Many people have forgotten thatGame of ThronesandLord of the Rings’Sean Beanonce ventured into the fog-laden world ofSilent Hill—and lived to tell the tale. Making his first appearance in the 2006 movie based on Konami’s creepy and atmospheric video game, the film became one of the movies most likely to seeBean succumbing to one of his frequent on-screen deaths, but somehow he lived on to appear in the 2012 sequel,Silent Hill: Revelation. Fans of theSilent Hillfranchise will now be able to catch up on the first movie as it finds a new home on Shudder after being absent from streaming for a while.
Opinions on the adaptation ofSilent Hilldiffer greatly, from those who love the creepy visuals and many references to the misty, murky world of survival horror that made tinkling bell sounds set gamers' nerves on edge, to those who could not get past some suspect dialogue and runtime that seemed to extend that the plot warranted. However, despite gaining a 32% score from critics, the film fared much better with audiences to land a 63% score on the Popcornmeter.
Directed by Christope Gans, and starring Bean alongside Radha Mitchell, Laurie Holden, Deborah Unger, and Tanya Allen, the film did prove to be a success at the box office, doubling its $50 million budget. The film’s synopsis reads:
“Unable to accept the fact that her daughter is dying, Rose (Radha Mitchell) decides to take the girl to a faith healer. On the way, the pair drive through a portal in reality, leading to an eerie town called Silent Hill. The town is surrounded by a potent darkness, and the human survivors fight a losing battle against it.”
The Legacy of ‘Silent Hill’ Has Been Strangely…Silent.
Unlike the other big horror video game series of the 90s,Resident Evil, adaptations ofSilent Hillhave been few. While both games were incredibly successful at scaring the hell out of gamers, Silent Hill’s chilling atmosphere always had a very slight edge over the jump-scares ofResident Evilthanks to the nerve-jangling, mist-enshrouded storyline making players always feel like something was imminently about to come for them out of the mist.
However, translating that terror to the big screen proved a little problematic, something theResident Evilfranchise knows very well. ForSilent Hill, though, despite there being several video game sequels, only the two movies materialized, mainly thanks to the disappointingSilent Hill: Revelation, which struggled to a $55 million box office (albeit on a reduced $20 million budget) after it was slammed by critics and scored just 8% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.
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Now the legacy ofSilent Hillis set to continue after more than a decade, withReturn to Silent Hillhaving completed filming in 2024. While there have been very few details revealed about the third installment, Gans returns as director and has previously said that this is not a sequel to his previousSilent Hillfilms. The plot is adapted from theSilent Hill 2video game, and features a brand-new collection of characters venturing into the mists and monsters of the eerie town.
Silent Hillwill join Shudder’s library of horrors on March 1, whileSilent Hill: Revelationis currently available to stream on Peacock.
Silent Hill
