With the resurgence of Dead Space, several Resident Evil remakes, and even the return of genre heavyweight Alone in the Dark earlier this year, it seems long overdue for the groundbreaking survival horror classic Silent Hill 2 to come out of the mists and receive a contemporary makeover. Let Bloober Team, the experts in psychological horror best known for Layers of Fear and Observer, take on the task of bringing the macabre masterpiece from the PlayStation 2 era to life again, albeit with the foul flesh of its numerous demonic ghouls.
Being a huge fan of the original, I am happy to report that the resulting Silent Hill 2 remake is an incredibly gritty and grimy horrorscape that is constantly exciting to explore. It is enhanced with modernized combat, packed with new puzzles and boss encounters that made my return to the small town of Silent Hill an exciting and frequently violent experience.
You probably have no idea why the first Silent Hill 2 was so influential, given that it was released more than 20 years ago. Apart from its eerie small-town setting, which was reminiscent of something out of a Stephen King book, Silent Hill 2 distinguished itself from other survival horror stories of the time by emphasizing the struggle with personal demons as much as regular run-ins with the vicious kind.
The main character, James Sunderland, is an average guy forced to deal with some very remarkable circumstances. He is not a battle-hardened member of a special squad that kills zombies; rather, he is a man drawn to a secluded mining town by the prospect of communicating with his late wife Mary. His battles with his pain and shame humanize him and give the atrocities that surround him believable weight.
The festering atmosphere of Silent Hill 2 is simultaneously repulsive and seductive, like a sore you can not stop picking at.
In this version, voice actors of a considerably higher caliber have taken on the parts of James and the few other lost souls he encounters, but the campy speech they deliver is largely unaltered. The original character interactions’ off-kilter, David Lynchian vibe is retained, however, at times it comes across as jarring given the significantly higher storytelling standards we have seen in more contemporary horror monuments. This time around, I was just as entertained by the eccentric people of Silent Hill 2, even though I never felt as deeply moved by their stories as I did by the supporting casts of The Last of Us and Alan Wake II. However, I still found the mystery surrounding Mary’s destiny to be compelling enough to keep me reading Silent Hill 2 through to the very end.
Hades Arrives in Fogtown
The 2001 original and this remake of Silent Hill 2 are very different from one another in terms of appearance and atmosphere. Or maybe I should say nightmare and daydream, considering how bizarre the small town’s constantly changing state is. The streets are filled with detail, from the missing person posters affixed to telephone poles that flutter in the breeze, to the unbelievably thick fog that covers them. Sporadic traces of deterioration are everywhere in dimly lit homes, and in frantic hallway pursuit scenes, jarring shockwaves cause drywall and cinder block to split off in shards. As you journey through each increasingly horrifying alternate universe, hordes of cockroaches fright and scatter under the beam of your flashlight. The festering atmosphere of Silent Hill 2 is both unsettling and seductive, like a sore you can not stop poking at.
Even the opponents have been decked up in even more repulsive and unsettling outfits. The most prevalent kind is the Lying Figure, which more seamlessly transitions from a two-legged stagger to a writhing prone along the ground in anticipation of a surprise attack. It seems as though its arms are wrapped up in a straightjacket fashioned of its skin. It also has a particularly icky sheen. Not to mention the agitated Bubble Head Nurses from the Brookhaven Hospital area (who now come in both pipe and knife-carrying varieties), and of course Pyramid Head, whose razor-sharp skull gives the term “apex predator” a more literal interpretation.
One of the most horrific characters in the horror genre, this lumbering death-dealer appears even more ominous today because of new details like the horrifying inky goop that coats his muscular frame and the authentic rust on his jagged cranium.
Naturally, at that point, you will be able to see the upgraded foes and surroundings as Silent Hill 2 is also extremely dark for extended periods. James’s flashlight, which is mounted on his chest, has a shorter throw than Mr. Burns’, so you frequently find yourself unable to see more than a few feet in front of his nose. This puts a strain on your television’s black levels, intensifies your intense fear of small spaces, and leaves you open to ambush by the eerie Mannequin enemies who lurk in the corners of rooms like Hell’s Home Depot floor lamps.
The extremely eerie auditory design of Silent Hill 2 comes to life during these moments when your peripheral vision narrows to a pinhole. An enduring and foreboding sense of dread is maintained by the distinctive radio static hisses that get louder around impending hazards, the distant shrieks and uncomfortably close whispers, and the discordant drones that go along with it. My nerves were more frayed when stalking Silent Hill 2 than they were during a Hugh Jackman guitar solo performed without a shirt.
The Verdict
A much-needed update to a classic survival horror film is Silent Hill 2. It skillfully smoothes over the rough edges of the original game’s combat while taking a heavy grit sandpaper and using it to scuff up every surface covered in mold and rust in its nightmare landscapes, giving them the appearance of being much more abrasive and frightening to explore. Previously simplistic boss fights have been elevated to far more intense encounters, and its menacing sound design made me constantly conscious of the possibility that every foggy street I ventured down would swiftly lead me to my demise. It does seem a little stretched out at points, and I do wish Bloober Team had simplified some of its trickier puzzle aspects to keep the plot from dragging at times. Despite its sporadic pacing issues, Silent Hill 2 is an excellent opportunity to experience – or re-experience – one of the scariest locations in survival horror history.
