History Film / SilentHill

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine We've been expecting you.]]'']]

''Silent Hill'' is a film adaptation of ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'', from the French director [[Film/BrotherhoodOfTheWolf Christophe Gans]] and Canadian writer Creator/RogerAvary, which also draws inspiration from several other ''Franchise/SilentHill'' games (notably ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', due to the film's usage of Pyramid Head).

Rose Da Silva's (Radha Mitchell) adopted daughter Sharon (Creator/JodelleFerland) is plagued by nightmares in which she repeatedly shrieks about a town named "Silent Hill". Hoping to find some answers, Rose takes Sharon to Silent Hill, but she [[FrightDeathtrap crashes her car]] on the way, and soon finds herself amidst a cult that want to get their hands on Sharon for their own nefarious purposes. And things keep [[FromBadToWorse getting worse]] from there...

A sequel film based (mostly) on ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' -- ''Film/SilentHillRevelation3D'' -- was released on October 26th, 2012. It was directed by MJ Bassett and follows the adventures of Sharon some years later. A third film adapting ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', ''Return to Silent Hill'', was announced in 2022 with Gans returning to direct.

* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: In the Japanese version, Music/{{Anna Tsuchiya}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FVMfRugQNM "Lovin' You"]] is used.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Dahlia, after she let her own daughter to be burned at a stake by the cult, but it's too late by then. She is ultimately driven insane by the remorse.]]

* PipePain: The GasMaskMooks are armed with pipes to fight any monsters they come across.

%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Thomas Gucci.

* GainaxEnding

%%* WalkingWasteland: Colin the Janitor. He ''tries'' to walk...

%%* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Dahlia]]

%%* EvilVersusEvil

%%* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Cybil.]]

%%* KidsAreCruel: Alessa's classmates.

%%* MarionetteMotion: The nurses.

%%* NoMouth: [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Silent_hill.jpg This poster.]]
* NotAZombie: Cybil tries to get a zombie-like creature to lie down by waving her gun at it This is made worse by the fact that it doesn't even look vaguely human.

%%* SinisterScrapingSound: Pyramid Head again.

%%* VasquezAlwaysDies: [[spoiler:Cybil]].
%%* WalkingShirtlessScene: Pyramid Head.

* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler:Cybil. Rather than get into the elevator with Rose, she stays behind to ostensibly hold off the cultists...except there's very little the cultists could do to stop the elevator once the door was closed. It seems that the time they used burning her before Sharon ended up saving Sharon, but there was no way Cybil would have known that at the time.]]

* FairCop: Cybil Bennett is normally this in the video games. As portrayed here by a HellBentForLeather Creator/LaurenHolly, she does not disappoint.

* ChronicallyKilledActor: Turned on its head as [[spoiler:almost everyone but Sean Bean and Kim Coates dies.]]

[[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/967ca033_74ce_4ee1_a136_07d3ec5a6c8b.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:180:[[BlatantLies A relaxing place to visit.]] I don't bloody think.]]

* AdaptationalHeroism: Here, Dahlia is a tragic victim of circumstance who, upon realizing what the cult intends to do, tries to stop them from [[spoiler: taking Alessa and burning her nearly to death]]. In the source material, Dahlia is a senior member of the cult and did the horrible deed ''herself''.

* TheBadGuyWins: It's debatable whether [[spoiler: Alessa is really ''the'' "bad guy" considering that the people she's fighting are the film's GreaterScopeVillain, but she's definitely not morally innocuous given her willingness to harm the innocent, and her actions lead directly to the DownerEnding mentioned below]].

* BodyHorror: Most of the monsters that appear are pretty horrific although they are all based on the video game monsters save Colin the Janitor - who it is hinted either [[spoiler: molested or raped Alessa]] leading to him now being strung up by barbed wire, tying his legs to his head, more barbed wire going ''into his eyes'', and he is forced to crawl around on his hands and genitals.

* BurnTheWitch: Essentially the cult's modus operandi. [[spoiler: Originally used on Alessa, sparking the events of the movie]], and then used on pretty much everyone else [[spoiler: because it worked ''so well'' the first time]].

* ChronicallyKilledActor: Turned on its head as [[spoiler: almost everyone but Sean Bean and Kim Coates dies.]]

** Dramatically averted with [[spoiler:Alessa and Cybil]]. Both are held above a large bonfire, rather than being put directly inside of it [[spoiler:Although Cybil eventually bursts into flame anyway due to the heat]].
* CreepyChild: Dark Alessa is the most obvious example, but Sharon also has her moments, like when she falls into unconsciousness and starts scribbling in her NightmareFuelColoringBook. [[spoiler: The combined Alessa/Sharon at the end of the movie isn't quite as overtly frightening as Dark Alessa, but she's subtly disturbing in her own way]]. Alessa's classmates are also disturbing, physically assaulting her and screaming insults at her on a daily basis.

** [[spoiler:Collin, a janitor who is implied to have sexually abused Alessa, was killed offscreen before the events of the film. Even though we don't see it, his death apparently involved barbed wire, an IV drip stand, and lots of screaming]].

** [[spoiler: To save her daughter, Rose lets Dark Alessa hitch a ride inside her body into the church, knowing she'll slaughter the cultists. This sequence is actually far more likely to represent the Virgin Mary being impregnated by the Holy Ghost, given the several connections between Rose and the Virgin Mary made throughout the film, including an image engraved on her necklace.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Rose is stuck in the Silent Hill version of her home while her husband is not. They are literally in the same room at the same time but in different worlds.]]

* EvilVersusEvil

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Unlike her video game counterpart, Alessa didn't seem to have any particularly dangerous abilities [[spoiler: before being burned alive]]. An early deleted scene may have showed her controlling butterflies to make them move in an unusual pattern, but there's a big difference between that and [[spoiler: turning an entire town into a living hell]].

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: Alessa is behind all of the horrible things that go bump in the night in Silent Hill, but she's only created her nightmare world to punish the cultists who attempted to kill her]].

* TheHeavy: Sure, it turns out that [[spoiler: she's just a little girl who was seriously abused and then nearly killed by religious fanatics]], but throughout most of the movie, [[spoiler: Alessa Gillespie is undeniably the primary antagonist, and even after the end she still continues to cause trouble]].

* LiteralSplitPersonality: [[spoiler: Alessa is split into three beings: her adult body, her good side (Sharon), and her dark side (Dark Alessa).]]

* MyGreatestSecondChance: After failing her daughter [[spoiler: Alessa]] so long ago, [[spoiler: Dahlia]] gets a second chance when she finds Sharon in Silent Hill. [[spoiler: In her insanity, she seems to think Sharon ''is'' Alessa at first, though by the end of the film she seems to realize otherwise]] She hides her away and protects her from Christabella and the cult members. When the cult tracks them down, she actually physically attacks the members, trying to keep them from taking Sharon. Her actions give Rose enough time to enact revenge upon the cultists.
%%* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Dahlia]]

* ShadowArchetype: Dahlia to Rose. Both love their daughters [[spoiler: who are technically the same person]], and both (to varying degrees unwittingly) brought them to the cult, but where Dahlia was weaker and only managed to fetch the police too late, Rose personally ''fights'' to save her daughter before they can burn her alive,[[spoiler: even if it means helping Alessa's dark side to kill the cultists.]]
* ShamingTheMob: Attempted by [[spoiler: Rose, who fails to keep the mob from nearly killing her, but does cause them recognize subconsciously that they've done something wrong. Given that their sense of self-righteousness is all that's keeping the chaos outside from getting into their church, this is all that it takes to stop them ''permanently'']].

* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler: Cybil. Rather than get into the elevator with Rose, she stays behind to ostensibly hold off the cultists...except there's very little the cultists could do to stop the elevator once the door was closed. It seems that the time they used burning her before Sharon ended up saving Sharon, but there was no way Cybil would have known that at the time.]]

%%* VasquezAlwaysDies: [[spoiler: Cybil]].

* WouldHurtAChild: The cultists. [[spoiler: The entire plot of the film is set off by their past decision to burn Alessa]], and after [[spoiler: discovering Sharon, they tie her to a ladder and attempt to burn her alive as well]].

A sequel film based (mostly) on ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' -- ''Film/SilentHillRevelation3D'' -- was released on October 26th, 2012. It was directed by MJ Bassett and follows the adventures of Sharon some years later.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Cybil.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Thomas Gucci.

* KidsAreCruel: Alessa's classmates.

* MarionetteMotion: The nurses.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Dahlia]]
* NoMouth: [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Silent_hill.jpg This poster.]]
* NotAZombie: Cybil tries to get a zombie-like creature to lie down by waving her gun at it.
** Made worse by the fact that it doesn't even look vaguely human.

* SinisterScrapingSound: Pyramid Head again.

* VasquezAlwaysDies: [[spoiler: Cybil]].
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Pyramid Head.
* WalkingWasteland: Colin the Janitor. He ''tries'' to walk...