SCORETOBER!!!! Day 12 SILENT HILL!!!

Day 12

Silent Hill

Video game movies. Lord where to begin on that slippery slope of dog shit.

So when I was a kid, it was huge news that we were getting a Mario Brothers movie. It would have both brothers, Yoshi, Goombas, and Koopa. Everyone was excited. Until it came out. Then it just.

God that movie. I don’t know who thought any of it would be a good idea. But they did, and they released it.

Then we got Street Fighter, With JCVD. That was……an experience. It also had a Blanka that got used for. Well Blanka was in the movie. We can say that much.

It wasn’t until Resident Evil hit the scene that video games movies started to take a turn. It still wasn’t like the game, and was only loosely based on it. The effects ranged from okay to PS1 looking better and more consistent. The music though was great.

Then we got the weirdest, most spot on video game movie of all. Silent Hill. This movie was too much for a lot of people, and that is very well understood. There are some visuals in this movie that are absolutely wtf, and just downright horrific. So of course I loved it.

I loved the video game series, it had some of the best and darkest stuff out there and dealt with a lot of serious issues. The idea of a movie based off it was. Well worrying given the track record of most video game movies. But all involved were very devoted to doing it justice, and making it its own thing. Which works in Silent Hill.

This was the first honest video game movie I saw that captured the spirit, feel, and the music of the games perfectly. Right to the damn ending. Even its sequel is pretty damn good, in both tying into the games story and continuing the film story from this one. Which isn’t at all a spoiler for what’s to come in the review below. Because trust me no one had any idea how this one was going to end up.

With that said, it’s time to dive into a film that captures the essence of driving around Washington in the Winter.

The Movie.

Right off the bat we are getting the vibes this games name sake is known for and bless them for doing so. We also are getting both the most sudden event to open your film with, and subsequently the most dangerous and amazing backyard to ever exist in our world.

We are introduced to Rose De Silva(Radha Mitchell) who is searching desperately for her daughter Sharon. She’s crossing a tunnel, a cliff side road, and. Well a cliff in search of her daughter. All of which lead her to spotting the girl as she sleep walks and finds herself idly hovering near the ledge of a large ravine, complete with massive waterfall and death pit.

As we see Sharon, she is murmuring and swaying, lazily gazing down. As she gazes down we see the black pit of the ravine begin to shift and change into a cascade of fire back light catwalks, metallic grates and chain fences, all spiraling downward until we meet a long black haired pale girl in a blue dress staring back up at Sharon. The mother screams out for her daughter and bounds off to get her. Tackling her just in time before the daughter can lean forward and plumet down to her doom. Meanwhile and more importantly of note. We have Rose’s husband Christopher Da Silva in hot pursuit of his wife and daughter, dodging cars like he was playing real life frogger. Which makes sense why this man is dodging death. Because he is played by none other than Sean Bean! The man you cast just to kill! That’s right. He's  gracing us with his presence and that is all right by me.

If your looking for a Game of Thrones connection, Kit Herrington appears in the sequel to this one, so. I guess there’s that. Your welcome?

Anyway. Thanks to Rose bulldog tackling her little girl to the floor and doing a victory shuffle over her. The girl is safe, but not before she begins screaming still caught in the throws of her deep sleep walking. In her screams she begins to shout out the name of a place tormenting her dreams over the past several nights. Silent Hill.

Her mother had begun to research that place, and found it actually is a real place that exist not far from them. She’s not sure why her daughter is having walking nightmares that end up with her screaming the towns name. But she feels the only way to help her daughter, is by taking her to that town and seeing if it jogs her memory at all.

You see Rose is not Sharon’s birth mother, she and Christopher are her adopted parents. Not much is known about her past and its entirely possible she came from that town or had some connection to it. Only Christopher doesn’t share his wife’s optimism and plan. He thinks it’s a bad idea. But she is a grown woman and she can do whatever she wants!

Including just out of the blue telling her daughter to get ready one day for a road trip with just mommy to Silent Hill.

Because why not. It sounds as safe as any place can. Where your daughter draws pictures of fires, buildings on fire, black figures murdering small figures.

In the girls defense though. She doesn’t recall doing those drawings. Instead she drew happy drawings. Nice pictures of her and her mom, and Sean Bean. All of them having fun together, and her dad not being killed in movies. Good stuff, but somehow, all of her drawings are dark, evil, and definitely sure Sean Bean dies in all of them.

It upsets Sharon so much she breaks down sobbing as they stop for gas and she tries to understand what’s happening to her pretty drawings, and life in general as she can’t recall anything from her sleep walks, anything about a place called Silent Hill, and now this. The girl needs a vacation. Just maybe not to a town like Silent Hill. But mommy has made her mind up and that is where they are going. But for now Mama needs to pay for the gas and some snacks.

Meanwhile a nearby motorcycle cop watches the mother and daughter curiously, having heard the girls panicked crying over the drawings. As mom heads into the gas station to pay, Officer Cybil Bennett approaches the passenger side of the soccer mom van and ask Sharon if she’s doing okay. Sharon remembering what her parents taught her, immediately stares down the cop while blasting ‘Fuck the Police’ and rolls her window up before throwing up two middle fingers and pressing them to the glass. The cop nods, respect. And walks off.

Or maybe officer Bennett approaches the car instead, ask how her nights going and Sharon stares at her mumbling “Don’t talk to strangers”, and rolls her window up. Making the officer smile and mutter back at the glass “Good girl.”

It’s a cute scene but I really prefer my version so, take whichever you prefer.

Well mom is catching sight of Officer Nosey Nora peaking around her car as she hassles with the cashier who tells her that the credit card she used was declined. She’s trying to hurry back to the car before any more trouble arises. But not before contacting her husband and asking him to kindly dig out the panties from his ass and calm his tits with cancelling her credit cards. She’s not abducting their daughter, she’s taking her on a daddy not included mommy daughter adventure against his wishes.  There’s a difference.  Christopher tries reasoning with her. That their adopted daughter needs constant care and her medication. But Rose believes otherwise. She feels the medications aren’t working and the fact their daughter came from West Virginia. Where Silent Hill is located means she possibly came from this town which for the most part, everyone has forgotten existed as it. Well. We’ll get to that eventually.

For now Mom is headed for the soccer van and blowing officer Bennett.

Blowing her off. She’s driving off from the gas station leaving the motorcycle cop behind because she fears her husband may have contacted the police in his attempt to interrupt mommy daughter adventure time. Well Officer Bennett notices this odd behavior and wisely writes down the vans plate number. As Rose takes off and continues toward their destination. She’s greeted to the sound of sirens behind her.

It would indeed appear Christopher did file a report with authorities about their daughter and his wifes unreasonable plan.

As mom begins to realize this, while pulling over. Contemplating what to tell the caring officer. She decides, hey. This is Mommy daughter adventure time. Where’s the adventure in playing by the rules. So mommy tells Sharon to buckle up. Sharon nods and blast NWA while turning the bass up in the soccer van as mom peels out and swerves for Silent Hill. This can only go well of course.

If anyone has ever played Silent Hill you know what’s coming. For the uninitiated well. It’s about to get fun.

The road slowly becomes less clear, and out of nowhere, the pale girl in a blue dress slowly shows themselves and walks directly into the center of the road. The radio begins filling with static that increases in volume and Rose swerves the car hard to miss hitting the girl. Tossing the mother and daughter into a crash and the screen goes black.

When color emerges. We find ourselves in the land of silent hill. A vast area of streets and shops, covered by thick fog, and raining ash.

Rose panics checking herself for bruises or wounds, finding none, she shifts her panic to the realization Sharon, is not in the car. Her door was open and Sharon is missing.

Immediately Rose takes off and begins roaming the streets of Silent Hill. Catching glimpses here and there of who she believes to be her daughter, running from Rose and heading off down back alleys and up staircases. Rose chases after her calling out to her daughter, only to discover herself further lost, and worse yet. She’s about to discover the shift.

In silent hill, there were sudden shifts that would happen, at different moments. Where you begin to hear an old air raid siren signaling the change. When it comes, the world of light begins to fade. Giving way to the dark and decaying. Imagine the upside down from Stranger Things, but with actually scary hell born shit. I honestly would not be at all surprised if they took inspiration from the Silent Hill series for it.

The light and fog vanish, as darkness settles in. Buildings begin to rapidly age and crumble, Where walls once stood, rotting fences appear. Rose pulls out a zippo lighter and begins exploring the new surroundings. Only to soon wish she hadn’t at all. She spots large ominous bags the size and shape of bodies stacked in nearby dumpsters. Feeling that is definitely some nightmare fuel she doesn’t need she wonders off further and decides to try following some of the chain link fences. Only to come across one of the most perfectly recreated scenes from the original game, and even more messed up in the film. She discovers what appears to be part of a possibly dead animals entrails on the ground. Only to look up in horror and realize it wasn’t from an animal. There on the fence is the remains of a crucified human being. Most of their lower half missing, except for their intestines which trail to the ground. More horrifying to her though is the realization this figure, half rotting and dissolved, eaten and gutted. Wearing a gask mask. Is staring at her. Breathing out and watching her with a panicked stare. How this thing is still alive, WHY it’s still alive, are legitimately good questions. But why this should be dead, but somehow living thing is looking at her in terror, is an even better question. Because behind Rose is one of the first monster forms you meet in the game, and one of the absolute worst for your ears. Twisted figures resembling mutated featureless children, with fire in their mouths and eyes. Each time they open their mouths a babies cries escape at piercingly loud levels. Signaling any other nearby monster.

Before Rose knows it, she is being swarmed by more and more of these creature like things. Who begin to shuffle and toss themselves at her. Which is part of what made them such a pain in the game as well. In Resident Evil at least the zombies would reach out and attack you. These suckers just lumber around wavering then stumble and throw themselves at you. Unfortunately Rose stumbles and just like in the game. You fall, your ass is dead.

Only she is safe, the luck of this woman. Just as these creatures were about to vomit fire on her and kill her. The air raid siren wails out again, signaling the return of the light to this world. And the creatures begin to dissolve away. The decrepit buildings begin to repair themselves and we are once again in a semi safe world. Only semi safe.

She finds herself in a long abandoned bowling alley. Heading back out into the towns streets she makes a terrifying discover we all do in the game, and it never gets old. As she rushes down the main street of Silent Hill she’s forced to a sudden halt. Realizing she’s reached the literal end of the road. Because there’s nothing left outside of it. The road and anything it connected to with the main street are torn completely away leaving behind a chasm of nothingness, broken pipes and mist. So obviously this is going to make getting around town a challenge, it also means certain areas of town are now cut off from her. So her trip overall is seeming more and more like a should’ve stayed at home day.

However we are now meeting a new character, Dahlia Gillespie(Deborah Kara Unger), who looks a bit ragged and worn down. She also in an odd way looks familiar. She offers no words of help for Rose, only warnings. When Rose tells her that she’s looking for her daughter, Dahlia isn’t particularly interested in her story. That is until she is shown from Rose’s locket a picture of her daughter Sharon. When Dahlia see’s this, she flips. Taking hold of the locket, screaming at Rose that Sharon is her daughter. Her daughter Alessa(Also played by Jodelle Ferland)

Rose tares the locket back and pushes the woman from her. Opting to turnback away from the severed main road and take the road less traveled. Or at least a road leading her away from crazy looking bag lady claiming Sharon is some girl named Alessa.

Well fortune favors the blonde! For once. Rose has managed to locate the site of her journeys beginning. Her abandoned soccer van. Which yes I know it’s a jeep but. Come on. It’s a four door mom car. It’s a van without calling it a van. Just admit it.

Well she begins searching the car for Sharon in the off chance she returned to it, only she has not. But she has found a game clue, one of her daughters drawings is left on the road side. She also finds another vital clue. One that would appear also as a starting item in the game. A cellphone.

She finds it still has a charge and immediately contacts Christopher. Ready to admit that yes, her plan was a bit hasty, yes it was a bad idea not to tell him and take off with their troubled adopted daughter without notifying him. Yes he was right to cancel the credit cards, and also she may have driven off from a cop trying to ticket her and subsequently might have also caused that cop to crash their motorcycle.  But besides all that. She wants him to know she is alive. Their daughter is missing which is partially do to her actions, and she intends to look for her in the town Silent Hill. Because she believes she may know where she is.

With that she feels better for having done a good thing, and begins starting up her car. Surely a faster more reliable form of travel through this town with sudden missing roads. Only her car isn’t going anywhere as she never paid for her gas and therefor has none. Regardless how many times she cusses at the car trying to get the thing to start it just won’t budge. But something is definitely budging behind her. A something with unfinished business.

Police. Business.

That’s right. This is an upside down topsy turvy weird world where blondes are not killed off. But instead thrive. Because here comes Officer leather pants herself, Officer Bennett. She is not messing around either. She has her sidearm out, finger on the trigger and if she so much as hears one more Eazy E lyric again she will pop off a few rounds just for the hell of it. She demands soccer mom to get the hell out of her car. Asking where her daughter is. Rose is a one note record and repeats to her as well that her daughter is missing and she needs help finding her.

Well Officer Bennett thinks that’s a good idea, how thoughtful for the mom who drove off from a cop and crashed their vehicles to be concerned with finding her daughter. Officer Bennett agrees to search for Sharon. But before doing so she slams Rose onto the hood of the car and searches her. Taking both the womans wrist behind her back and cuffing her. Officer Bennett is not here to play around. She’s not letting soccer mom escape again.

Bennett pulls out her radio and tries to contact home base, immediately asking for backup and help. Unfortunately her radio is only picking up static.

Which for anyone familiar with the game, Is a bad sound. It’s one of the first lessons the game teaches you, and shows the importance of carrying a phone or radio on your character. Anytime there is danger nearby. Static frequencies begin to play out over electronic devices. This is another scene taken directly from the game as well. Introducing the first creature you square off against in the second Silent Hill game. An armless faceless creature with a sphincter for a face. That wobbles and sways randomly. Bennett aims at this thing commanding it to stop or she’ll shoot. But if this thing has no arms, no face, and no ears. I highly doubt it’s going to listen. Which to no ones surprise it in fact does not stop or listen. The closer the creature gets, it unleashes its attack. These bastards spit out an acidic fluid. Which it shoots out at Officer Bennett and the has to ditch both her bike helmet, and leather jacket as the acid begins dissolving the material in seconds. Bennett liked that jacket a lot. It completed her leather cop outfit and now she’s pissed. She begins unloading round after round into the puckering sphincter face of the creature until it drops and….turns to ashes.

During this attack, Rose decided once again to ditch the police and go her own way. Obviously Rose has never played Dungeons and Dragons, or heard of the idea that grouping up saves lives, and increases problem solving.

So Rose, while on her own, discovers a bus route map and uses it to help guide herself around town in her search for Sharon. The search leads her to what appears to be a school, or church, or possibly orphanage. It’s an odd building with classrooms, scripture on the walls and stained glass depicting odd symbols. Which aren’t from the bible, or a satanic bible. This is no elks lodge.

Meanwhile, Christopher is now behind the wheel of his own car, and on his phone. He hears the message Rose left him on his phone. But the message is heavily static and only small pieces make it through. But even then none of it makes any sense to him. He’s headed for Silent Hill as well, knowing it was the last place she was headed herself with their daughter. Only he is discovering a lot more than his wife found online it would seem. He ask a local mechanic if they’d seen his wife and daughter come by, then ask the man how he can get to Sesame Street. The man tells him he can’t because the towns closed. It’s been sealed off ever since the coal fires exploded and burns the place down. Whatever is standing there is still unsafe as those coal fires are still burning under the town making it a constant hazard.

Well Sean Bean is no stranger to death, he laughs in its face with as many times as he’s died in movies. So he never minds this information and drives on toward the connecting bridge one would need to cross to enter into Silent Hill. The very same bridge his wife sped across when avoiding Officer Bennett.

As he arrives at the bridge he finds a police barricade and a party of officers waiting there. One of whom is Officer Gucci. A polite officer with enough brains to carry an umbrella when its pouring ass rain and none else thought to bring one. Including Christopher. The two men talk and he tells Gucci about his wifes late night adventure with their daughter. Officer Gucci shares their own officer Bennett’s late night adventure following his wife and daughter. He tells Christopher they found both his wifes soccer van, and the officers crashed motorcycle not far from it. But no sign of either woman or his daughter.

Christopher is still determined to visit Silent Hill, telling the officer he believes it’s the only logical place his wife could be as it was her intended goal after all with their daughter. He assures Christopher that Officer Bennett, as well as he knows her is likely out there doing her best to find those two as well. But he agrees to drive Christopher in his squad car around Silent Hill to search for them. But that’s it. He won’t let the man explore the town on his own given you know. The town is a living fire fueled death trap.

Gucci is going to be dropping some truth bombs on poor Christopher. But there are times it’s absolutely needed, and he does kind of need a self check. Not because he’s an asshole by any means. Christopher is just deeply concerned with finding his wife and their adopted daughter. Hearing what happened that night and how they only found an abandoned car, then the static message left behind. Dudes worried. Which means he will be prone to potentially stupid actions, and Officer Gucci knows that. So he’s not going to get tough on him, he’s just going to calmly explain to him the nicest way he can the ‘fuck around and find out’ theory.

Christopher can’t take the slow drive through town and the officer announcing over his loud speaker Sharon and Rose’s names, asking them to come out. He feels it should be him doing so, but Gucci will not have it, he makes the fair point that, “When a woman makes a point to leave with their child and leave the husband behind, it’s usually because they don’t want to see or talk to the husband”, which is fair. But Sean bean is a grumpy bean.

Well that only means its working, just like how having someone tell you “Whatever” is an automatic your right and you win. It never signals your partner being too tired to debate your stupidity.

So hey! Backstory time! Whether Sean Bean asked for it or not, he’s gonna get it. Gucci points out to him that they’re driving over the ghost of his past as well. People he cared about and lost. He motions to a Barber shop with his family name above it, a place his father ran when the town was still alive. Before the fire. Tells him how a lot of good people died while trying to help save others. That a lot of people went missing and were never recovered. The mass panic from the fire that consumed the town. They lost a lot of truly good people, and some bad ones too. We’re all equal to the flame.

Shifting back to Rose, she’s still roaming through the large odd school of cult house. Encountering another Sharon figure further running off from her and driving her deeper into the building. Until she realizes this isn’t her daughter but someone else. WHOM might be able to help her find her daughter! Or you know, drive her down the spiral of madness. Either or.

Not only does she discover this girl, but some backstory to her as well as a name. Alessa. She finds a school desk baring two child hand prints among years of collected dust. Under those hands are scratched in the words “Witch”, As she opens the top of the student desk, she finds broken color pencils and a textbook with scribbled art similar to her daughters own disturbing images. Drawing us into a flashback of young Alessa at her desk. Hands on top as she hid her face and a classroom of shitty kids throw books at her chanting “burn the witch!”

It's sadly short lived however as she hears AND see’s the Alessa figure take off running. She follows behind as best she can, only to lose sight of the girl and instead discovers a new threat possibility to her here. Three men in radiation suits with a caged canary. The gask mask like facemask looking oddly similar to the ones worn by the half dissolved man she found crucified earlier no less.

So she has the fair idea to run like hell.

As she takes off though, she again peaks this Alessa girl and follows after them. Soon landing herself inside a girls locker room with 5 bathroom stalls. Hearing faint crying and sniffling from the girl. She discovers the crying growing louder behind the fifth and only closed stall of the lot, trying to quietly whisper to Alessa that she’s only there to help her, praying she will help her find Sharon. When she opens the stall door, there is no Alessa. Instead it’s another beautifully horrific scene straight from the series. A janitors decayed body. Wrapped in barbedwire, with a bloodbag and IV unit are posed over the toilet in a contorted pose. Head strung back with something barely visible stuck in his corpses mouth. Above the figure written in….an unknown matter. Are the repeated words “I dare you, dare you, dare you”, Well. She dares. She reaches into its mouth and pulls out what appears to be a piece of paper with writing on it. She doesn’t investigate it any further as she’s about to vomit having had to do what she dared to do.

Finding nothing else of importance she decides to exit and hope for a cleaner bathroom. But hold up, wait a minute, don’t put some kush up in it. The three masked men in their suits are going through the corridor checking rooms and one just happens to flash a light on her. She dives back into the bathroom and locks the door putting her weight behind it.

I’m not saying she thick.

I’m not saying that lock ain’t strong.

But that door doesn’t budge with two grown men kicking at it. That’s all I’m saying. Invest in whatever the hell that door and lock are made from.

Don’t worry though, she’s safe. Ish. Relatively speaking.

Because as the mens little birdy begins to chirp alarmingly, they take off as quickly as possible, and for good reason too. The air raid sirens are beginning to blare out once more. Immediately, just as before. The locker room walls begin to decay and wallpaper plops to the floor like shredded lumps of flesh, even sounding like it when it lands. The already deserted creepy looking room just escalated its creepy real estate by a thousand. Adding a few thousand on top of its modest creepiness because of the addition to the room. The addition being, If the building and world around you changes to a dark industrial monster filled world when the siren goes off, what does it do with bodies?

Which we thankfully in the name of science and curiosity get the answer too, as the body of our janitor emerges from its bathroom resting place.

It appears straight up like a cenobites pet.

A pale dead body, moving and full of life. With its form still contorted by barbed wire, and chunks of flesh torn out perfectly around its mouth, wearing a barbed wire blindfold with its feet wrapped up and pulled tightly in an arch behind it. The figure has to crawl across the floor with its arms. Tongue wildly flickering out of its mouth. Occassionally crying out. As its hand touches the wall, and floors. It spreads a sickness of what can best be described as muscle fibers through the wall and flooring. Only adding to the ambiance of the destroyed building, by adding pulsing muscles to the place, and bugs.

So Rose just yeets herself the fuck out of that room and out into a hopefully less horrific hallway.

Well as the saying goes, out of the decrepit locker room into the nightmare bug infested hallway. Yes. There are dozens of indescribable bugs that can best be, if need be. Described as. Roaches of Unusual Size.

If you get that reference, bless you.

Thankfully for Rose these roaches are not after her. They are instead killing and swarming the unfortunate three men who could not escape the building in time. But things are going to be getting wonderfully worse in a few moments, oh how indeed they are.

But the film gives us a break from the nightmare, because too much of a good thing and all that. Instead we are now back to the real world with Christopher and Gucci who, are exploring of all places, the school building.

Finally establishing something for us. That these two, and Rose, Sharon and Officer Bennett, are in a separate reality from our own, a different realm. As Rose runs to escape nightmares in a dark degrading reality. Her husband, in the same area as her, bask in sunlight, wondering the empty halls of the school. Even more so, Christopher claims he could feel her, he could sense her near. Felt her run through him. Which worries the officer immediately, as he takes it as a sign that they’ve been inhaling the deadly gases from the fire below, so he leads Christopher outside to safety and fresh air.

Rose. Rose could use some safety about now. As she tries to collect herself and the horrors surrounding her. We hear something large being dragged across the ground. Any one who’s ever played the game knows that sound, and knows it is not a happy sound. It’s the iconic overly sized knife blade belonging to a tall figure, dressed in drapes of human flesh, with a large metal structure over its head. His name is appropriately Pyramid Head. Who drags the giant blade behind him, lumbering around, seemingly helpless. Until he wields the blade with a deadly precision and strength that in game is again, never a fun thing. And in this film proves to be even less so. Accompanied by a wave of cockroaches he takes after Rose. Until she ends up luckily, fortunately, running into Officer Bennett.

Who thankfully has survived the dark world shift so far AND has her gun still. Luckily with ammo. Unfortunately she only has one clip of ammo left. A sad reality of the game translated into the film.

Before either woman can rest, they are chased by the Pyramid head and into an elevator which Bennett locks them inside of. Pyramid Head doesn’t care for this, and begins stabbing within the elevator using his large blade, giving room for the bugs to enter into the elevator, and his oversized arm to reach inside and begin attempting to unlock the door.

Only, just as their struggle begins, and likely would’ve ended right in that moment. It’s time for the dark to give way again to the light. Just like that the world returns to its form of normalcy. Officer Bennett wanting a reasonably priced explanation for just what the hell is going on, and rose having absolutely none within any of their price range.

Only offering up the most unhelpful of lines, “I used to hear this town was haunted, I think maybe they were right.”

Ya don’t say?!

What possibly gave that away, Rose?!

While their horrible world returns to what can be called ‘normal’, Christopher is being escorted back to his vehicle by Officer Gucci, with a word of warning. He tells him they will keep searching for his wife, and Officer Bennett, and to please. Not do anything stupid, like go back into Silent Hill.

Of course you don’t have to ask, Christopher is absolutely going to do that, He’s Sean Bean. He does not run from death, he gets paid for it.

But for now, Rose and Bennett have a goal. Rose was able to investigate what she pulled from the janitors mouth and tells Bennett it belongs to a hotel in town. She believes going there will help them, and possibly lead to her daughter. Officer Bennett is on edge and definitely feels the need to put in for a vacation, so Rose, still remembering she intentionally ran off from an officer, and was responsible for running said officer off the road, tries to win some points with Bennett should they have to resolve issues in court after, and assures her that they will get out of this alive, and safe.

Officer Bennett is making a mental list of charges she will write down in an official report later. Believe that.

Well the duo make it to the large hotel and find it just as pleasant as the rest of the fog lathered town. They also find it occupied with voices, Mostly the voice of a woman shouting at another. As our group approaches, we find a redhead throwing stones at of all people, Dahlia, who seems to have also survived so far. The officer not knowing the situation or crazy Dahlia, moves in to stop the woman from throwing stones and cursing out the haggard looking woman. Allowing Dahlia to escape, We learn the redheads name is Anna, who keeps referring to Dahlia as a sinner, who deserves death but for some reason as she puts it, even the darkness wont take her. To say this woman is an oddball, is an understatement. She was out scavenging for food, telling Rose and Benett she was collecting for the others. Now aware there is an entire community living in the middle of all this…wonderful town. The ladies, and their special friend Anna gather their things and proceed out the building, to follow Anna to their next destination. They’ve found a room key to one of the hotel rooms and take their search there.

Following clues left around the hotel for them, believing Sharon left them. Bennett found a drawing in the same style as Sharon’s, depicting a woman set on fire surrounded by a crowd. They discover a painting with a similar image and without hesitation Rose takes a cake knife and defaces the painting. Ripping it apart. While destroying art and playing critic to it, she manages to uncover a hidden door behind the painting. Which just so happens to fit the key they found. Huzzah!

However what they find is beyond explanation.

Its not a room. It’s half a room. It turns out to be a severed room that the trio must leap across to another building. Which leads to an even larger mystery box. Rose peaks Alessa again and takes off after her, forgetting the rest of her party. Again, this is a prime example of how you end up dead in Dungeons and Dragons, unless the group bends the rules to help keep your dumbass alive.

Rose uncovers a new larger room, a meeting hall, and stage. It’s been burnt down mostly, there’s now a large open pit with cascading catwalks and ladders leading to the still burning coal fire beneath. And an odd metal contraption hanging from chains above the pit at the rooms center. Rose, hearing a girls whimpers begins to cross the dangerous open pit. Finally rewarded for all her running and chasing as she comes across Alessa. Cowering in a corner, crying to herself. Finally revealing herself to Rose. Only to end up achieving two things in a single gesture. She first blows Rose’s mind by turning around to face her and discovering why Dahlia claimed Sharon was her daughter. Alessa looks just like her, even marking the two could be sisters. The second achievement Alessa unlocks with her gesture of turning around, is to terrify Rose’s already splitting mind as she reaches out to her and says “Look at me, I’m burning” and her arms do indeed suddenly light up in flames.

Startling Rose back to reality, finding Alessa gone. Bennett calls out to Rose and helps her cross back into safety. Just in time for the air raid sirens to sound again. Anna screams at the ladies to follow her before its too late. They escape the hotel just in time before the dark change. Giving us out first glimpse at the survivors of this town. A large group of people running toward the town hall building, apparently the only safe building. As they rush to join the others, Dahlia stops Bennett, pleading with her among the others not to enter that building, declaring only doom can await. But Dahlia is cut off as Anna reverts to the time tested joy redheads carry of tossing stones and shouting about Lies and blasphemy. Unfortunately, this distraction has cost them precious time, and the town begins to decay once more in front of their eyes. Anna feels this is directly Dahlias fault and readies to toss a mighty good stone at her once more. Only to find Dahlia glaring and pointing up at her. Well not so much at her. But to a spot where we see Pyramid Head begin to materialize behind Anna. He immediately grabs the woman and lifts her.

Now. When I say grab, I should clarify this. It’s important. He grabs the hand holding her favorite stone and hoist her up into the air. Rose and Bennett run past the large figure and toward the building, stopping in a vein attempt to try and help Anna. Only no one can. Pyramid Head is not holding his large blade anymore. So with his free hand he reaches out and tares off the dress Anna was wearing. Leaving her naked to the world. For his next trick. He grabs the center of her chest. Not just her chest. But a literal fistful of flesh. And with a yank of his hand He skins Anna in front of the others. Tossing the flesh suit toward the large doors to the survivors sanctuary. Just as Rose and Bennett close the doors. Immediately hoping they actually are safe from that thing outside, forgetting the fact Dahlia willingly stayed outside herself.

But as the two women turn around and now face the crowd of survivors. They now have to face another hard reality. These survivors are nuckin futs.

AND religiously brainwashed on top of it. Which is always fun until you are in that situation. Immediately breaking the awkward silence of the room staring up at Rose and Bennett, an older woman growls out at the two, pointing and screaming “WITCHES! BURN THEM!” The crowd joins this woman in her decleration and the group is ready to tare the two outsiders up. That is until Officer bennet tells everyone to shut the hell up by firing off a round from her pistol. The crowd may have a deep twisted belief in a higher power. But they certainly recognize the power of the bullet as they all shut up and back off.

Giving way to a much more dangerous power. Their Matriarch, Christabella. Who calms the group and immediately leads them in prayer. Yeah. Things are definitely looking up in comparison to facing a darkness and metal headed man ripping your skin off.

Yes I’m joking, You KNOW which one is better to deal with!

Meanwhile the man born to die in every film, is breaking into a city hall records building. He’s not looking for some tasty vinyl to spin. He’s searching for any records at all recovered from Silent Hill. He begins searching through the file boxes and eventually, discovers of all things, Alessa. At least a photo of her.

With that, he’s discovered she was brought to an orphanage at one time. So he begins his search to locate that orphanage. Seeing Alessa is a dead ringer for his daughter, there’s a chance they could be related. He finds the orphanage and immediately begins asking one of the nuns inside about the girl. Only to find the nun scared and not willing to discuss this with him, it seems almost too much for her. Naturally Christopher begins a panic trying to plead with her about his daughter and missing wife, but thankfully for the nun, Officer Gucci has arrived. He’d been following Christopher, assuming he’d try something stupid, and he was right. He saw him break into the records building, and followed him to the orphanage.

Which is where things begin to build up only more. Prepare your minds for another blowing people.

Christopher doesn’t think Alessa could be Sharon’s twin. He believes she could be Sharon’s mother.

As Gucci begins to tell him more about what happened in Silent Hill, and Alessa, we learn that the large fire that destroyed the town, happened over 30 years ago, and the picture of Alessa, was over 30 years old. Meaning yes, Rose has been chasing after a ghost. Hold onto that nugget for later.

Gucci lays out more backroad story for us by finally addressing the religious nuts Rose and Bennett find themselves around. Telling Christopher about a group of fanatics. Who burned Alessa alive, believing her to be a witch. He saw Alessa and tried to safe her. Even burned his hands freeing her and carrying her to the hospital. Where he heard she hadn’t lasted through the night. Officer Gucci explains to him that he can arrest him for breaking and entering, and harassing the nun, or he can let him go with the understanding he’ll return home this time. It’s a lot to take in and thankfully the film is going to give us this time to do so.

Immediately after this we are back in Silent Hill and Rose is having a friendly chat with Christabella. Who tries to ascertain Rose’s faith, and why she’s here. Rose has no time for this and ask only for their help in getting her to the hotel she believes her daughter is still hiding somewhere inside of. So Christabella summons her aids and a group is dispatched to bring the women to the hotel. Leading to a fun moment as Christabella shows her a map on the wall of the hotel. Yes it’s the map in game of each floor you explore. She tells her to look at commit it to memory. Much like playing the game itself, you can only glimpse at it before having to close it out.

Before Christabella lets them go about their journey, she offers to hand Rose the locket that apparently was torn from her during the earlier scuffle with the towns nuts. Only as she hands the locket over to Rose, it opens up and Christabella spies the photo of Sharon, mistaking it to be Alessa. She immediately declares the woman to be a witch and her henchmen descent on Rose. But Officer Bennet is a badass and fights them off, shoving Rose into the elevator and holding the group back at gun point allowing Rose to continue on. But this time without her as she opts to stay behind. Knowingly sacrificing herself as her pistol is empty of ammunition. Once the elevator takes off, Christabella’s people swarm Bennett and begin beating her senselessly. Excessively even as once they’ve over powered her and she lays at their feet. She commands them to begin beating her, with lead pipes. Just because.

Rose continues her quest, and enters another terrifying but fun recreation from the game.

She’s headed to the bottom floor of the hotel with a large flashlight. As she rounds the corner of the hospital wing of this hotel, which yes, is odd. But makes sense in Silent Hill. She is confronted with a new terror. The hallway is infested with dozens of nurses. Nurses with featureless faces, who immediately and creepily do a broken jittery walk toward her. Each nurse is holding a scalpel or likeminded weapon. Rose turns her flashlight off. And just like that, the nurses freeze like statues stopping their advancement. But still twitching. So Rose discovers she has to carefully, and I mean very cautiously navigate herself between the nurses. Which we learn why as she brushes ones side just barely. But its enough to cause the nurse to blindly lash out with her scalpel. Slitting the throat of a nearby nurse. Rose with the power of film makes it through. Without having to constantly reload a previous save file like SOME OF US!!!

As she does and makes it through to the next room. We are full blown in the game now. The screen turns the brightest white and we get a voice over from Alessa. Congratulating Rose on finding the truth. Which begins an old timey film reel showing us what happened to poor Alessa. That everyone saw her as an outcast, She didn’t have a father like they did and was an outcast to them. A witch. When she’d escape the chanting and bullying of her classmates. She found herself being the target of the schools janitor. Who creeped through the girls locker room…looking for victims. So Alessa was bullied, beaten, molested, and hated by the entire town as was her mother. The entire town was lead by this fanatical cult, and because Dahlia wouldn’t name the father of her child, they were deemed unholy outcast. But Christabella offered to help Dahlia absolve these sins, by telling her to give over her daughter so that the town could cleanse the filth, to trust in their virtue and let it be done.  They promised to restore her innocence and purity. To do this ritual they had a special room. The one Rose had found her vision of Alessa at. As the town gathered in this room, Dahlia was lead outside the room, “We fight the sin, not the sinner”, it was only then that Dahlia realized what was going to happen. Their plan to cast out evil, involved securing Alessa to a large metal sigil. Over a coal fire. They would burn out the evil from her body.

Dahlia took off for the police, only to find herself too late. While she had been gone, they discovered the chains holding the metal sigil had snapped. Dropping Alessa onto the fire below. The group immediately fleeing the room in fear as the coal crashed to the floor. A young officer Gucci arrived with other officers and immediately rushed to Alessa, burning his hands on the sigil as he worked to free her. Alessa was burned over every inch of her body and he carried her like he told Christopher to the hospital. Dahlia began to lose herself realizing what happened and that she was too late to save her.

As Alessa was in the hospital she was left in a recovery ward, sadly her nerves were not severed and she felt every bit of the pain. That pain gave birth to fury over what happened. And with that fury, it invited a presence into the room with her. Dark Alessa we’ll call it. Dark Alessa promised her, that if they joined, then all of them, any who looked on her and judged her would be punished. “They would fall into her darkest dream.” Which is why the town suddenly turns to a decaying world. The dark dreams of Alessa and the creations of her vengeance filled mind.

Alessa had been showing all of this to Rose, because she needed her to see what happened to her. The evil this town had done, and to help her correct this. How though is a different matter.

So Rose is finally shown the real Alessa. Who is still very much alive. Kept in a decaying bed, watched over by a nurse, still human, but deformed and crying. Rose is really not here for all of this. She didn’t sign up for a vengeance quest. She just wants her daughter.

But Dark Alessa has some news for her. She tells her that Sharon, is not her child. She’s the child of Alessa. She’s all that remains of the good from her. That’s why she was being called back to the town, haunted by dreams of it and its people. Dark Alessa tells Rose that she was the one who brought the baby to the orphanage. Keeping her safe from the town of Silent Hill.

The entire town is full of ghost. Souls who refuse to acknowledge they died in a fire that consumed the town, started by their own fanatical behaviors and the explosion under them. Their blind faith was so strong in their leader and crazy bullshit that they never accepted they had died. They need to be faced with the fact they all died, and must pay for what they did to the real Alessa. She tells Rose that Christabella will purify Sharon, because she believes her to be Alessa, stuck in their time loop of 30 years ago, thinking she’s the real Alessa . She needs Rose to help get her into their sanctuary. Telling her that their faith keeps her from entering the building. But if she can enter through other means. She can help Rose free Sharon, and the rest of the town.

All Rose has to do, is tell the town the truth.

Simple enough right?

So Rose agrees and gives a thumbs up.

Actually no she doesn’t really. Dark Alessa just smiles and hugs Rose, I guess Rose hugging her back is a hug of consent for operation Vengeance as the next thing we see, Is Dark Alessa absorbing herself into Rose’s womb space and making a home for herself. Comfy!

Meanwhile in the world where things make sense. Christopher is getting a police escort right the hell out of town, even being politely walked back to his car by Officer Gucci. Christopher threatens him ‘politely’ with a warning that he will return to the town with actual cops who actually listen and to actual police work.

Gucci like his namesake remains over priced and smooth. Not letting a Kmart man out do him. He simply leaves Christopher with his own word of warning. Well, several. He’s giving him another story. Gucci doesn’t work in short things. He tells him about Officer Bennett, how 3 years ago she found a young boy who’s father took him to silent hill and dumped him in the mine shaft. She found the boy and stayed with him for three days until rescue groups arrived and pulled them both out. Because of that she’s something of a hero in their town and everyone knows she will do any and everything she can to keep people safe. Especially children.

Well we can only hope it’ll be enough. As we move from Christopher taking off, to now returning to the cult like fanatics of the film. Bennett is beaten nearly beyond recognition. She’s tied to a wooden ladder and below the towns people are stacking wood for a cleansing. A HUGE cleansing. They’ve captured Sharon who Dahlia tried keeping safe from the towns people. Only to end up captured herself too. So now the three women wait to be cleansed in the fire of their sin. Forcing Sharon to watch.

It's honestly one of the 2nd worst scenes in the film, and if you’ve ever seen the original Wickerman, you can figure out how this will play out.

They begin the fire and Christabella orders Samantha front and center to bare witness to the cleansing of Officer Berrett. Who immediately pleads with the town to not let the girl see this, not to torture her. She tries desperately to talk to Sharon and calm the girl. But she is forced to watch as the ladder with Berrett is lowered close above the fire. Close enough to start causing her skin to bubble and blacken. All the while she damns the town for being lunatics, unable to believe something this barbaric and ancient would still happen today. But here she is, being burned alive, over a fire. With her last breath she sighs out and says, “You’re in your own hell. Mama…be with me” and with that Cybil Berrett’s face bubbles up, her eyes go dead and her clothes catch fire, the rest following soon after, and Sharon watches her burn. Now the town is ready with their second ladder, tying Sharon to it and readying her for the cleansing.

But Mama ain’t having it. Rose has returned and see’s what has become of Berrett. Seeing her daughter next on their list. She begins denouncing all of them, and carrying out Dark Alessa’s wishes. Telling the group of lunatics how they are all living a lie. That they all died because of a fire they started with burning Alessa the first time. Following Christabella and her bullshit is what in the end cost them all their lives.

No one of course wants to hear or believe this. But some are. Others however, are stepping up to straight out punch Rose in the face.

But she takes it like a champ. She’s not going to let the beatings or being called a witch stop her unleashing the truth. However Christabella wants to silence her for good before the other followers begin to believe her SO guess that means we’re putting another blonde on the barbie!

But Rose is determined to get the message across, “Burn me? That’s your answer? Burn anything you’re afraid of. Burn anything you can’t control.”, Christabella is not enjoying this back talk and tries to silence her. That they only burn sinners, only she seems to be the real sinner here. She burned an innocent, and created Dark Alessa. Created the purgatory they are all confined to now.

Christabella has taken all she can stand of this. And out right stabs Rose. Straight into her heart.

Much to the joy of the onlooking crowds. It’s kind of funny in a way because one of the fanatic old men gives an “Oh snap!” look, then turns to Sharon on her ladder giving her a “Did you see that shit? That’s your mama!” look. It’s pretty funny, even if she had to go from witnessing a person screaming being burned alive, to now seeing her step mom stabbed in the heart by a crazy cult leader.

But things are just getting started. As Rose begins to gasp and struggle. Her wound bleeds black. Innocent blood has been spilt in the sanctum. More then that though. The black blood of dark Alessa has been spilt and is now vomiting up out of Rose’s wound. As the towns people go from cheering for the death of the blasphemer. They begin to show actual terror. “What have you done? You’ve brought the darkness!” Christabella knows what’s coming and is for once in her life truly terrified. As Dark Alessa’s spirit leaves Rose’s body. The wound begins to heal. Rose has done what she promised. She brought Alessa to them, and now it is time for revenge.

The fire pit in the room degrades and falls through, exposing the catwalks, ladders and fire below. At the center of this fire though. Rises Alessas burned body, on her hospital bed. Accompanied by dozens of moving swirling swarms of barbed wire. This is another nightmare straight out of the game.

Which brings us to the worst death of the film.

Christabella watches in horror as this monstrosity rises up and the barbed wire wraps around Christabella’s arms, hoisting her into the air. Soon her feet are wrapped in the wire too. She screams out as the crowd below her runs for the doors, only to find themselves locked in the large room with no escape. Alessa watches with pure malice in her eyes as Christabella writhes in agony. The wires tighten on her wrist and ankles. And we see. Several heavily thorned and bladed razor wires gather below, and dive straight up between Christabella’s legs and through her center.

Yes her hoo-ha. Her vagina.

The wires are cutting through her and sawing through her body out her mouth impaling her, and finally splitting her body in half. All while below her Dark Alessa dances in the blood raining down from the body of Christabella. After she dies. It’s everyones turn to suffer. One lunatic after the other is killed off. Split in half, limbs ripped, heads cut off and some impaled. All the while Rose holds and hides her stepdaughters face. Dahlia however is circling around and looks at the tortured burnt face of her adult daughter. Struck by what she has become, and now does to the people who took her innocence. Punishing them all. Just as the violence reaches its apex. Dark Alessa is approaching Rose and Sharon. Sharon opens her eyes, just in time to see the smiling blood splattered dark Alessa coming toward her.

And in that moment. Things go black, Sharon’s eyes roll back and the screen fades out.

The next thing we see is Rose carrying Sharon as the two exit the now open doors. Passing Dahlia, “Why did she not take me, like she did the others.” She murmurs to herself and wonders as the two pass her, Rose stops in her tracks and answers her, “Because you are her mother, and mother is god in the eyes of a child.”, with that the mother and daughter part ways from Dahlia and Silent Hill. Making their way back to the soccer mom van and headed home.

Now away from the town of static, ash and fire. Rose calls her husband. Telling him how they are fine, that they are headed home, she found their daughter and things are finally going to be alright.

As they drive off and make their way home, Christopher is seen with his phone, having picked up when it rang Rose’s number. But still all he could hear was static and parts of his wife’s voice.

He rushes outside into the daylight but finds no one there, still holding the phone in hand before returning in doors, saddened and laying himself down on their couch.

Soon after, his wife pulls up in the soccer van YES I KNOW ITS STILL A JEEP! DEAL WITH IT!!

She pulls up and opens the front door. The two heading inside and moving to the couch. The same couch her husband now sleeps on. Only he isn’t with her and their daughter. She’s still in a spirit world, and Sean Bean has managed to survive a film.

The End

A fucked up ending, with a fucked up slaughter, and a messed up ending for the heroes of the film. Welcome to Silent Hill. Seriously I’ve yet to find a game story that hit me as hard as Silent Hill 2, that was a messed up time. It also had you square off against a mans dead wife from a floating bed with barbed wire among other things attacking you.

This movie was and still remains for me, the best video game adaptation. The fact a lot of people couldn’t deal with it, found it too weird, and gory. Makes me love it that much more, and that more sure it was a true Silent Hill project.

Everything about it was exactly as it should’ve been. Right down to the creepy cult. They did make a sequel some time later, which as I mentioned has Mr Snow in it. The sequel was also somewhat of a tie in of two game plots, while also bringing back Sean Bean and continuing the story of Sharon .

In the sequel her father has gone missing and she searches for him. The tie in the ending from the first film and how the two reunite and begin searching for her mother. While also avoiding crazy cultist who are hot on their trail. It’s a well done sequel, but sadly also one of the victims of the early 3D movie craze when it first began. So it was prone to 3D gags, but still stuck close to it.

It remains better than the Resident Evil films and what they devolved into. It’s something I hope they never try to top or remake. It’s a sincere film that didn’t try reinventing the wheel. It used the resources the game gave for story. It added new elements and tied it all together. The characters are referenced throughout different game sequels too. It’s all canon.

It may not be the easiest horror film for most, but it is a truly engaging one and good ghost story. It has a lot of mystery, doesn’t try to solve every riddle, and does exactly what it needs too. Please do not remake this series.

I genuinely would love to write 20 more pages just talking about the movie and going over the behind the scenes stories, everything about this film because yeah. It’s one of those films I dug into deep because I loved the series and film.

But lets get into exactly why it’s on the list in the first place, Because oh man did it earn its place.

The Music.

Right as the film production logos begin to appear, we’re hit with a very gypsy sounding bit of music, “Winged Horse”. All the music is straight from the source itself, composed by the video games own composter and a legend in game music by their own right, Akira Yamaoka with Canadian film composter Jeff Danna who would later on help again in scoring Silent Hill Revelations.

The music is a fans dream. Which also may add to why it weirded out audiences not familiar with the source. The music sounds straight out of a video game, which adds to the atmosphere and overall creepy tone. Which this movie relentlessly holds onto and never lets go of. Thankfully.

Each track is like weights on a scale. Either they are escalating tension and terror, or melancholy and mystery.

Each track represents its background. You have very industrial mechanical sounding tracks for the underworld when darkness takes over, fitting the coal fire ran towns catwalk and chain link fence look, It can sound like hammers striking steel while metal is brushed over large sheets of brass, or it can be a very beautiful soft piano melody. All of it is creating another layer in the world of Silent Hill.

Playing the games, the music really does set the tone and draw you in. There are times it happens even subtly to a point you don’t realize it until it happens. One of my favorite shocks playing one of the games was standing around exploring a public restroom, I had to idle so I could grab a drink and left my character in a corner. When I returned it looked like my character had suddenly generated a bruise under their eye that I hadn’t noticed before. As I got comfy and started to look harder. The bruise grow, and expanded to the other eye. As it did, my characters scalp began to bleed. Soon the walls in the game began to bleed in the mirror reflection of the room. As it did the music suddenly began to twist and turn amping up more and more as the room in the mirror flooded with blood and began to seep out into the real room in the game.

It genuinely freaked me out and there weren’t youtube videos out at the time with people posting similar experiences, so it just made the game feel all the creepier.

There are some similar moments played out in the movie, like with the dark version of the tortured janitor. The movie even had to cut back to him JUST so you could see more of his torture whiled dragging himself along the floor. The scene got  its own additional score. Just for those few moments. It was like watching a living video game and it just worked so well.

One of my favorite tracks that kind of perfectly captures everything the film brings together, and is about is called “Chasing Memories” it starts off slow and mysterious, drawing out into a soft melodic piano piece used in the track “Lost Connection” that repeats parts of throughout. It goes from mystical to hopeful. Then to tension, and alert horror. Into urgency. It’s a wonderful piece of music its mostly played through during the scene where Rose chases Alessa through the school toward the beginning.  By the end of the music it just turns desolate and hopeless. A stark contrast from its beginning notes.

The track “Chorus of Evil”, is not lying. It is the most evil throat singing, mechanical song. It’s the perfect lead into the following track “The Executioner”, which introduced Pyramid head in the film. The two tracks work off one another and give the perfect entrance to one of the games, and movies highlight characters. Which even that track itself. Starting off grim and full of despair ends hopeful, reflecting the return of light to the film. Again its just beautifully crafted for each scene in the film. Made for each part of it. Giving it a haunting presence through the entire film that sticks around and honestly I’m glad they managed music for each scene as it just keeps you right there, in Silent Hill from beginning to end.

If I had to pick a favorite, that’d be hard. But one track I enjoyed a lot from the first time in Theaters I saw the film, up to today would have to be “Epilogue”, its one of the last tracks in the film and the most emotional. It carries the harsh reality of the film that Rose would never return to her husband, that she was in this ghost world, that even though they won and she found, saved her daughter. She would never leave, and her husband would live the rest of his life searching for them, and them waiting for him. It’s beautiful piano music and it has the feeling of going from an orchestral track to something being played by Rose herself in silent lament. It’s heartbreaking and always stood out to me, leading directly into the credits which I fucking loved and lost my shit when they began playing It took several tracks straight from the games, and each one is an emotional hit from all three. You have “Tears of” from the first, “Theme of Laura” from the second(and best game) and “You’re not here” from part 3. Just 8 minutes of sad bliss.

Part of why the music was so important in the Silent Hill games, was that they told an entire story. Unlocking clues, and different endings gave you more of the music, You actually could unlock lyrics. Poems and so on during game play. Learning you could effect the damn music of the game by your choices and discovers was just…damn man.

It’s incredibly beautiful and I love knowing each time I listen to the soundtrack its there waiting. But then again. A am that way with nearly every track on the soundtrack. It’s just funny because all of those songs at the end. They really do give you that feeling of…you just won. You finished the game, all your hard work paid off. This is for you. Your moment. And having something like that in a film. Especially a film with such a bitter sweet ending. Just some next level shit. I dig it.

Truly a beautiful score and an even better video game movie. Perfectly adapted in every sense of the word. Check it out, buy it, play the games, all except for Homecoming, fans know why. And trust me, the music is worth it alone.

Until tomorrow, when a town is closed and everyone tells you to not go there, just listen. Send in a drone if you want, take some pictures of the entrance to the town. But keep your ass out. Otherwise you’ll get your skin ripped off.