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Silent Hill (video game)

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Silent Hill
Silent Hill
Developer(s)Konami
Team Silent
Publisher(s)Konami
Platform(s)PlayStation
ReleaseJapan March 4, 1999
United States January 31, 1999
European Union August 1, 1999
Genre(s)Survival Horror/Psychological Horror
Mode(s)Single player

Silent Hill is a computer game, the first in the survival horror series with the same name. The game was released in North America on January 31, 1999, Japan on March 4, 1999, and in Europe on August 1, 1999. It was released exclusively on the Sony PlayStation. A movie adaptation based on this game has been made and was released theatrically on April 21st, 2006.

Synopsis

Seven years ago Harry Mason and his wife found a baby by the road and adopted her as their own, naming her Cheryl. Though his wife soon died, 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 resort town of Silent Hill. Strange events occur before they have even entered the town. A cop on a motorbike drives past them 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, causing Harry to swerve the car and slide off the road. When he regains consciousness, Harry discovers that Cheryl is missing and that he has slipped into a strange dimension shrouded in fog. It's soon clear that this place is unlike any place he's been before. Strange creatures lurk within the fog and as Harry follows what he thinks is his daughter's silhouette all over town, he realizes that the town has a darker and more dangerous side to it.

Silent Hill play novel (2001)

Released on Game Boy Advance only in Japan. The game featured a related and unrevealed plot in Silent Hill 1. A plot guide detailing the Boy Spring Scenario, in which you play Andy, who lives in the house next to Harry and Cheryl Mason, can be found at Gamefaqs. In addition to this, the game also allows players to "use" Cybil during the events of Harry's exploits, allowing the player a whole new experience with the original story. Cybil's story, however, takes an unexpected twist in the end.

Sequels

As of 2006 three sequel titles exist. Another is believed to be planned for the next generation PlayStation 3 console.

Additionally, a prequel is planned for the Playstation Portable handheld.


Influences and trivia

Silent Hill's story is dense with supposed 'references' to other works. The designers of the game clearly drew upon many science-fiction and horror sources for inspiration. The creators found interesting ways of integrating their references into the games. The following is a listing of those influences and where and why they might occur within the text that is Silent Hill. Template:Spoilers

  • The cult television series Twin Peaks is said to have had an influence on many aspects of the games. Both the game and the TV series take place in a resort town. David Lynch's often dream-like sequences in the series are also very much alike to the surrealist occurrences throughout the games. One of the houses in Silent Hill also has a large picture of an owl, prominently used as imagery in Twin Peaks.
  • Wheelchairs are recurring features in the series. In Silent Hill, a boss, Cybil, is found lying in a wheelchair. At one point in Silent Hill 3, Heather passes a glass wall. On the other side is an empty wheelchair outside of a room in what appears to be a mental institute. This strongly resembles a prominent image in the movie Session 9 of a lone psychiatric restraint chair. Another wheelchair can be found lying on the floor, its wheel still spinning, resembling a shot in Jacob's Ladder. In Silent Hill 4, the player is attacked by packs of wheelchairs which cannot be defeated. An empty wheelchair is also a recurring image in the film The Changeling.
  • Throughout the series, it becomes clearer that there may be three levels of reality in Silent Hill. The 'top level' is where people live out their lives as normal, bearing hardly any difference to any other town of its kind. The next level could be called 'Foggy' Silent Hill (or the 'Alternate' Silent Hill), where an all-pervading fog obscures visibility to a matter of feet, similar to Stephen King's The Mist (a favorite story of one of the series' developers). Some monsters are apparent at this point, but the town environs are practically unchanged. The third layer down, where the real corruption of the reality lies, can be called 'Otherworld', or more commonly, 'Dark' Silent Hill. This darkness is not just a physical darkness, which is used to put the player on edge, but also corresponds to the kinds of monsters found here. This 'Otherworld' is the rotten core of the town. However, the recent comic book adaptations only have two layers, with Silent Hill being in fact an abandoned and monster-infested ghost town. Paint It Black points out that cable, power, and phones all work within the city limits, and the stores are refreshed with food.
  • Dahlia Gillespie's house is copied from the house in Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World, which was based on the real Olson House in Cushing, Maine.
  • Silent Hill's Incubus at the end of Silent Hill is visually based on Baphomet. Silent Hill 3 also contains references to Sandalphon and his twin brother Metatron, an angel detailed in the Kabbalah.
  • Dahlia Gillespie mentions the name Samael in the course of the game which is one of the more controversial presences of the series as a whole. Samael, a blind Hebrew Archangel, is known in Christian lore as the Angel of Death, or the tenth plague of Egypt. Samael is mentioned in The Torah as having a bargain with Yaweh as to whether or not he could steal Moses' soul. He is also thought to be (again in Jewish Lore) the serpent who tempted Eve, as well as the entity that seduced Eve and impregnated her with Cain. This link implies a connection with Satan.
  • Though the town of Silent Hill is officially located somewhere in New England, there is a body of water in the town named "Toluca Lake", named after the real Toluca Lake in Southern California, near Burbank, North Hollywood, and Studio City. Director David Lynch is legendary for having eaten lunch at Bob's Big Boy restaurant every day for approximately seven years straight. [1] That particular Bob's Big Boy is located in Toluca Lake, CA on Riverside Drive, just down the road from Warner Bros. Studios and Universal Studios.
  • Because many street names in Old Silent Hill are names of famous authors (see the Popular Culture References section below), many feel that some of their stories may have influenced the plot of the first Silent Hill game. An obvious reference is the Rosemary's Baby-like cult and their connection with the possibly satanic child, Alessa (a Levin St. refers to Ira Levin who wrote the story for Rosemary's Baby). Matheson St. and Bradbury Ave. refer to a Richard Matheson and a Ray Bradbury, both of whom were writers for the show The Twilight Zone as well as many science fiction novels/short stories. The plot of Silent Hill seems heavily influenced by the Twilight Zone series, especially with the 'Bad' ending from the first game.
  • The series is thought to be heavily influenced by the works of director Alfred Hitchcock. The level of suspense that is generated in the game follows Hitchcock's principles of suspense, stating that revealing a threat to an audience, but not the protagonists, can be suspenseful, especially when contrasted with surprise where something just jumps out at you. As mentioned below in the Easter Eggs section, there are also possible references to the films Psycho (Norman Motel and a stairwell) and Strangers on a Train (merry-go-round). In the fourth game, there are also strong parellels between Henry Townsend and James Stewart's character L.B. Jefferies from the film Rear Window.
  • When the game first came out, there were no set names listed for the monsters. [citation needed]
  • The game was initially planned to be released with two discs and two playable characters (Harry and Cybil) similar to Resident Evil 2's format, but this was revised soon before launch. The only remaining clues are unattainable items found in the regular game and some extra data on the CD that points to there being 'more' to the game. [citation needed]

Pop culture references

Several Easter eggs, hidden references and a large amount of pop culture 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 science fiction, horror and suspense novelists, such as Ray Bradbury, Ira Levin, Robert Bloch, Dean Koontz, Richard Matheson, James Ellroy, Jack Finney, Michael Crichton, Dan Simmons, Carl Sagan and Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King). Some of these authors may have been inspiration for the game, alluded to by the following points;
    • In addition to the prescence of a thick mist in the town, a scene in the diner is reminiscent of a similar scene in Stephen King's The Mist where a bird-like creature makes its way into a supermarket where numerous people are hiding;
    • The word redrum can be seen written on a door in a street, referring directly to Stephen King's The Shining;
    • There are a few movie posters for the film Carrie and one for the film Pet Sematary (both based on Stephen King novels) strewn about the shop windows in the game;
    • On either side of the pinball machine in the diner there are posters that beckon the viewer to "Study Dammit!", thought to contain an image of Charles Manson. This may be yet another reference to Stephen King, who is rumoured to have created a similar poster during his time as a teacher;
    • Numerous aspects of the game strongly resemble the happenings from the book Phantoms by Dean Koontz, most notably the distortion coming from the radio, a prominent feature in the Silent Hill series as a whole;
    • The name of Finney Street in Old Silent Hill may be referring to Jack Finney, a science-fiction writer who was well known for writing The Body Snatchers, a reference being suggested by the 'possession' that takes place with the nurses and doctors of the Achimilla Hospital;
    • The presence of a street named Ellroy and a character named Dahlia Gillepsie might be a reference to James Ellroy and his novel The Black Dahlia;
    • In one of the final scenes of the 'Nowhere' area of the game, Harry enters a hallway with a staircase that is supposed to be from Dahlia's house, but it strongly resembles the house from the film Psycho, by Alfred Hitchcock. Similarly the motel where you run into Dr. Kaufman is called the Norman Motel, which is reminiscent of the Bates Motel from Psycho, run by one Norman Bates. The source novel Psycho was written by none other than Robert Bloch, a name that shows up as one of the street names in the town, and;
    • Some feel there are numerous references to Michael Crichton in the Pteradactyl (Jurassic Park) and ape-like creatures wandering the streets (Congo).
  • The names of three members of the band Sonic Youth appear on a faculty list at the school.
  • References to the musical group Psychic TV occur further into the game.
  • The diner in the beginning of the game has posters for the band Portishead on the windows.
  • In the hospital a poster reading "Lust for Life" is a direct reference to Iggy Pop and his song of the same name (it is even said to refer to the film Trainspotting for which "Lust for Life" was a theme).
  • A poster in the window of a plant shop alludes to the man-eating plant from The Little Shop of Horrors, Audrey Jr.
  • The elementary school in Silent Hill is called Midwich Elementary, which is also the name of the village in Village of the Damned and the story it was based on, John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos.
  • In the 24/7 convenience store there is a poster that reads "The Martians Have Landed", which is a clear reference to H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds and Orson Welles' interpretation of it.
  • The marquee on the movie theatre reads "Metropol," which is possibly a reference to the theatre in the Italian film Demoni.
  • The boss fight with Cybil on the merry-go-round in the Silent Hill Amusement Park could be a reference to one of the final scenes of the Alfred Hitchcock film Strangers on a Train, where characters Guy and Bruno engage in a fist fight on an out of control merry-go-round.
  • The fact that Harry fights a giant worm and then a giant moth may be a reference to the Godzilla franchise because of the Mothra implications, and it could also be another reference to Phantoms.
  • A ray gun that you receive upon finishing the game via the goofy UFO ending is said to resemble a light gun released by Konami. This seems further reinforced by the fact that if a new game is started with the Konami light gun programmed into the PSX controller port 1, the ray gun is in the player's starting inventory.
  • The newspaper vending machines on the street have the headline "Bill Skins Fifth" referring to serial killer "Buffalo Bill" from the film The Silence of the Lambs.
  • The gas station is called "Hell" instead of Shell, and its logo is a snail-shell instead of the clam-shell usually associated with the real gas company.
  • The convenience store is called "24/7", parodying the 7/11 name and logo.
  • The fast food restaurant called "Queen Burger", a spoof of Burger King/Dairy Queen.
  • The store where you find the chainsaw after beating the game once through is "Cut Rite Chainsaws"- the same name of the chainsaw store where Dennis Hopper buys his saw in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2.

Endings

Template:Spoilers

  • Bad: In this ending, attained by killing Cybil and not rescuing Kauffman, after finishing the game it is revealed to the player that Harry is still in his Jeep dying, suggesting the entire game was an hallucination (some point to the involvement of White Claudia). The connections to the Twilight Zone and Jacob's Ladder are evident.
  • Bad +: If you rescue Cybil, but not Kauffman, you earn this ending. Cybil is present for the ending. Instead of fighting the demon god as the final boss, Harry instead fights Alessa. After defeating Alessa, Harry hears Cheryl's voice through the defeated Alessa one last time. Harry sits on the floor distraught because he realizes he has lost his daughter. Cybil tells him that they need to go, but they are trapped as the place starts collapsing around them.
  • Good: After rescuing Kauffman and completing the game, Kauffman shows up at the final boss confrontation with the demon god. After Harry defeats the demon god, Alessa reappears and hands Harry a baby and he goes through some sort of portal and ends up on a dark street. He looks around, then at the camera as if to say, "This isn't right," and the game ends.
  • Good +: Rescuing both Cybil and Kauffman will activate this ending. Both Kauffman and Cybil are present for the final battle with the demon god boss. After the demon god is defeated by Harry, Alessa reappears and hands Harry a baby and creates a portal for him to escape. Both he and Cybil go through the portal that lands them where Cheryl was initially found seven years ago. Cybil is then shown standing next to Harry as he looks at the new baby he has, and the game ends.
  • Alternate ending: There is also a silly UFO ending that Team Silent included in the first Silent Hill. This ending became so popular with fans that Team Silent included alternate UFO endings for both Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3. The UFO endings seem to lampoon off of each other. These endings have no basis in reality, but the Third game's UFO ending refers to the first game's UFO ending which makes no sense. In the first game's ending Harry uses a Chanelling stone in certain areas, noticing the presence of UFOs after doing so. The final time it is done, on top of the lighthouse, a UFO lands and abducts Harry after he asks if they know where his daughter is, "She's about this tall, black hair", a humorous reference to the fact that Harry's line whenever he meets somebody throughout the game is 'Have you seen my daughter?', etc. A credit sequence is then played where a song, that seems as though it was performed by a child mashing a keyboard, plays. A voice can be heard repeating the name 'Silent Hill' occasionally for no apparent reason.
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