Summary
- Christophe Gans is a true fan of Silent Hill, aiming to improve on his previous adaptation.
- Silent Hill 2's complex themes of grief, guilt, abuse, and trauma are challenging yet necessary for adaptation.
- Characters like James, Angela, and Eddie offer depth and contrast to the grim narrative of Silent Hill 2.
When any adaptation of a beloved piece of media is announced, fans will always be a little skeptical. This skepticism comes from love, and it often seems like the people put in charge of those adaptations don't share that same love. However, when it comes to the latest iteration in the Silent Hill film franchise, Return to Silent Hill, no one can deny that Christophe Gans is a true fan.
Gans' Silent Hill, which adapted the first game in the franchise, got a lot right. The atmosphere is perfect, the town itself is great, and the scares work. However, the script could have used a second pass, especially in regard to the dialogue. Now, 20 years after his last attempt, there's a lot Gans can do in this upcoming adaptation, which is based on Silent Hill 2. The adaptation should embrace that same atmosphere, with a script that offers an improved sense of tension and embraces the game's difficult themes.
Silent Hill 2 is considered the best game in the Silent Hill franchise, and not just because of its impressive graphics at the time of its release. The game is an uncomfortable experience, centering around grief and guilt. The characters have serious traumatic backstories, and a lot of the monsters that protagonist James Sunderland sees are based on his own repressed feelings. This makes Silent Hill 2 a difficult property to adapt, but to do the story justice, it's necessary for Return to Silent Hill to face them head on. So what exactly are these tricky themes and topics?
Spoilers ahead for Silent Hill 2
Please keep in mind that this article will include discussions of trauma and sensitive subjects.
James' Complicated Motivations For That Twist Ending
In Silent Hill 2, James Sunderland receives a letter from his wife asking him to meet her in the titular Silent Hill, a resort town, which was the location of one of their happiest vacations. However, this is unnerving from the start, as Mary has been dead for three years. While James searches for Mary, many characters he meets along the way ask why he's looking for his wife if he knows she's already dead. Still, James cannot let it go.
James meets a doppelgänger of his wife called Maria. Eventually, it is revealed that Maria is a creation of Silent Hill itself, meant to test James' loyalty to Mary. This comes to a head when James learns the truth about what happened to Mary. Before the events of the game, Mary had been diagnosed with an illness that deteriorated her skin, made her hair fall out, and left her surly. She would sometimes be verbally abusive towards James, and would alternate between wishing for death and wanting to live. Once she was discharged from the hospital to live the rest of her days under his care, James was at his limit.
Players learn that Mary didn't die from her illness three years ago. Instead, James killed her just a few days before heading to Silent Hill. However, he was unable to deal with what he had done, so he tricked himself into believing she had died from her illness.
Of course, this reveal makes James complicated. He's no longer a man searching for his lost wife, but a murderer who can't handle what he did to someone he loved. Additionally, the game delves into even more complicated aspects of his mixed feelings over his wife's illness. Some of the monsters in the game are sexually suggestive, which implies that James may have been repressing his own sexual desire during Mary's illness. That also explains why the idealized Maria is a stripper, a more alluring version of his wife. There is also the infamous Pyramid Head, an executioner who is constantly going after James as a way to punish him for what he did. James may not be heroic, but his complexities make him a great character and one of the reasons the game is such a standout.
Angela's Tragic Home Life
Like James, Angela is also looking for someone: her mother, who she claims she hasn't seen in a long time. She is skittish and warns James that something is wrong with Silent Hill. Angela also corrects herself from saying "Mama" to "mother," implying that there's some kind of development issue with her and there's more to her search. Eventually, players learn that Angela's father was an abusive alcoholic who also sexually assaulted her. Her mother blamed her, telling her that she deserved it. When Angela was unable to take the abuse any longer, she stabbed her father to death.
In Silent Hill, Angela's trauma of her abuse is personified in the Daddy Abstract monster, who is a fleshy mass resembling two figures intertwined on a bed. Interestingly, the version James sees of this monster is different from the one Angela sees, and likely less horrific. This is a grim part of the story, and one that would be very difficult to adapt into a film. However, it's necessary to portray Angela's contrast to James. Whereas his endings give him the choice to forgive himself, there's no other path for Angela. In her last cutscene of the game, it is implied that she chooses to end her own life.
How Eddie's Bullying Led To His Instability
One side character, Laura, is an innocent and doesn't see the Fog World that James and Angela are subjected to. Eddie isn't so lucky. Eddie initially seems a little bit dim, but harmless. He's just as disturbed by corpses as James is at the beginning of the game. However, as the game progresses, Eddie's psyche begins to deteriorate. It turns out that before coming to Silent Hill, Eddie snapped, shot his bully in the leg, and killed his dog. When he first arrives, he tries to escape what he's done, but as he spends more time in the town, he becomes convinced that everyone is equal in death and James is forced to kill him in self-defense.
Like Angela, Eddie is another juxtaposition to James' character. James feels immediate grief over killing Eddie, and this act serves as a step to reveal that he is capable of murder, leading to the realization of how his wife died. As grim as Eddie's narrative is, it is necessary for James' overall story.
While Silent Hill 2 has received praise for its story, it is an undoubtedly grim one. However, the only way that this next entry into the Silent Hill film franchise works is if Gans confronts that darkness head on. Just as James must confront his actions, the full darkness of the narrative is required in order to get the full picture of Silent Hill 2's story and what makes it so unique even over 20 years later.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 94%
- Released
- September 25, 2001
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Team Silent
- Publisher(s)
- Konami
WHERE TO PLAY
THE SILENCE IS BROKEN...
James Sunderland's life is shattered when his young wife Mary suffers a tragic death. Three years later, a mysterious letter arrives from Mary, beckoning him to return to their sanctuary of memories, the dark realm of Silent Hill.
Now James must go back to that special place to uncover the truth, unaware that the answers he seeks require the ultimate sacrifice.
• Return to Silent Hill in an entirely new adventure with all-new characters and monsters.
• Battle horrifying creatures with a new arsenal of weapons and items.
• Riveting storyline, stunning graphics and true-to-life CG movies leave you on the edge of your seat.
• Atmospheric lighting and ambient 3D surround sound shift and change at each terrifying turn.
• Dynamic camera angles, beautifully rendered environments, and real-time weather effects deliver a cinematic horror experience.
- Franchise
- Silent Hill
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 2, Xbox (Original), PC
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
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