Silent Hill (film)


Silent Hill is a 2006 supernatural horror film based on the video game series published by Konami. Directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary, it is the first installment in the Silent Hill film series. The film stars Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Deborah Kara Unger, Kim Coates, Tanya Allen, Alice Krige and Jodelle Ferland. Its plot follows a mother who, after her daughter mentions the eponymous town while sleepwalking and goes missing upon entering it, uncovers dark secrets within and survives dangerous forces while searching for her.
After attempting to gain the film rights to Silent Hill for five years, Gans sent a video interview to Konami explaining his plans for adapting it and how important the games were to him. Konami awarded him the film rights as a result, and he and Avary began working on the script in 2004. Avary used Centralia, Pennsylvania as inspiration for the town. Principal photography began in April 2005 and lasted three months with an estimated $50 million budget, and was shot on sound stages and on location in Ontario, Canada. Most of the monsters encountered were played by professional dancers, while a minority were created with CGI.
Silent Hill was released theatrically in Canada on April 21, 2006, by Alliance Atlantis and in France on April 26 by Metropolitan Filmexport, grossing $100.6 million worldwide. The film received generally negative reviews from critics upon release, although retrospective reviews have been more favorable and has since garnered a cult following. A sequel, titled Silent Hill: Revelation, was released in October 2012, while a third film, Return to Silent Hill, was released in January 2026, with Gans returning as writer-director.

Plot

Rose Da Silva and her husband Christopher are disturbed by their adopted daughter Sharon's constant sleepwalking and nightmares about Silent Hill, a town in West Virginia that was abandoned in the 1970s due to a massive coal seam fire. Desperate for a solution, Rose takes Sharon on a trip to Silent Hill to find answers. Her erratic behavior concerns police officer Cybil Bennett when they encounter her at a gas station en route. As they enter Silent Hill, a girl steps out into the road, causing Rose to crash and black out. She awakens in the fog-shrouded dimension of Silent Hill, and realizes that Sharon is missing.
Searching the town for Sharon, Rose pursues the girl she encountered prior to the crash, who resembles Sharon. At various points, the town suddenly transitions into a nightmarish world inhabited by inhuman monsters, including the fearsome Red Pyramid. Cybil encounters and tries to arrest Rose, but while attempting to bring her to the local station, they realize they are trapped, all roads out of town ending in a mysterious cliff. Rose encounters many other inhuman creatures and learns of Alessa Gillespie, a young girl burned as a witch by the Brethren, the town's fanatical Manichean cult. Her mother Dahlia wanders the streets as an outcast, guilt-ridden over her negligence that led to Alessa's suffering. In the real world, Christopher searches the abandoned town with policeman Thomas Gucci, but they find nothing: the town appears to them simply as a dilapidated, abandoned place devoid of fog or creatures. Gucci later reveals he lived in Silent Hill and saved Alessa from the fire. He encourages Christopher to end his futile search.
In the Silent Hill dimension, Rose encounters the girl again, revealed to be an aspect of Alessa. When the town transitions into the dark dimension, Rose, Cybil, and Anna, a Brethren member, flee to an old church, but the Red Pyramid catches and skins Anna alive. Brethren members lead Rose and Cybil to a hospital, claiming the demon that has taken Sharon is in the basement. Upon noticing an image of Sharon in Rose's locket, Christabella, the high priestess of the Brethren, identifies Sharon as a likeness of Alessa. She decries the two women as witches and orders her Brethren to stop them. Cybil holds them off while Rose descends into the basement, but is quickly subdued and captured.
Rose explores the basement but is barricaded by a group of disfigured nurses. She sneaks past them and enters Alessa's room. In a flashback, it is revealed that Alessa was stigmatized by the townspeople for being born out of wedlock. Christabella convinced Dahlia to "purify" Alessa after Alessa was raped by the school janitor. Christabella immolated Alessa during a ritual in 1974, but Dahlia alerted Gucci. The pair arrived too late, and the ritual went awry, igniting the coal seam fire. Hospitalized and in excruciating pain, Alessa's rage split her soul apart, one half manifesting as the dark entity responsible for the shifting dimensions of Silent Hill. Her remaining innocence manifested as Sharon, who was taken to the real world to be adopted. Desperate to find Sharon, Rose allows Dark Alessa's spirit into her body, granting it access to the church. Sharon, despite being protected by Dahlia, is captured by the Brethren.
In the church, Christabella burns Cybil as a witch and plans to do the same to Sharon. Rose confronts Christabella, denouncing her as a murderer before Christabella stabs Rose in the heart. Alessa emerges from the blood flowing from the wound as a disfigured being bound to a hospital bed, and tears Christabella and her followers apart with razor wire. Rose rescues Sharon, and Sharon and Alessa/Dark Alessa reunite into one body. Rose and Alessa leave the town and return home. Upon arriving, they discover they are still in the foggy dimension, separated from reality. Meanwhile, Christopher awakens alone in the real world and discovers that the front door has mysteriously opened.

Cast

  • Radha Mitchell as Rose Da Silva, the desperate mother who seeks a cure for her daughter Sharon's nightmarish sleepwalking by taking her to the ghost town of Silent Hill
  • Sean Bean as Christopher Da Silva, the father of Sharon and husband of Rose who opposes his wife's decision to find answers in Silent Hill
  • Laurie Holden as Cybil Bennett, a motorcycle police officer from the fictional city of Brahams who becomes suspicious of Rose and follows her into Silent Hill
  • Deborah Kara Unger as Dahlia Gillespie, the mother of Alessa who walks the foggy dimension of Silent Hill as penance after giving her daughter up for sacrifice. She is a much more sympathetic character in the film, compared to her game counterpart.
  • Kim Coates as Officer Thomas Gucci, a kind-hearted police officer who once served with the Silent Hill force before transferring when the town was abandoned. He is jaded and hardened by his experiences.
  • Tanya Allen as Anna, the youngest Brethren member who was born in the foggy dimension of Silent Hill, and has no knowledge of the outside world.
  • Alice Krige as Christabella, the fanatical, sadistic and delusional high priestess of the Brethren, who burn those deemed as "witches" to prevent the Apocalypse and maintain a sinless existence. Though her character doesn't exist in the games, her motive and backstory was instead taken from the game version of Dahlia.
  • Jodelle Ferland as:
  • * Sharon Da Silva, the adopted daughter of Rose and Christopher, and manifestation of Alessa's innocence.
  • * Alessa Gillespie, a powerful psychic born out of wedlock, who is persecuted and eventually immolated by the Brethren.
  • ** Ferland also portrays Dark Alessa, the manifestation of Alessa's rage born out of her suffering.
  • ** Lorry Ayers portrays the adult Alessa Gillespie, who was kept alive for 30 years in the basement of a hospital and eventually returns as a scarred woman to exact her revenge upon the Brethren.
  • Eve Crawford as Sister Margaret, the headmistress of the orphanage from which Sharon was adopted.
  • Nicky Guadagni as Eleanor, Anna's mother.
  • Chris Britton as Adam, a Brethren member.
  • Roberto Campanella as Red Pyramid, a tall humanoid monster wearing a pyramid-shaped helmet wielding a large great knife.
  • * Campanella also portrayed Colin, the school janitor who raped Alessa, and the monster version of Colin after being punished by Alessa. Additionally, Campanella was the movement coordinator for the other creatures that were used in the film.
  • Emily Lineham as Lisa Garland, a nurse who was horribly scarred by Alessa for peeking into her burn tent, and who eventually becomes one of the Dark Nurses Rose encounters in the hospital.

    Production

Development

The idea of the film adaptation of Silent Hill was voiced by director Christophe Gans for the first time to producer Samuel Hadida during the filming of the film Brotherhood of the Wolf. Hadida, knowing the game's rich visual aesthetics, believed that eerie storytelling matched Gans' encyclopedic knowledge of cinematography. Gans became acquainted with the video game series approximately six years before the release of his film, and initially wanted to adapt the second game since it was the most "emotional" of all four and the most beloved by fans. He compared it to the myth of Orpheus, who descended into the underworld after Eurydice. However, he said that Silent Hill 2 was not the "real Silent Hill": there was no mythology, and the city only played the role of a backdrop for the unfolding story. As a result, he realized that it was impossible to film an adaptation of the second game without saying a word about the origin of the city.
According to Gans, the first game captivated him with its extraordinary plot: it was so "completely unique" and "absolutely frightening" that it was worthy to become the basis for a real film. Many of his entourage were surprised at the opinion that a banal video game can scare someone. To this, the director replied that Silent Hill was one of the scariest experiences he ever had. He called it "an experiment with a unique and independent world, which is both beautiful and terrible at the same time". Even before the release of Silent Hill 2, Gans sent "a ton of letters" to copyright holders, but received no response. He presented his vision of the film and how important the games are to him in a 37-minute video with Japanese subtitles, which was shown at a meeting of the Konami board of directors. Representatives of the company realized that Gans was the only one among the major studios fighting for the right to film adaptation who understood the essence of the game, and the director received the filming rights after two months, which he sought for a total of five years. The publishers insisted that the project retain the original plot and setting.
Gans had not previously directed any game adaptations, and stated that the process is completely unlike anything else. According to him, in projects of this type, the most important challenge is to bring the background story in the game to the foreground. Hadida said that "Silent Hill is something outside of cinema." He believed that the game was so popular because everyone felt something unique when playing it, and the film only enhances that feeling. The creators have also said that the film is a tribute to the horror genre. Gans considered his film to be halfway between science fiction, Clive Barker's books, and hardcore horror.