The fear of reviews tends to create fear for the film – Silent Hill

Konami, the company that created my most favourite video game ever

Silent Hill

The game that portrays the immortal line

“The fear of blood tends to create fear for the flesh”

The film of the game was released today.
View the Silent Hill movie trailer here
Listen to Akira Yamaoka's haunting Silent Hill soundtracks here

I’ve been waiting for this to happen for, oh let’s see now, months? Yes, probably. My complete overexcitedness gradually mellowed to the odd moment of patience. Yes me, patient, rarely. I’ve been so looking forward to seeing it and am finally going to visit Silent Hill on Tuesday with my friends. I’d enjoyed Radha Mitchell's performance in Pitch Black– nothing spectacular but good (I was too busy watching Vin Diesel tbh). It’ll be good to see Sean Bean as well. I just hope they don’t let me down. Y’see I made the mistake of listening to/reading reviews before I’ve seen the much anticipated film. I enjoyed Resident Evil however I was a bit dubious about the way Nemesis was portrayed later on in the sequel. The Lara Croft film was so diabolical I'm not gonna bother to link it. I haven’t seen Doom yet so I can’t comment but I expect it’s guns and shooting and dying and screaming and running – which is what the game is so why would I expect more. But Silent Hill is a breed all of its own and for this it deserves special attention ….

In the beginning there was Silent Hill ....


Harry Mason is looking for his daughter Cheryl who’s gone missing in Silent Hill. A town that has horror writer’s surnames for names. A town that has two churches, one of them you wouldn’t want to visit on a sunny Sunday. A town that has Lovecraft-type creatures around every corner and in every dark niche, and crazy inhabitants who have ‘come to witness the beginning’. I insisted to myself that I had to play this game in the dark otherwise what was the point? Having watched horror films since a tender age, I figured I’d be fine. I had to stop every so often, put the controller down, and go sit with my flatmate and friend Claire and watch her play Zelda, just to let my heart rate slow down a bit. I was so disappointed when I eventually finished the game as I didn’t want it to end. I loved it, I was scared of it, and I craved more ….

Then Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams was released ….


Unfortunately for me, this game was released just before my exams which I was due to sit in the New Year. I still bought it anyway and figured that if I revised hard enough over Christmas I would give myself New Year’s Eve off to play it to my heart’s content. New Year’s Eve I finished studying around early afternoon and went off to the supermarket to get supplies (beer, snacks etc.). I played for 12 straight hours and missed the midnight celebration completely. I was stuck in the sewer and couldn’t figure out how to open the trap door in the floor. I got halfway through the game and continued revising the next day. My reward for finishing my exams was to finish Silent Hill. And I did. And I was still scared while playing it. For me, Silent Hill 2 had one of the most abhorrent, terrifying creatures ever – Pyramid Head. It’s the way he stands and watches you in the dark when you first meet him that freaks me out even now after numerous plays. I was also particularly impressed by the noise of his knife scraping on the floor *shudder*


The game’s hero, James Sunderland is stuck in the nightmare world of Silent Hill. His wife has died 3 years previously but he’s received a letter from her saying she’s waiting for him in their special place in Silent Hill. Eek! Eddie, one of the supporting characters James meets seems like a dumb ass at first who thinks that ‘killin’ a person ain’t bad’. James also meets Maria, a doppleganger of his wife Mary and you just never know who’s side she’s on …. James battles monsters in an old lunatic asylum, and apartment buildings with a creepy child intent on making his life hell, not only by running off into the fog, but also by shouting, “You didn’t love Mary.” Poor James. But hey! I paid money to witness his living hell!

A special edition of the game was released at a later date. This had a bonus extra game included called Born From A Wish, where you could play Maria as the lead character.

I did very well in my exams btw *cheesy grin*

Next, Silent Hill 3. Again, waited for impatiently, and sometimes jumping up and down with excitement as the release date got nearer.


Poor Heather (again, I paid good money for watching and participating in her traumas). She’s getting herself into some scrapes and isn’t helped by the fact that there’s a really annoying guy who says he’s a detective hot on her trail. It was good to play a female hero for a change and after playing through the game the first time I got to unlock secret outfits which were fabulous (and made me wish I had some of them as well). Heather is on her way home but, unsurprisingly, she has to go through hell literally to get there. Great use is made of the fairground scenes (in fact this is so for other SH games), and also as before, the creatures are horrid. Plain horrid. Slimy, disgusting and nasty. Hurray! I’ve also played this game several times through. Another nice aspect of this game is Robbie the Rabbit. Despite the fact he’s covered in blood he still looks very kewt and creepy.


Next up, Silent Hill 4: The Room


As always, I was desperate for the release date and again, played it like a loon but it just wasn’t the same. The gameplay style had changed as had the menu system. It took me ages to get used to it (which is fair enough) but why fiddle with something that’s already worked well in the past. I liked the way the creators had used ‘something’ from one of the past SH game and made it into this story. It was scary, made me jump but just lacked that little bit of excitement for me. Having said that, I was still disappointed when I finished it, never wanted it to end, and it was nice to see Robbie the Rabbit again.


Silent Hill games are not your everyday point and shooters. They tend to work on the understated rather than the ‘in yer face’. The main character has some trauma they have to come to terms with and this unfortunately means for them (and you) battling through minions before realising the 'truth'. I recommend playing Silent Hill games for many reasons including

- you get to pick keys out of puddles of blood
- there are some tricky puzzles to get your teeth into
- you also get to put your hand in dirty toilet bowls … mmm …
- you can change the blood colour in the game settings – purple, yay!
- you get to kick monsters when they’re down (and in some cases hear them squeak - cool!)
- and you get some crackin' nightmares (sleep disorder-tastic! - see Sleep Disorder post)

Anyway, what's the point of this obsessive raving? Well I suppose I’ve started to hear reviews of the film that haven’t been that great. I kind of expected that to happen judging from past games that have been turned into what pass as films and I was trying so hard not to build my hopes up. It’s too late now tho. I’ll sink into my seat at the cinema next week with my large salted popcorn and just take it like the freak I am. So if the film is crap who cares? I still have the games to come home to. And Silent Hill 5 will be out in a few months ….