right

All horror movies are somebody's vision of Hell, but few are set in as convincing a version as the Silent Hill films.

It's a ghost town where a fire in an underground coal mine keeps the ash falling like carcinogenic snow.

All the abandoned cars are AMC Pacers and Chevrolet Chevettes and El Caminos.

It's in West Virginia. The faceless demons, executioners, the newly butchered victims, and the waiting-to-be-butchered? They're bonuses.

The movies about this satanic slaughterhouse are where once great - or at least promising actors - go to collect a check.

Radha Mitchell once starred in a Woody Allen picture. But since the first Silent Hill, well ...

Sean Bean's been condemned to this cinema purgatory as well. And with Silent Hill: Revelation, Malcolm McDowell and Carrie-Anne Moss join the damned. Deborah Kara Unger doesn't escape this hell, either.

The new Hill is more or less as striking as the earlier ones. There's a godawful script filled with references to "The Order" and "The Brethren," who may have the other half of "The Seal," which they may keep in "The Sanctuary." Or was it "The Asylum"?

I can't imagine diving into this grim and gruesome franchise without having at least a hint of the backstory. Then again, seeing the earlier ones isn't that much help.

Writer-director Michael J. Bassett, who got the much-delayed flop Solomon Kane into theaters earlier this fall, serves up tasty dialogue exchanges like this one, between two cops who discover a body and a bloody woman's coat.

First cop: "Found a jacket. His blood's on it."

Second cop: "Let's get that to forensics. See whose blood is on it."

Second cop's not listening to first cop. And director's not checking behind the screenwriter. Because he's the same fellow.

Mitchell appears in flashbacks, helping her husband (Bean) and daughter (now played by Adelaide Clemens) escape West Virginia.

Daughter Heather, who used to go by "Sharon" and assorted other names, is on the move. Dad takes them from city to city, dodging the beasts without faces. But they always catch up.

Best line? Teens talk Silent Hill history and one reveals to the other that it was built on - guess what?

"Everybody knows, never build on an ancient Indian burial ground!"

Indeed. Everybody does.

Bassett's vision of Hell here isn't appreciably different from the one he served up in Solomon Kane. Yes, he has an eye. No, he has no ear. But a few more movies like these two, a fellow could get pigeonholed.

Put this much effort into bringing your idea of Hell to the screen, film fans will start calling you Satan. And not in a good way.

Directed by Michael J. Bassett. With Adelaide Clemens,

Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Carrie-Anne Moss.

Distributed by Open Road.

Running time: 1 hour, 33 mins.

Parent's guide: R (violence and disturbing images, language, brief nudity)

Playing at: area theatersEndText