Silent Hill What Is Silent Hill Synopses Silent Hill (1999)

Silent Hill is the town in which the stories are set. It has become deserted and isolated from reality, shifting between this world and the Otherworld, populated by fearsome monsters and demonic entities. The second game in the series also suggests that the town may be a metaphorical incarnation of a person's troubled psyche, or perhaps a kind of purgatory in which a person is judged for past sins. The protagonist of the game is trapped in the town and can only escape by resolving a personal issue that has been tormenting him (or her). The third game continues the notion of the battles between good and evil forces. Numerous fan forums and message boards have sprung up on the Internet in the years since the games' introduction, where the symbolism and themes in each game are enthusiastically discussed.

The games' visual design has come in for strong praise, depicting dark, fog-enshrouded, decaying environments enhanced by chilling (and very sudden) sound effects. Composer Akira Yamaoka has provided atmospheric and emotional music for the series, which ranges from melancholy piano solos to heavy rock pieces. Many fans and reviewers have referred to the Silent Hill games as among the most frightening ever made.

In 20032003 is a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar), and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Summary Perhaps the defining global event of the year 2003 was the Invasion of Iraq launched by the U a film based on Silent Hill was announced, with FrenchThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. director Christophe Gans ( The Brotherhood of the Wolf ) attached.

2 Synopses

2.1 Silent Hill (1999)

Seven years ago Harry Mason and his wife found a baby by the road and adopted her as their own, naming her Cheryl. Though the wife soon passed away from a disease, Harry Mason continued to love Cheryl as his own daughter.

At the start of the game we find Harry Mason and Cheryl going to the town resort of Old Silent Hill for vacation. Strange events occur before they have even entered the town. A cop on a motorbike drives past and only moments later Harry sees the bike lying by the side of the road and the cop is nowhere in sight. Soon afterwards a figure suddenly appears on the road, Harry turns the car and slides off the road. When he regains consciousness Harry discovers that Cheryl is missing and he finds himself in the midst of the evil slowly engulfing Silent Hill, "a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life."

Several easter eggsFrom the custom of the Easter egg hunt observed in the U. and many parts of Europe, Easter eggs are hidden messages or features which may appear in movies, DVDs, books, on CDs, or in computer programs. Computer-related Easter eggs In computing, Easter egg and hidden references can be found throughout the game. As an in-joke for horror fans, most of the town's streets in the first game are named after popular horror and suspense novelists, such as Ray BradburyRay Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is a science fiction and fantasy writer. He was born in Waukegan, Illinois, and his family moved several times, eventually settling in Los Angeles in 1934. In his family were many publishers of books and not surprisingl, Ira LevinIra Levin (born August 27, 1929 in New York) is an author of fiction thriller novels and is also a playwright and songwriter. Levin studied at New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English. After that, he wrote training films and scripts, Robert BlochRobert Albert Bloch ( April 5 1917 September 23 1994) was a prolific author in the science fiction, horror fiction, and pulp fiction genres, and screenwriter. He was the recipient of the Hugo Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. and Richard BachmanRichard Bachman is a pen name for Stephen King, considered by many to be the master of the horror genre. After publishing a few novels under his own name, King wanted to know if a few of his early works (those written before Carrie would sell without havi (aka Stephen King). If you care to look carefully enough, the word "Redrum" can be seen written on a door in a street, referring directly to Stephen King's The Shining.

2.1.1 Silent Hill Play Novel

Released on Game Boy Advance only in Japan. The game featured related and unrevealed plot in Silent Hill 1.

2.2 Silent Hill 2 (2001)

Three years ago James Sunderland's wife Mary passed away from a terminal disease. James, still grief-stricken from the loss, has received a letter from his late wife telling him to meet her at their "special place" in Silent Hill. James, uncertain whether this is real or a bad hoax, travels to the old tourist town and finds a mist-shrouded hell full of crawling monsters. While searching the town's decrepit buildings for clues, James encounters other lost souls like himself, including a little girl who seems to know a great deal about James' and Mary's relationship, and a mysterious young woman named Maria who is the spitting image of Mary.

The Xbox version of the game, subtitled Restless Dreams, featured an additional scenario where players controlled Maria. This level was included on the PlayStation 2 version when the "Greatest Hits" edition was released (also known as Platinum Edition). The title of the original scenario with James is called Letter from Silent Heaven. The one featuring Maria as the protagonist is named Born from a Wish.

Silent Hill 2 does not have a direct narrative continuity to the first game, but shares locations with the third game, and a few allusions in Silent Hill 3. The fourth game expands upon some of the town's history as related herein.

2.3 Silent Hill 3 (2003)

Seventeen years have passed since the events of the first game. Heather is a normal teenage girl who loves to shop and has a sharp attitude about almost everything, but one Sunday the past catches up with her. Avoiding a stranger who claims that he is a detective, sent to find her, Heather suddenly finds the environment transformed into a strange decaying landscape. She attempts to escape the horror to her home and her father, yet on the way she faces a mysterious and forgotten secret.

The third game is directly tied to the first Silent Hill.

2.4 Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004)

Henry Townshend, living in South Ashfield, a town neighboring Silent Hill, one day finds himself mysteriously locked in his own apartment. He cannot escape through either the windows or his front door, which has been chained shut from the inside. No one, not even people standing directly ouside his front door, can hear him when he pounds on the door and cries for help. After five days of entrapment Henry finds a hole that has opened up in his bathroom wall. He is about to venture into the madness of Silent Hill.

This installment of the series features revised controls, modifications to the item menu and map, and segments that are played from a first-person perspective. The plot of the game expands upon some of the backstory described in Silent Hill 2, particularly that concerning a serial killer.

Silent Hill 4: The Room was released on September 7 2004.

3 Inspirations and references

This section is for trivia and speculation concerning the series, and contains spoilers.

The movie Jacob's Ladder has much the same theme as Silent Hill 2 of a personal purgatory. The monsters in Silent Hill 3, with their heads jolting in strange ways, resemble that of the disfigured human-creatures in the movie. Another strong reference is the use of the name Bergen Street for the subway platform to which Heather, the main character, tries to make it in the game. Bergen Street station played a significant part in Jacob's Ladder and the setting looks very much alike.
The cult series Twin Peaks is also supposed to have had an influence on many aspects of the games.
A song in Silent Hill 3 is titled "Sickness Unto Foolish Death". This might be a reference to the existential philosopher Søren Kierkegaard's theory on despair, which he wrote in his Sickness Unto Death, an existential concept to describe the state we're in when we have to make choices in a world of uncertainty. This state is the "loss of self." Looking at the third installment of the series with this theme in its context, it could be seen as Heather's difficult choice of vengeance vs. submission to the Otherworld of Silent Hill, and how she loses her self-awareness in the process of determined vengeance.
One of the end songs in Silent Hill 2, "Angel's Thanatos", is most likely a reference to the Freudian idea of Thanatos. It is the desire to give up life and return to non-existence. As the song precedes the ending in which James commits suicide, it makes sense. It is perhaps a little ironic as it is clear from Mary's occasional speech that she does not wish to die, although she is the one dying. James, the one living, has lost his will to live.
Silent Hill 4: The Room was initially intended to be the first game in an entirely new horror franchise.

4 External links

Silent Hill series official website
Official Silent Hill 2 site (Konami Europe)
Official Silent Hill 3 site (Konami Europe)
Official Silent Hill 3 site (Konami Japan)
Official Silent Hill 4 site (Konami Japan)
Akira Yamaoka's website
Gamespot's Silent Hill 4 site - Previews, screenshots, movies, walkthroughs (Playstation 2)
Nursery Cryme - Files and general info on Silent Hill
Central Silent Hill - Information and FAQs
Silent Hill Heaven - Information and a Silent Hill forum
Gamingredients Silent Hill coverage
Weird World of Silent Hill - Fan site

Survival horror games Fictional towns and cities

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1 What is Silent Hill?