From Game to Movie – Silent Hill
By Saurabh Rajeeva | Wednesday, November 11, 2009
“Survival Horror” ….. a fancy word I got introduced to first in late 1990s while playing Resident Evil 2 with my friend on the Playstation. Since my friend owned it, I used to drop in at his place everyday for providing some superb (and sometimes equally stupid) guidance on “item / ammo management” and “boss fight strategies”. It was a revolutionary experience back then, with the genre defining game doing everything right at the same time – ‘sudden’ horror elements, amazing full motion videos, captivating ‘T-virus’ storyline and what not! ‘RE’ and ‘Survival Horror’ became synonymous words in my gaming dictionary ……… till I crossed paths with Silent Hill!!! What was ‘love at first sight’ for RE became a ‘love triangle’ – with Silent Hill at the new-found end! After battling confusion the size of Hoover Dam over which series I liked more, I eventually stopped comparing and learnt to love both of them.
Today, we shall direct our gaming stethoscope towards ‘Silent Hill’. Why? Simple: Cyborg has been chewing me for submitting a good article, so here goes……!! 
Now, its has been 10 years since Silent Hill first appeared on the video game horizon and elevated the survival horror genre to the next levels. It has been known extensively for its cinematic presentation, disturbing environments, superior soundtrack and multiple game-play based endings (including the famous UFO one!). The series has popular culture spread across following video game titles:
- Silent Hill (released in 1999 for Playstation)
- Silent Hill 2 (released in 2001 for Playstation 2, Xbox and PC)
- Silent Hill 3 (released in 2003 for Playstation 2 and PC; direct sequel to the first Silent Hill)
- Silent Hill 4: The Room (released in 2004 for Playstation 2, Xbox and PC)
- Silent Hill: Origins (released in 2007 for Playstation Portable, 2008 for Playstation 2; a direct prequel to the first title)
- Silent Hill: Homecoming (released in 2008 for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC)
- Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (to be released in 2010 for Wii, Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable)
In line with our I-believe-its-quite-famous ‘Like One; Get 2 Next Time!’ law of entertainment, the series sprouted popular content across novels, comics, and others like artbooks, soundtracks, games on mobile platforms and a motion picture released in 2006 under the same name. Comparisons to my other favourite Resident Evil series, have been inevitable. While both games have tasted extensive success, RE has evolved its action adventure elements beyond horror, proof being RE 4 and the recent RE 5 which managed to thrill more than scare. Silent Hill on the other hand has still retained quite a lot of its trademark environments, audio and complex storylines while evolving its game-play and story presentation elements.
However, the true litmus test for a game series comes forth when it is prepared for acceptability by mass audience through a movie adaptation. Considering the generally perceived ‘flop’ fate of such adaptations, it was surprising for many critics to acknowledge the moderate success the Silent Hill movie enjoyed and the way it managed to turn around the stereotyped impression of video game movies being a bad affair.
‘Silent Hill’ was released in 2006 and was based on the first game of the series. It starred Radha Mitchell as Rose – a desperate mother searching for her daughter Sharon in the mysterious fog-clad town of Silent Hill. She is assisted in her efforts by a female police officer Cybil Bennett while her husband Christopher (Sean Bean) searches for both of them in an alternate version of the same location. As Rose encounters horrific monsters and hellish ‘otherworld’ locations, she eventually learns that her daughter is ‘manifestation of a whatever good was left’ in the ‘monster’ version of Alessa – a young girl tortured to death by Silent Hill townsfolk, and who now wants to extract revenge by killing all of them. After Rose helps Alessa in her revenge, Alessa frees Sharon, but both Rose and Sharon are eventually seen returning home in the same ‘fog clad’ alternate reality. Christopher, waiting for them in the same house in normal reality, is unable to see or interact with them even though he can smell Rose’s perfume around him (now that sounded pretty convoluted!)
Konami Japan and Team Silent, creators of the original game, were deeply involved in the production of the movie. The script written by Roger Avary (screenwriter – Pulp Fiction, writer – Beowulf) was inspired from the ghost town of Centralia, Pennsylvania whose population reduced gradually owing to the 49 year old mine fires burning beneath the borough, leaving it a deserted ghost town.
Next Page – Silent Hill Movie Analysis…
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