Earlier this week, Silent Hill 2 lastly emerged from the fog of its improvement. A remake of the unique 2001 recreation of the identical title by Polish developer Bloober Staff (Layers of Worry, The Medium), Silent Hill 2 is well essentially the most anticipated and impressive horror recreation of 2024, a contemporary tackle one of the iconic and influential survival horror video games of all time.
Whether or not that is your first time enjoying the Silent Hill collection or not, now could be as excellent a time as any to discover the flicks and artists who impressed it. To that finish, we’ve compiled a listing of the flicks cited as inspirations behind the collection (as listed within the appendices of the official Japanese technique information for Silent Hill 3), the place you may stream or buy them, in addition to what the members of Staff Silent — the unique builders behind the primary 4 Silent Hill video games — needed to say about every movie.
Picture: The Criterion Assortment
What the creators needed to say: “Personally, I feel his biggest work is Twin Peaks. Additionally, once I noticed Dune in junior highschool, I used to be shocked by its lovely photos.” —Masahiro Ito, artwork director and monster designer for Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room
What it’s: David Lynch’s weird city neo-noir follows a person who begins receiving mysterious VHS tapes — together with one exhibiting him murdering his spouse, one thing he didn’t do. With the movie’s dreamlike high quality and unusual combination of actual and invented reminiscences, it’s simple to see why it was an enormous affect on Silent Hill.
The place to look at: The Criterion Channel, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
What it’s: Eraserhead follows a person named Henry who lives in a horrifying industrial dystopia world — not fully not like a few of Silent Hill’s creepy settings. Ultimately Henry finds out that his girlfriend has had his little one, a wierd inhuman creature that Henry makes an attempt to look after.
The place to look at: Max, The Criterion Channel, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
What it’s: Blue Velvet is all in regards to the sinister underpinnings of the American Dream, and the darkness that lurks in seemingly excellent suburbs. The film’s important character, Jeffrey, returns to his hometown and stumbles upon a severed ear, which leads him right into a darkish world of conspiracies and violence.
The place to look at: Hoopla, Tubi, Pluto TV, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
What it’s: Lynch’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic stars Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, the son of a strong extraplanetary dynasty sooner or later who should rally the folks of the desert planet Arrakis to avenge his household’s demise by the hands of their ancestral enemies. The movie was critically panned when it premiered in 1984, however has since grow to be a cult favourite amongst followers of David Lynch’s work.
The place to look at: Max, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
The movies of Stanley Kubrick
Picture: Warner Bros. House Leisure
What the creators needed to say: “Full Steel Jacket is a sadistic depiction of humanity that I simply can’t get sufficient of.” —Masahiro Ito, artwork director and monster designer for Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room
What it’s: Full Steel Jacket is director Stanley Kubrick’s grim examination of the Vietnam Conflict. The film follows a gaggle of Marines by means of their grueling and dehumanizing fundamental coaching that shapes them for deployment to Vietnam. Vincent D’Onofrio’s character, Non-public “Gomer Pyle,” was used as the idea for Silent Hill 2’s Eddie Dombrowski.
The place to look at: Paramount Plus, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
What it’s: Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita is an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel of the identical title. The 1962 movie explores the forbidden (and disturbing) relationship between a middle-aged professor and a 14-year-old woman he turns into infatuated with, in addition to themes of sexual frustration and abuse.
The place to look at: Hoopla, Kanopy, Tubi, Pluto TV, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
What it’s: A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian crime drama that explores themes of violence, free will, and the character of fine and evil. Set in a near-future England, the story follows Alex DeLarge, a sociopathic and charismatic gang chief who engages in brutal acts of violence — and later undergoes reconditioning to atone for his crimes.
The place to look at: Accessible to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
The movies of Alejandro Jodorowsky
Picture: Anchor Bay Leisure
What the creators needed to say: “I might by no means suggest this to anybody, however every one is a mysterious work that leaves a powerful impression on me.” —Hiroyuki Owaku, situation author for the Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room
What it’s: El Topo is a trippy Western the place a person goes on a morally doubtful quest to defeat all the best gunslingers on the planet on the behest of a girl he has a questionable relationship with, and who appears to have motives of her personal — which possible sounds acquainted for those who’re a fan of Silent Hill. Equally, like lots of director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s movies, El Topo can also be full of gorgeous, quasi-psychedelic imagery, which is extremely just like a number of the aesthetic decisions within the Silent Hill collection.
The place to look at: Accessible to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
What it’s: Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain is a surrealist movie that blends spiritual symbolism, mythology, and social satire. It follows a Christ-like determine on a transformative journey by means of a collection of weird and symbolic encounters, culminating in a psychedelic imaginative and prescient of the universe. The Holy Mountain seems to have had a powerful affect on Silent Hill 4: The Room.
The place to look at: Accessible to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
What it’s: Possible the strangest of the flicks on this listing, Santa Sangre is usually a few weird circus that options every kind of various otherworldly performances, that are completely recognizable however nonetheless really feel unusual and unnatural — and largely pointedly sexual. The film’s odd dreaminess and significantly the ways in which it makes an attempt to visualise unconscious concepts and emotions offers it a transparent and apparent connection to the Silent Hill franchise.
The place to look at: Prime Video, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
The opposite motion pictures and media that impressed Silent Hill
Picture: Common Footage
What the creators needed to say: “The explanation why Vincent’s eyes are asymmetrical [in Silent Hill 3] is due to Brad Pitt.” —Shingo Yuri, character modeler and facial movement animator on Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room
What it’s: Terry Gilliam’s apocalyptic sci-fi thriller stars Bruce Willis as James Cole, a person despatched again in time to cease a suspected terrorist group from unleashing a lethal virus that wipes out practically all of humanity. After arriving up to now, James is dedicated to a psychological hospital, the place he meets Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), a affected person who might or will not be behind the virus.
The place to look at: Tubi, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
Picture: Artisan Leisure
What the creators needed to say: “I noticed this film once I was in highschool and it was the primary film that scared me.” —Masahiro Ito, artwork director and monster designer for Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room
What it’s: One take a look at Jacob’s Ladder and it’s simple to see how its affect crept into Silent Hill. The film is a few Vietnam vet whose fight expertise leaves him seeing damaged, horrific, fragmented hallucinations that he can’t fairly perceive.
The place to look at: MGM Plus, YouTube, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
Picture: First Run Options
What the creators needed to say: “The ‘Mild Bulb in a Can’ scene in [Silent Hill 2] was influenced by this work.” —Hiroyuki Owaku, situation author for the Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4: The Room, and extra
What it’s: This 1988 Czech movie adapts Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and twists it right into a macabre and violent horror fantasy. Combining live-action performances with stop-motion animation, Jan Švankmajer’s Alice has since gone on to grow to be a cult traditional amongst admirers of experimental animation.
The place to look at: Hoopla, Kanopy, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
Picture: The Criterion Channel
What the creators needed to say: “[Silent Hill 2] was impressed in no small method by [the] ultimate scene [in Betty Blue].” —Hiroyuki Owaku, situation author for the Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room
What it’s: This controversial erotic drama follows Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade), an aspiring author and handyman who pursues a illicit love affair with Betty (Béatrice Dalle), an emotionally unstable teenage woman. In the event you’re aware of James Sutherland’s relationship along with his spouse, Mary, you may in all probability guess about how properly Zorg and Betty’s relationship goes. Owaku particularly cited the 185-minute director’s reduce of the movie as an inspiration behind Silent Hill 2.
The place to look at: The Criterion Channel, Mubi, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
Picture: twentieth Century Fox
What the creators needed to say: “I’ve been utilizing it as a reference for numerous points comparable to visuals and performances because the first movie.” —Masahiro Ito, artwork director and monster designer for Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room
What it’s: William Peter Blatty’s 1990 horror-thriller follows a detective named Kinderman who’s investigating a collection of murders linked to a serial killer. The Exorcist III — a direct sequel to the unique 1973 movie — takes a flip for the supernatural when Kinderman encounters a priest who’s possessed by a demon. The Exorcist III boasts one of the unsettling bounce scares of all time.
The place to look at: AMC Plus, Shudder, Peacock, Hoopla, Tubi, out there to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
Picture: Paramount Footage
What’s it: Paul W.S. Anderson’s sci-fi horror movie (which might later encourage 2008’s Useless House) follows a rescue crew that’s dispatched to analyze the reappearance of a spaceship that disappeared throughout its maiden voyage. Upon boarding the ship, the crew members expertise hallucinations based mostly on their previous emotional trauma.
The place to look at: Accessible to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
Picture: New Line Cinema/Arrow Video
What it’s: Director Tarsem Singh’s The Cell is a sci-fi surrealist thriller during which a psychologist, utilizing experimental know-how, explores a comatose serial killer’s psyche in an try to save lots of his subsequent sufferer. The Cell is a visually placing film because of its disturbing, surreal landscapes and beautiful costuming.
The place to look at: Accessible to hire/buy on Amazon and Apple
Island of Hell (aka Gokumon-to)
Picture: Toho
What it’s: Based mostly on the works of Japanese thriller novelist Seishi Yokomizo, this horror thriller follows Kosuke Kindaichi, a scruffy Columbo-esque detective who investigates the murders of three sisters on a small island in 1946.
The place to look at: Not out there to stream right now.
Chris Cunningham’s music movies for Björk and Aphex Twin
Picture: Warp
What the creators needed to say: “I purchased the Aphex Twin video and was stunned at how good the footage was.” —Masahiro Ito, artwork director and monster designer for Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room
What they’re: Chris Cunningham is taken into account by many to be one of the prolific music video administrators of the mid-’90s and early 2000s, creating music movies for artists comparable to Autechre, Portishead, and Squarepusher. Cunningham’s most well-known works embody the 1999 music video for Björk’s “All Is Filled with Love” and his collaborations with Aphex Twin, significantly the 1997 music video for his drill ’n’ bass single “Come to Daddy.”