2009 SGM Month of Halloween Horror Movie for October 15

Silent Hill (2006)

Phobia: Lygophobia (Fear of gloomy places)

Quote: “This may sound really off the wall, but listen to me. You've got to believe me. I haven't gone crazy and I'm not fooling around. At first, I thought I was losing my mind. But now I know I'm not. It's not me. This whole town... it's being invaded by the Otherworld. A world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life. Little by little, the invasion is spreading. Trying to swallow up everything in darkness. I think I'm finally beginning to understand what that lady was talking about.” – Harry, the protagonist of the Playstation video game “Silent Hill,” rethinking his vacation plans.

Synopsis: Based on the best-selling horror action game, Silent Hill stars Radha Mitchell (Man on Fire) as Rose, a desperate mother who takes her adopted daughter, Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill in an attempt to cure her of her ailment. After a violent car crash, Sharon disappears and Rose begins her desperate search to get her back. She descends into a fog of smoldering ash and into the center of the twisted reality of a town's terrible secret. Pursued by grotesquely deformed creatures and a townspeople stuck in permanent purgatory, Rose begins to uncover the truth behind the apocalyptic disaster that burned the town 30 years back.

Dare to step inside the horrific town of Silent Hill, where darkness preys on every soul and Hell's creations await around every corner. But know that once you enter...there is no turning back.

Fear creeps in at 00:23:11: You could be forgiven for mistaking the first few minutes of this film for "The Mist." After the car accident, Rose tries to track down Sharon, only to have her pursuit end in a wild cacophonous attack of ashen humanoids ... or was it a dream? She wakes up, undisturbed, in an abandoned department store. She then opts for a different strategy: Find her car on the edge of town and try to drive through in search of her daughter. On her way back to where she left her vehicle, she's impeded by one major obstacle: A canyon, appearing in the center of Silent Hill as if cleaved by the vengeance of God. Rose and Sharon are now trapped with the terrors and demons of Silent Hill.

See also: Psycho (1960); Session 9; Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)