[7/12/06] Silent Hill Movie

[Agozer]

I came from the screening roughly 6 hours ago, and I absolutely loved the film. So I though that I just might as well dissect this movie and voice my opinions about the whole thing, since peole seem to have problems grasping certain aspects of the whole thing.

 

If you want to avoid any spoilers, don't read any further. You've been warned.

 

-More thorough explanations about certain things on my second post- (post #4)

 

 

 

 

The movie itself is based very loosely around the story of Silent Hill on the PSX, but Christopher Ganz made so many different choices that most parallels between the movie and the game amount to the bare-bones version of the story and the locations.

 

The cult

Well, Silent Hill used to be just an ordinary town with the exception that it had a cult of religious zealots. The cult's beliefs revolve around getting into paradise and destroying all evils that might stray them from this "absolute salvation"; basically, outsiders and those that might question their faith. Getting rid of these evils is to cleanse them with fire.

 

In the movie, Cristabelle leads the religious zealots and is the one who burns Alessa Gillespie. As we learn from the movie, things go wrong an this burning ritual is the cause of the Great Fire in Silent Hill.

 

In the game, the story arc is considerably more complicated. Sure, there is the cult and they are obsessed about getting into paradise. However, the catalyst for this is a drug called 'White Claudia' (which in some part in Silent Hill's history is the first means to get in touch with the Otherworld, or rather, their paradise). The cult doesn't burn Alessa, and the central evil figure isn't Cristabelle, but Dahlia Gillespie.

 

Cristabella

Out of all the characters in the movie, I had most trouble with her. She is hellbent on destroying the demon and she's Dahlia's sister. She doesn't appear in the games in any way, which makes getting into her character even more difficult. :/ She's most likely a reference to Claudia in SH3.

 

Alessa Gillespie

Like the movie points out, Alessa was different from the rest of the people in Silent Hill. Other children called her a witch and always picked on her. The adults seemed to be just as uncaring, and the cult treated her as a demon, one that prevents them from finding their way into paradise. So what does the cult do? They separate her from her mother and seal her in Room 111 and later burn her in "the sacred fire".

 

Things go wrong and the Great Fire engulfs most of the town. Those that survived were taken to Brookheaven Hospital, including Alessa that survived even though her whole body was burned. As time passed, Alessa's anger turned into hate. As her hate grew stronger, the Dark Alyssa took form, the one that would make everyone suffer as she did.

 

Thanks to her rage, The Otherworld came to be.

 

In the game, Alessa had telepathic powers of some sort. People feared it. Her mother, Dahlia Gillespie feared her even more and shut her in her room with basically no contact with others. Again, Alessa started to hate the world around her, and the people in it. The Otherworld was formed because of this hate and her powers.

 

Sharon

Like Dark Alessa explains in the movie, Sharon is the personification of the good that was still left within Alessa. She says "The little girl is what's left of her goodness. We hid her away in a world outside this hell..." so Alessa's Dark incarnation took the little baby that was born and left it at the steps of the Wish House Orphanage. Rose and Christopher later adopted this girl and named her Sharon. Since sharon is connected to Alessa in every possible way it's a no-brainer that she ends up back in Silent Hill.

 

Cybil Bennett

Got stuck in Silent Hill simply because she followed Rose. Sees the same Otherworld as Rose, because Alessa hates adults. Most people have trouble understanding the ending on Cybil's part, so here's my take on it: Because of how the Otherworld works, should one get kill in it, you also die in the real world, so to speak.

 

In Cybil's case. she is burned by the zealots. During this time, The Otherworld was at full work outside the church. So as Cybil died, she died in The Otherworld. At the same time, she died in the foggy Silent Hill by careening of the road and crashing through a guardrail. End of story. That's it.

 

The town of Silent Hill

After Alessa's rage vented out full force, the town got it's trademark fog. The fog itself is used in the both the movie and in the games as a reminder that the there is a fine line between reality and dream. The fog prevents you from from getting a clear picture of things and it clouds the person's judgment; even ordinary things that are far away can easily look unnatural and scary. Silent Hill looks different to different people. Cybil and Rose are lost in the fog, while Christopher and Gucci see nothing more than an deteriorated ghost town.

 

The foggy Silent Hill as well as the Otherworld are Alessa's doing. Rose and Cybil are trapped because Alessa wished for it. "Only the Dark One opens and closes the door to Silent Hill."

 

The Otherworld

My absolute favorite.

 

The Otherworld is the manifestation of Alessa's hate and rage. More specifically, it is how she saw the world. She saw the the world around her as dirty, with no hope or love in it. She acts out her revenge through the manifestation of The Otherworld and its creatures. In this world there is no light, only darkness similar to Alyssa's heart. The transition between the foggy Silent Hill and The Otherworld isn't given a good explanation in the movie, apart from the menacing siren. In the games, it is explained as the protagonist getting deeper and deeper into his or her own delusions and nightmares, to the point where reality ceases to exist and only one's personal nightmare remains.

 

Well then, the creatures.

 

The Grey Children: Quite obviously Alessa's classmates who she saw as demons who haunted her day and night.

 

Armless Men: Ordinary townsfolk. Transformed because Alessa saw everyone as a threat.

 

Dark Nurses: The Brookheaven Hospitals staff. In Alessa's mind they were no better than the rest. They kept her bound to her bed and didn't socialize with her, always being on the otherside of the white screen that covered Alessa's bed.

 

The Roaches: Taken from the game, Alessa feared bugs. Big time. In the game, the roaches weren't associated with Pyramid Head in any way.

 

Red Pyramid/Pyramid Head: I LOVE THIS GUY!

In the movie, he is the personification of Alessa's rage, passing judgment on the damned souls, the ultimate spawns of The Otherworld. If you were paying attention in the movie, Pyramid Head is basically the school's janitor. PH's sole purpose in the movie is not to really kill Rose, but to push her towards the final confrontation with Alessa. Not so with the cult zealots.

 

Alessa: When we finally get to see her towards the end of the movie, she's actually a mix between Alessa and Mary from SH2. Like mary, she's bound to her rusted bed, and the severe burns have left her mangled. Her restrainst have turned into barbed wire, very likely because of how she saw them. As for the adult Alyssa, she's literally the better half of herself. A beatiful woman apart from her slashed eyes. She has slashed eyes because she didn't wish to see the disgusting and horrible world around her. Adult Alyssa spends all her time beside her hospital bed, because doesn't want to have anything to do with the rest of the world.

 

Finally, the ending

For most people, the ending is possibly the most WTF? moment in the entire film. To me, it made a surprising amount of sense now that I think about it, and it leaves a definite cliffhanger for the sequel.

 

So what's it all about then? The whole idea behind the Otherworld and Silent Hill is that it's a nightmare. So as a desperate last measure, Rose and Sharon decide that what they have gone through is just a nightmare, nothing more. But the Dark Alyssa still has a few aces in the hole because Sharon is still a part of Alessa.

 

The kicker is that both Sharon and Rose aren't completely free from their nightmare even after waking up because of the obvious presence of the fog when they get back home. What makes it even more obvious is that Christopher is not there, even when we just saw him sleeping on the couch in the real world, waiting for them.

It is hinted both in te games and in the movie that the real world and the foggy edge between reality and delusion are connected. In the movie this is quite evident when Christopher says to Gucci that he can feel/smell Rose's perfume. The second time is at the end when Christopher wakes up and finds the front door open.

 

Alessa's ace in the hole is basically revealed the last time we see Sharon. Because well, it isn't really Sharon anymore, but a mix between Sharon and Alessa. Paying attention to Sharon's eyes during the final scene shows that they're emotionless and scary, similar to Alessa's.

 

 

Good lord, look at the time! My rant is over. I'd really like some feedback, especially about Cristabella and Gucci.

[Shibathedog]

Thank you so much for writing this, alot of my friends who have never played Silent Hill games wanted me to explain the movie and it was extremley difficult for me to do, now i can point them over here

[Mag]

Shame on you SH fans (you know who you are) for posting so much on the SH thread and only one person actaully looked into this thread and gave a feedback.

 

Well, if you guys don't, I don't care.. great work agoz, the dissection really helps those who might be confused with the whole plot and the characters.

 

now, lets discuss a few things:

 

I get that part about how the real world works the same way otherworld works. But you mentioned, Cybil died in the real world and which driven her into the otherworld. And from there, her death was possible in the otherworld as well. Now, I may get why the ending is a bit dull, the scene where Rose and Alyssa walked into their house which no one is there. So that means Rose actaully died at the same Cybil died right? I mean, Rose is still in the foggy world and her husband happen to be on the real world.

 

Just like to get that ending straight.

[Agozer]

I may get why the ending is a bit dull, the scene where Rose and Alyssa walked into their house which no one is there. So that means Rose actaully died at the same Cybil died right? I mean, Rose is still in the foggy world and her husband happen to be on the real world.

 

Just like to get that ending straight.

-rant cont.-

 

Rose didn't die in the real world nor in The Otherworld. While the real world, foggy Silent Hill and The Otherworld are linked, one cannot exist in more than one place simultaneously. Well, the movie deviates from the Silent Hill "bible" in the sense that in the games, all three realities are percieved differently by different people. According to the games, some people only see either just the real world or just the foggy Silent Hill that ultimately turns into The Otherworld.

 

About Cybil: She died in the real world (in this case foggy Silent Hill) after she had been burned, not the other way around. Silent Hill always works this way. One does not get to see The Otherworld because s/he has died, they see it because of a catalyst (Alessa's power and Silent Hill combined) and ultimately The Otherworld is what kills the person.

 

The Otherworld in the movie is a complete manifestation of Alessa's will, and she has complete control over it. The fog in the movie and in the games is a space between reality and The Otherworld. Since Sharon is a part of Alessa, Alessa found a mother figure that would not leave her ever again (namely Rose). Alessa can't let them go completely because then she would be all alone again.

 

So she did what her "good side" deemed to be the final measure: Not to be in The Otherworld (the world of pain and suffering, like the real world to her) anymore and not to be in the real world (since the real world is what betrayed her initially) but be in the place of in-between (foggy Silent Hill) where there are no others except the ones she looks up the most ---- "Mother is God in the eyes of a child".

 

Alessa's real mother (Dahlia Gillespie) is left to teeter between the foggy Silent Hill and The Otherworld. Because of the "Mother is God in the eyes of a child" phrase, Alessa didn't kill her, but didn't choose her over Rose for the very reason that Dahlia handed Alessa (or rather caved in) to the cult and did very little to fight against the cult until it was too late.

[garyoak99]

I came from the screening roughly 6 hours ago,

Good lord, look at the time! My rant is over.

 

Did it take you SIX HOURS just to write this review?

 

It looks like it took you six hours since it's so long and it contains so many details. Good job!

[Agozer]

I came from the screening roughly 6 hours ago,

Good lord, look at the time! My rant is over.

 

Did it take you SIX HOURS just to write this review?

 

It looks like it took you six hours since it's so long and it contains so many details. Good job!

No.

 

I was lazy and didn't write anything immediately after coming back. I did procrastinate a lot and then I just started drawing parallels between how the games portray the backstory vs. how the movie does the same thing. The whole thing took about 30-45 minutes.

[Wizard]

Rose and the girl aren't dead.

 

Safe to say that Cybil died in the first place.

[garyoak99]

No.

 

I was lazy and didn't write anything immediately after coming back. I did prcocrastinate a lot and then I just started drawing parallels between how the games portray the backstory vs. how the movie does the same thing. The whole thing took about 30-45 minutes.

 

Good job! I'm glad it didn't take THAT long to write out everything despite the differences between the movie and the games. It is by far the BEST FAQ I have ever seen regarding this movie!

[L.S.D]

Now that I have watched the movie, it make more sense to me now after reading this.

 

Yagrrrrghh, must find SH1 now.

[bubbawmu2]

Agozer. :applause: Well Done :applause:

 

i must say (since i work at a video store, where silent hill was released a couple weeks back) the biggest complaint from the people who watched the film was that it lacked cohesion in the plot. what they didnt understand is that the game was the same way, and that it added to the scare factor. you did an excellent job on descibing (in detail) all the charaters, setting, plot, as well as a few symbolisms i didnt pick up on in the game.

 

i enjoyed every bit of the movie as well as every bit of your rant. thank you

 

 

 

(p.s. there are a few spelling errors in the description of the otherworld and roaches.)

[Agozer]

Thanks. Fixed.

 

It is true that the entire Silent Hill "myth" is extremely complicated, and even the hints that the games and the movie reveal aren't really coherent at first sight. The added symbolism only makes things even harder to understand but once you begin to get it, it makes a surprising amount of sense in a very creepy and disturbing way. You really need to pay attention to every little detail and start piecing the whole thing together that way.