Silent Hill (film)

Silent Hill is a 2006 horror film directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary in conjunction with Christophe Gans and Nicolas Boukhrief. It was released in theaters on April 21, 2006 by TriStar Pictures.

The film is a loose adaptation of the first Silent Hill video game, which was developed by Team Silent and published by Konami. However, while there are strong similarities to the video games, there are many key differences to the point where the film is its own thing as it was never intended to be a fully faithful live-action recreation of the video game. It should not be considered a replacement for the video game. The film is also set in a separate continuity from the video games so it is non-canonical to the video games.

The film also takes elements from Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, and includes the soundtracks from 1, 2, 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room.

The film follows Rose Da Silva, a loving mother who takes her adopted daughter to Silent Hill, West Virginia, the only clue to her daughter's sleepwalking condition. Upon arriving in town Rose is knocked unconscious in a car crash, from which she awakens to find her daughter is missing in the fog engulfed town. During her search Rose discovers her daughter's connection to the town's disturbing history.

The film is followed by a sequel, Silent Hill: Revelation.

Plot

 * Note: Silent Hill is set in November 2004.



On a dark night in Ohio, Rose Da Silva and her husband Christopher Da Silva chase their adopted daughter Sharon Da Silva, who has been experiencing severe nightmares and sleepwalking, after she wanders from their house and almost walks off the edge of a cliff. Their only clue to the girl's condition is her repetition of the name "Silent Hill" during her episodes. Desperate for answers, Rose decides to take Sharon to the abandoned town of Silent Hill in West Virginia, despite Christopher's opposition to the plan.

On the drive to Silent Hill, Rose stops at a gas station to ask for directions. Cybil Bennett, a police officer from Brahams, watches the mother and daughter with a hint of suspicion, mostly after a scene of Sharon becoming distraught at somebody "changing" her drawings into disturbing, borderline occult imagery, which was actually done by Sharon during one of her fugues. Cybil soon asks if Rose needs help, but Rose declines and heads on her way. Dubious that these are two "ordinary" people, Cybil takes note of Rose's license plate.



Rose proceeds on her drive to Silent Hill and Cybil attempts to pull her over. After noticing the turnoff to Silent Hill, Rose speeds off to escape the officer. Suddenly, the figure of a young girl wanders out in front of the car and Rose is knocked unconscious in the following crash. Rose awakens to find that Sharon is missing and that she is on the outskirts of the town of Silent Hill, shrouded by heavy fog and steadily-falling ashes. Rose searches the empty streets of the town for her missing child.



After following what she thinks is her daughter's figure into a dark alley, Rose experiences a surreal shift into a darker version of the town. She discovers a mutilated figure clothed in mining gear hung on a wire fence, complete with bloody floors and fences made of metal grating. Suddenly, Rose is attacked by a Grey Child. Dozens more show up, causing her to flee into a nearby building. Rose trips and is about to be overwhelmed by the creatures when the Grey Children and the surface of the room around her begin to disintegrate, and she loses consciousness. Upon awakening, she finds herself back in the Fog World inside of a dilapidated bowling alley.



Venturing out once more, Rose finds one of the main roads leading out of Silent Hill gone, collapsed into an abyss of fog. A mysterious woman in ragged clothing, Dahlia Gillespie, arrives and speaks of the terrible things done to her own daughter, Alessa, by the townspeople. Dahlia becomes infatuated when she sees a picture of Rose's daughter Sharon in her locket. She tells Rose that Sharon is her child, and tries to take the locket from her. After Dahlia almost pushes Rose off the edge of the collapsed road in an almost insane rage, Rose runs back to her car and finds a drawing of a school in Sharon's sketchbook.



Cybil then appears and places Rose under arrest for attempting to flee from her previously. As Rose is placed in handcuffs, Cybil reveals she too crashed and woke up in Silent Hill. They attempt to head back to the Brahams police station but discover that the road out of the town has mysteriously disappeared, resulting in Cybil beginning to believe Rose's claims that something is seriously wrong with the town. Backtracking the way they came to find a radio tower, Cybil sees something wandering towards them through the fog. As it gets closer, they realize it is another one of the town's creatures and it begins to shoot boiling acid at Cybil. While Cybil shoots at the monster, Rose takes the opportunity to run back into the town. After slipping the handcuffs to the front of her so her hands have limited use, she uses bus signs to find Midwich Elementary School, where she believes Sharon is hiding.



Inside the school, Rose sees a flashback to the town as it was thirty years before. A group of girls surround Dahlia's daughter, Alessa, calling her a witch and throwing books at her. Rose sees that Alessa is identical to Sharon. After the flashback ends, Rose sees Alessa run into the girl's bathroom. She enters the bathroom and opens one of the bathroom stall doors to discover the body of a janitor wrapped in barbed wire with a piece of a hotel keychain in his mouth. Rose takes the keychain and is about to leave when strange suited figures arrive. They spot her and Rose uses a set of keys from the main office to lock the bathroom door. The figures leave quickly as a warning siren blares. Rose switches on her flashlight and sees the bathroom physically begin to rot and degrade as it shifts into the Otherworld. The body of the janitor is now alive and crawls along the floor still wrapped in barbed wire. Rose manages to escape before he catches her.



Meanwhile, Christopher has studied reports and online articles about Silent Hill, and the dangers it possesses. Worried for his wife's safety, he takes it upon himself to drive out and rescue her. He is reluctantly aided by Officer Thomas Gucci after Chris begs the officer to help him find his missing wife. Under the guise of keeping Christopher safe from the harms of the underground coal fire and other natural dangers of the town, Gucci guides the worried husband through the town. The officer reveals his father once owned the local barber shop, and talks about how everyone fled the town due to the coal fire. He sympathizes with Christopher, but is more immediately concerned with the man's safety and is keen to leave.

Eventually they reach the school, where Rose currently is still trapped in the Otherworld. Although the two of them cannot see each other, at one point they walk through the same area at the same time, and Christopher believes he feels Rose's presence, even smelling her perfume. However, Gucci doesn't believe him, shrugging off the sight of a school door opening and closing by itself as Rose passes through it in the alternate reality. Chris and Gucci ultimately leave the town empty handed.



Rose collapses in tears, believing she can't go on. As she is about to be overrun with Creepers, Cybil arrives and saves her, having been dragged into the Otherworld along with Rose. Trapped inside a storeroom, the two of them are attacked by Red Pyramid, resulting in a hectic fight for their lives. While dodging the Great Knife, Cybil fires at the monster's arm as he yanks at a metal bar barricading the door. Just as the monster is about to break into the room, he ceases his attack and the school shifts back into the Fog World.

Meanwhile, Christopher has ignored Gucci's orders for him to go home, and has broken into the Toluca County Archives in a desperate search for any information that could help him in his search. He discovers documents showing the town was abandoned after a terrible fire 30 years prior, along with a photo of Dahlia's daughter, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Sharon. Christopher is apprehended by Officer Gucci when he tries to question the founder of the orphanage from which Sharon was adopted, Sister Margaret. Chris is told to stop investigating Silent Hill or risk being arrested. In exasperation, he finally relents and heads home.



Back in Silent Hill, Rose and Cybil arrive at the Grand Hotel, where they encounter a young woman named Anna. Searching the building, they visit Room 111 and discover a secret passage to a sacrificial chamber, where Rose encounters a little girl who resembles Sharon, albeit much darker: Dark Alessa. After Dark Alessa bursts into flames, another siren blares out and warns of another impending shift to the Otherworld. Anna implores Rose and Cybil to follow her to the local church, where she believes they will be safe.



On the way there, the Otherworld begins to consume the church grounds. A flock of churchgoers flees to the church. Dahlia, on the steps of the church, warns Rose and Cybil not to go with them because they are "deceiving wolves in the skins of sheep". Rose confronts Dahlia, demanding to know why Sharon is identical to Alessa and if Alessa is dead. Dahlia cryptically tells her "Evil wakes in vengeance, be careful what you choose." Anna becomes distracted by throwing rocks at Dahlia, claiming Dahlia is spreading "filth and lies", and as a result is grabbed by Red Pyramid who rips her skin off.

Rose and Cybil find refuge in the church, which is spared from being transformed by the Otherworld, where they discover the remaining townspeople; a religious cult, led by a woman named Christabella. Christabella tells them that a "demon" controls the town and that Rose must face the "darkness of hell" if she wants to find her daughter. After convincing Christabella that she wants to find the "demon" for answers, Rose is taken to Brookhaven Hospital with Cybil.



There, Christabella discovers the likeness between Sharon and Alessa from Rose's locket and condemns Rose and Cybil as witches. Cybil is captured as she defends Rose, who escapes the clutches of the cult and descends in an elevator into the basement of the Otherworld hospital. After a close encounter with monstrous Dark Nurses, Rose finds a badly burned adult Alessa lying in a hospital bed, unable to walk or speak. Meanwhile, a nurse in red hospital robes is crying and covering her face. Dark Alessa appears and explains why Alessa is like this. Rose learns that Dark Alessa is the manifestation of the dark side of Alessa's soul. Dark Alessa tells Rose the truth because she feels that she deserves it: Dark Alessa was the one who led all of the clues throughout the town in order to test Rose's love for Sharon and see if Rose is a worthy mother to be her new mother.



In a flashback, Rose discovers that Silent Hill had a history of ritual witch burnings. Alessa herself was condemned as a witch for not having a father. Christabella convinced and tricked Dahlia into letting her cult "purify" Alessa. However, the attempt to burn her 30 years ago went disastrously awry, resulting in a devastating fire destroying the town. In her pain and hatred, Alessa began manifesting psionic powers and ended up creating Dark Alessa and the Otherworld. Since then, she has been shifting reality to the hellish nightmare world in order to hunt down the cult members who hurt her all those years ago. Rose is told that Sharon is the manifestation of Alessa's remaining innocence and goodness, and was taken to the orphanage by Dark Alessa, where she was later adopted by Rose and Christopher.



Dark Alessa warns Rose that Christabella knows where Sharon is hiding due to her knowledge of Sharon's link to Dahlia, and that she's already making plans to burn her, just as she did to Alessa. This proves true when Christabella arrives at Dahlia's apartment and kidnaps Sharon. After realizing what she needs to do, Rose agrees to help Alessa gain her final revenge to save her daughter. After explaining that the church's protection from the Otherworld prevents her from getting inside, Dark Alessa then makes Rose absorb her so that she can enter the church. After this, the nurse is seen sitting in the back of the ward, still crying. She uncovers her face to reveal that she has been crying blood, a result of Alessa's psychic attack on her 30 years earlier.

Rose enters the church soon after Cybil has been burned to death by the townspeople and sees Sharon is about to suffer a similar fate. She confronts the townspeople and Christabella with her new knowledge of the truth, attempting to convince the cult that they are in denial of their own fate. Christabella stabs Rose in anger, claiming that Rose has been corrupted and is an agent of the "demon". Rose's wounds cause her blood to drip onto the church floor, releasing Alessa's tainted essence and opening a portal into the Otherworld. Dark Alessa and Alessa's adult form rise out of the portal, and proceed to kill Christabella and the townspeople with long tangles of barbed wire, leaving Dahlia, Rose, and Sharon as the only survivors. Sharon and Dark Alessa lock eyes, causing Sharon to faint.



Once Alessa's revenge is completed, Dahlia is left alive on the church steps. She asks Rose why Alessa didn't take her with the others, to which Rose reminds her that she is still Alessa's mother, and "Mother is God in the eyes of a child". Dahlia seems to realize that Sharon is now Alessa, and watches in stunned silence as her child leaves the church with another mother. Rose and Sharon/Alessa leave Silent Hill and return home, still in the Fog World.



At the same time, Christopher returns home from his search of the archives. Although Rose and Sharon/Alessa are in the same room as Christopher, the same situation as the one at the school is present. Neither one can see the other because they are in parallel universes of existence, but Christopher still appears to feel Rose's presence and the door has mysteriously opened by itself. As Sharon/Alessa leaves the room, her expression turns dark, indicating that Alessa's two halves have finally rejoined after 30 years, and that Sharon is now the complete Alessa.

Cast

 * Radha Mitchell - Rose Da Silva
 * Sean Bean - Christopher Da Silva
 * Jodelle Ferland - Sharon Da Silva / Alessa Gillespie / Dark Alessa
 * Laurie Holden - Cybil Bennett
 * Deborah Kara Unger - Dahlia Gillespie
 * Kim Coates - Thomas Gucci
 * Tanya Allen - Anna
 * Alice Krige - Christabella
 * Roberto Campanella - Red Pyramid / Colin the Janitor

Music
The score to Silent Hill is completely comprised of various themes from the game series (Silent Hill 1-3, with a few from Silent Hill 4) except for Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. The score has been re-recorded and remixed for film by Jeff Danna. For example, "Promise (Reprise)" is a prominent score throughout the film, and is often used to accompany Alessa and her past.

Some of the vocal tracks are present, with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's "You're Not Here" playing through part of the credits, set to a 3D animation of various environments from the film.

The ending theme in the Japanese version of the movie is Anna Tsuchiya's Lovin' You.

Reception
Metacritic's average critic's score is 30 out of 100 based on 20 reviews. Metacritic's user score is a much higher positive 80. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 29% rating on the review aggregator, based on 90 reviews. On IMDb, it has an average rating of 6.6/10.

The film received praise for its set design, atmosphere and mood, with many viewers feeling the film successully captured the tone of the Silent Hill games. As a result, the film is often on many people's lists of better movies that have been adapted from video games, although many feel the bar is not high to begin with. The music was well-received, although a lot of it is not original and has been lifted from the games.

Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 out of 4, calling it "an incredibly good-looking film", but noting that he "did not understand the story" and criticizing how "all through the movie, characters are pausing in order to offer arcane back-stories and historical perspectives and metaphysical insights and occult orientations". The confusing nature of the story for first time viewers, especially for those who did not play the game, was an issue among critics. However, other viewers enjoyed the vague elements of the story and piecing the puzzle together.

Some fans of the games did not appreciate some decisions, such as the decision to focus on a new female lead instead of Harry Mason, as well as the decision to make Dahlia Gillespie a sympathetic character, who was originally an abusive character towards Alessa in the game's universe. Also controversial was Pyramid Head's inclusion, who Masahiro Ito designed for James' story, even despite that the film and games are in different universes. Additionally, Pyramid Head's new redesign, who is now much taller, shirtless and muscular, was contested among fans, as the redesign found its way into future Silent Hill media, feeling that Pyramid Head should be seen as being more scary instead of sexy. Some fans were taken aback and noted the explicit gore in the film, such as Anna's skinning, the Nurses having their throats slit, and the film's final act; although the main four Team Silent games featured some gore, many felt that the film took it to another level. For example, in the first game, Alessa was heavily bandaged and mostly healed, while in the film, the viewer sees her charred skin and the strips of her flesh torn off.

Misconceptions
There are some several popular misconceptions about the film's story. Here are some of them clarified:


 * "Rose, Sharon and Cybil died near the beginning of the film in the car/motorcycle crash and are trapped in purgatory in the ending."
 * There is no proof this is true. While the Fog World is indeed symbolic of purgatory, Rose and Sharon are not dead, as proven in the sequel, but simply trapped in the alternate plane of existence. This is likely due to Sharon, being the recombined Alessa, wanting to be alone with her new mother. In addition, considering that all the cultists were alive, it's only logical to assume that Rose is too. There were no bodies found in the car, and Officer Gucci states that there weren't even any signs of trauma. If they died, their bodies would have been found.


 * "Dark Alessa is the Devil/Satan/Lucifer."
 * Dark Alessa is often confused as being a literal incarnation of the Christian devil. The confusion is so widespread that director Christophe Gans commented on it in the film's commentary, saying that the character is meant to be seen from a Japanese perspective (the Japanese form of a devil - the dark side of the human soul), not a Christian one.


 * "The cultists are the Order from the game canon."
 * Director Christophe Gans has stated they are two separate cults and that the Order is not the cult in the film. He implies that Jennifer Carroll was burned alive by the movie's cult, tying the Order to the film cult and says they have "opposite" beliefs. The Brethren are witch hunters who kill convicted witches to prevent the apocalypse. This is something which Revelation apparently retconned.


 * "The cultists are Christian."
 * This misconception probably occurs because Christabella quotes a part of Revelation 20 from the Bible, their symbol looks like a crucifix, and their history of witch hunting is reminiscent of the Salem witch trials. In addition, in the game canon, Order member Jennifer Carroll was burned by Christians, and she was also burned by the cultists in the film canon. However, the film's original script suggests the cult is a religion known as Manichaeism, and Christabella openly insults Christian beliefs.

"We're not Christians. We're Manichaeans. The Testaments of Matthew and the other disciples of Jesus are what led to the End of Days that we are now in. We follow the old ways. Separation of Spirit and Flesh are the doctrines by which we live. And our faith has never failed us. It keeps the Darkness of Hell at bay.
 * —Christabella about their faith"

Original visions
There were several changes made to the film during script rewrites. Some original ideas include:

General



 * In an early vision, there were only female characters, as director Christophe Gans wanted the film to run entirely on a theme of maternity, but the studio demanded more men be added, much to Gan's vexation. Sean Bean's and Kim Coates's characters were added and the script was approved. Ironically, many critics felt that the Chris and Gucci scenes hurt the flow of the movie and were boring.


 * Rose originally was supposed to have black hair. This description of Rose lasted until Radha Mitchell was hired to portray her, and was even drawn into the film's storyboard artwork.

Script (2004)
The first and earliest version of the script.


 * The Da Silva family was the De Salvo family, a probable reference to Andrew DeSalvo.


 * Sharon was the biological daughter of Rose and Chris, and was blonde, while Alessa had black hair. There is no mention of Sharon being connected to or part of Alessa.


 * Sharon was originally dying from a hereditary disease, not sleepwalking.


 * Rose intended to take Sharon to a faith healer in an unnamed town, and had never heard of Silent Hill.


 * Silent Hill's location in the original script is never stated.


 * Dark Alessa was originally a simple astral projection of Alessa, not an incarnation of her dark side. Dark Alessa never says "I have many names", and she doesn't refer to herself as "the dark part of Alessa". Instead, when asked who she is, her answer is "Alessa." She then goes on to say that "This whole world is Alessa."


 * Alessa was shown to be in possession of vast paranormal powers, including an inhuman scream she would emit when in pain. While she still has unnatural powers in the final version of the film, it is severely downplayed, and the first time she is shown exhibiting her powers is when she breaks the chain while being burned.


 * Pendulums appeared in the hospital scenes.


 * The original climax of the film was very different from the one that was shot. Originally, six Red Pyramids were supposed to rise into the church and slaughter the cultists with various weapons, while one held Dark Alessa and let her dance in the blood of the dying fanatics. The ending was changed due to time constraints caused by the film already having taken too long to shoot by the time the scene was reached.


 * Rose returned to the real world after saving Sharon, and she and Chris decided to have another child.

Script (2005)
A later version of the script was released, closer to the final version of the film. Some scenes in this script were filmed and then removed.


 * Sharon is now Rose and Chris's non-biological daughter, like the final film.


 * There are scenes of Sharon institutionalized at a psychiatric center, being examined by doctors for her condition.


 * The scene where Rose is attacked by the Gray Children ends with Rose scrambling into the doorway of a diner rather than the bowling alley. She wakes up inside the diner rather than the bowling alley (which would have echoed the first game).


 * Cybil talks more about her background with Rose.


 * While searching for the Grand Hotel, a scene of Cybil smashing a building window and taking a map was cut.


 * A scene of Anna being attacked by a Lying Figure was cut. Cybil was supposed to come to Anna's rescue.


 * Cybil, Anna and Rose explore a mannequin factory. Red Pyramid is inside.


 * Christabella refers to Dark Alessa as "Samael".


 * In the flashback scene in the hospital, a scene of Alessa going on a Midwich school field trip and causing butterflies to act abnormally was cut.


 * In the flashback scene in the hospital, Christabella speaks more on being Dahlia's sister and Alessa's aunt.

Sequel
Christophe Gans announced in December 2006 that a sequel to Silent Hill had been ordered; that Roger Avary was developing the screenplay with acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman. He expressed doubt that he would be able to direct should his obligations with Onimusha interfere: "If I cannot take on Silent Hill 2 myself, the director who does would need to continue in the same style as the first film. One does not want to make a Hollywood-style movie, and I think that it makes sense if the director of the sequel is European--in the best case scenario, French." Gaiman contradicted Gans in a blog post, stating that he had not been asked to co-write the film and was unaware of the rumours until people asked him about his involvement. In July 2007, Avary clarified that he would not return for the sequel unless Gans was involved.

By 2008, an outline for the sequel had been written. It was set to enter pre-production once Avary finished the script, but development came to a halt after he was charged with vehicular manslaughter. In November 2009, producer Don Carmody said he was unsure if Avary would be returning but intended the film to be "more accessible to the movie-going public". Gans refused to return, believing the producers wanted a film more in the vain of Resident Evil than what he had in mind.

In November 2010, it was announced that the sequel would be titled Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, an adaptation of Silent Hill 3 written and directed by M.J. Bassett. Sean Bean, Deborah Kara Unger and Radha Mitchell reprised their roles, with newcomers Adelaide Clemens, Kit Harington, Martin Donovan, Malcolm McDowell and Carrie-Anne Moss leading the cast. The film was released in 25 October 2012 to negative reviews, opening at #5 at the box office and grossing a worldwide total of $55,975,672 by the end of its theatrical run.

In January 2020, Gans announced that he was writing a third film with the involvement of producer Victor Hadida. He finished the screenplay while isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic as a reboot not tied to the previous films. He stated that his sensibilities had evolved since 2006 and he wanted to make a Silent Hill film for a 2023 audience:

"'[The project] is not a Silent Hill as I imagined it in 2006. It is clear that today's horror cinema no longer resembles the horror cinema of 2006. Good for that matter. Not that 2007 horror cinema wasn't good, but every genre is going through an evolution. I'm trying to take into account what I've been able to see recently, which is more original and more surprising in terms of horror films, and to see if in Silent Hill there are the seeds, or even the expression of that.'"

Gans wrote the script under the supervision of Konami, who greenlit the film as part of a global policy to get Silent Hill back into the public consciousness, breaking the hiatus that followed the cancellation of Silent Hills in 2015.

Trivia

 * Christophe Gans spent 5 years trying to convince Konami to allow him to adapt Silent Hill, and was only able to do so after filming a short version of it on his own budget. Konami was impressed with his film, and agreed to allow him to co-write and direct a feature film version of the game. Roger Avary was later brought on to write the film's dialogue, due to the poor English of Gans and fellow writer Nicolas Boukhrief.


 * One of the core themes of the movie is "motherhood" and "what it means to be a mother". The film explores different facets of mother-child relationships. These include Rose-Sharon, Dahlia-Alessa, and Eleanor-Anna. Sister Margaret has a motherly role towards the orphans. In an unused script scene, Cybil speaks about her mother and how her mother's death from an illness impacted her life.




 * At the start of the film, when Rose pauses under the overpass while looking for Sharon, several recognizable items are spray-painted on the wall in the background, including the GMC logo and "The Beatles". During a wide shot, spray-painted in the uppermost right corner are the words "Cheryl and Wolf" (a reference to Cheryl Mason and Claudia Wolf); the shot then cuts to a close-up of "Cheryl".


 * The film features various references to Silent Hill 3: Sharon's line "Don't talk to strangers" quotes Heather Mason's first encounter with Douglas Cartland.


 * A symbol very similar to the Seal of Metatron can be seen twice in the Otherworld version of Midwich Elementary School when Dark Alessa appears at her desk scribbling furiously.


 * Throughout the film, "Brahms" is spelled "Brahams". It is unknown if this is an intentional artistic choice or an error. Ironically, Cybil Bennett is the only one to actually say the word "Brahams" in the whole movie while her last name is misspelled in the promotional newspaper for the movie.


 * Most of the monsters featured are taken from Silent Hill 2: the Lying Figure ('Armless Man'), the Bubble Head Nurse ('Dark Nurse') and Pyramid Head ('Red Pyramid'). The Mannequin creature is also somewhat referenced, as there are two scenes that prominently feature broken-down mannequins. Otherwise, the only monsters adapted from the first game are the Mumbler/Grey Child and the Creepers. The only original creature featured in the film is 'Colin the Janitor', who was thought up the day before his scenes were shot.


 * As well as most of the creatures coming from Silent Hill 2, the majority of the soundtrack is also from the second installment.




 * There were over 100 different outfits made for Radha Mitchell, changing subtly from a dark chocolate shade to blood red.


 * Radha Mitchell didn't wash her hair through most of the filming to help the dirty unwashed look of her character.


 * The character of "Dark Alessa" is never credited in the movie's cast list, however, she is named as one of Jodelle's characters on the official site, in interviews, and in the film's presskit.


 * Screenwriter Roger Avery based the film's Silent Hill on the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, which also has a coal fire that still burns today. While the script was being developed, it was codenamed "Centralia".


 * The scene with the Lying Figure/Armless Man is highly relatable to when James Sunderland first encounters the monster. In the movie, the creature comes from a junkyard, while in the game, the Lying Figure is also spotted in a dirty, junked and closed-off area. After the Armless Man dies, more of the monsters can be spotted emerging above the distant trash.


 * In the film, birds appear to signal the upcoming Otherworld shift. When Rose first enters the alley, disturbed ravens take flight just before the sirens begin to blare, similar to the scene just outside the church. As well, when the Brethren endeavor to break through the door Rose was behind, a bird within a cage becomes frantic and they cease their assault, carrying the bird with them. This was not originally a part of the script; writer Roger Avary had to talk Christophe Gans into the idea.


 * Ironically, Jodelle Ferland was the first actress hired for the production, despite Gans fearing that he would have to delay production to find a child actress capable of playing three parts.


 * Silent Hill contains a vast amount of Christian symbolism. The three worlds are meant to symbolically represent Heaven (the real world), Hell (the Otherworld) and Purgatory (the Fog World), Biblical quotes are used to highlight Alessa's story, and various characters represent figures from the Bible (Rose as the Virgin Mary, and Sharon / Alessa / Dark Alessa as the Holy Trinity).


 * There were a total of 165 sets and locations used for the film.

Bloopers

 * In the beginning of the film, after Rose saves Sharon, Sharon is coloring under a tree. The pencil she is holding changes from yellow to red between shots.
 * Rose's locket disappears in a shot while she explores the Fog World, replaced with a chain link.
 * When Chris gets out of the car at Smitty's, he is holding a picture of Rose in his hand. In the next shot, he takes the picture out of his jacket pocket.
 * When Chris asks about Rose at the garage, the mechanic is working on a Dodge Magnum with a West Virginia license plate on the front of the car. West Virginia doesn't require, nor is it possible to have, a state license plate on the front of the car.
 * When the Armless Man comes out from behind the wire gate and begins to walk over to Cybil and Rose, Cybil puts her left hand up onto her gun twice between shots, before beginning to shoot it.
 * As the miners are trying to break down the washroom door, the camera pans over the door frame from Rose's side to the miners' side. Just as it settles into its final position, the sliding wall section they used to allow the camera to pan can be seen, sliding back into position on the left of the door frame.
 * When Christopher breaks into the Brahams Archives offices at about 0:59:45, the clearly visible orange anodized end caps and typical wiring on the fluorescent tubes identify them as Kino-Flo lights, a specialist type manufactured solely for the film industry. The arrangement is quite different to a conventional domestic lighting system. Orange end-caps indicate a tungsten-balanced tube; blue would be daylight.
 * As the clergy attack Cybil and Rose when they first enter the church, Rose's locket is pulled off and lands on the top step. However, when Christabella picks it up, it is one step from the top with no explanation as to how it got there.
 * In the investigation report Chris finds in the Toluca County Archives, a mistake can be found. The first is that on the folder the case number is "#5612" but on the investigation report itself, the case number is "561". The second mistake is an inconsistency within the report.
 * Lorry Ayers's elbow can be seen sticking out of the bandaging used to give adult Alessa her burned appearance.
 * When Alessa kills the long-haired cultist with barbed wire, the ladder Sharon is supposed to be tied to is clearly shown in the background without Sharon anywhere in sight.

Promotional newspaper
At some theaters, a 3-page promotional newspaper was handed out with details about the main story.

Gallery
For a complete list of images from the Silent Hill film, please visit the Silent Hill movie images category.