If I were a huge lying douchebag, I’d say that the Silent Hill games don’t scare the hell out of me. Unfortunately, I’m not and they do. I never did beat the third game, and it’s been sitting on my shelf taunting me ever since I put it down. Needless to say, the release of the movie subtly reminded me of what a pussy I am.
Silent Hill 2 was an excellent game; one of your planet Earth’s best horror games period. For some reason, though, I hit a wall in SH3 and never climbed over it. I thought about starting over from scratch earlier today and making a Day Game out of it, but I knew it wouldn’t be possible since I had a date to hang out with Rip Van Winkle that afternoon.
So after bumbling around with the first twenty minutes of the game, I got frustrated because it was too bright outside and the glare in my room made it all but impossible to play the pre-flashlight portions. I loaded up my old save and leapt over the years-old hurdle in a matter of minutes.
Now I’m knee-deep in obese subway-dwellers and split-face dogs running through the torturous moans from the floors below. No other series builds such an intense swell of dread while steering mostly clear of cheap scares like monsters crashing out of doorways and the like. I’m never more on edge than when nothing’s going on at all, because I know it could be curtains through one more doorway or down one more stairwell.
In some ways, this game is much more frightening than the second. I think it’s the plausibility of the location that drives everything home. Not that I live near any subways, or that any of the local malls look anything like the one in the game. Still, the fact that it spirals down through a hellish world and sets seed in such mundane areas is why it’s so absorbing. A foggy town is almost quaintly exotic in comparison, like a Thanksgiving trip to Williamsburg.
I haven’t seen Christophe Gans’ Silent Hill yet, but I plan to ASAP. I expect an incohesive plot full of holes and I don’t care. Add amazing visuals and what do you have? Sounds like Italian horror to me, which is perfect.
subhumanzoids 
I too recently made a vow to revisit these games. I saw Silent Hill opening night and loved it, so much so, that I’ve decided to play through the entire series from the very beginning. Unfortunately, I don’t have the first or second game in my posession any longer (I only ever rented #1 and I traded #2 in like a moron a couple of years ago on an undoubtedly inferior game), so I’m going to have to seek them out. Hopefully my enthusiasm for the quaint little hamlet of Silent Hill wont fizzle out before I manage to get my hands on the first two again. Part two is quite easily my favorite game ever, so mustering up the energy to go back to it shouldn’t require much effort, but part one, while engaging and ground breaking for its time, is probably going to be showing its age pretty quickly. I remember how ridiculous I thought the giant hopping purple teradactyls (sp?) looked the first time around and I’m pretty sure time hasn’t been good to them. As for the movie, go see it! Go into it expecting the most faithful videogame to movie translation ever. You seem to have a pretty good understanding of what the plot is like, so sit back, take in the sights, and enjoy them for all they’re worth.-Brandon
I’ll probably do that today.As for the first SH, forget it. I won’t touch it unless they remake it. PSone games age like the Atari 2600 so even Konami’s disgusting horror child looks like curdled milk now. You’ll have no problem getting back into the second one, though. I played through it a few times when it was fresh, and I still plan on doing it again. It was one of those rare games that I didn’t have the heart to sell (for shame, Brandon!).
I never played the games but the movie is terrible. Horrible. Atrocious, even. I swear to you, this is not me being a hater, it really does suck. You will realize that it sucks about 2 minutes into it, and hope that it gets better, but it never does. And its not funny bad either, just embarrassingly bad. The CG is terrible too. It looks like real-time PS2 graphics. Gawd, this movie fucking sucks.
Ahh, Williamsburg. Exotic indeed!I only played the first Silent Hill, and it scared the shit out of me. I remember dreading playing it at night, but forcing myself to because I it was so good.And Patrick, you poor, lost soul. The day you learn to appreciate the good with the bad, and in turn the smile with the sad, is the day your life will truly begin. You are at once the hater and the hated.
That’s it, I’m going solo.
Well I’ll probably like it, because me and Justin are gonna go at 7 on that “boo boo.”