Best Silent Hill Spin-Off Media, Ranked
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Last year, Konami finally announced new games in the Silent Hill franchise, which had been dormant for almost a decade. After experiencing an immense popularity in the horror community throughout the early 00s, the series gradually faded into obscurity following the closure of Team Silent, due to many different reasons. Nonetheless, the first four games in the series have always been lauded as horror classics by the gaming community.
While the games are surely what made Silent Hill famous, during the height of its popularity the franchise produced a series of spin-off media, including two movies, novels, comic books, and more. While these spin-off materials are not as widely known or loved as the games, there are some things that deserve to be discovered by every fan of the series.
4 Silent Hill: Sinner’s Reward
Throughout the years, there have been multiple comic book series based on the Silent Hill franchise, all of which present original stories not seen in the games, except for one. It’s a shame that most series are lackluster at best, and most of them fail to capture the essence of the franchise. Silent Hill: Sinner’s Reward is one of the few exceptions. The story sees Jack Stanton, a professional hitman for the Irish mob, trying to run away from his past life with his lover Jill Conway, who is married to his criminal ex-boss. The protagonists are surely a great departure from the usually likable Silent Hill main characters, and it isn’t as easy to connect with Jack and Jll’s story because of this.
While the plot may seem to stray very far away from what the Silent Hill franchise is all about, there are some interesting tidbits to be found in this series, especially in the last few issues, where Jack and Jill must finally take responsibility for their pasts, a recurring theme in many of the games. It’s not one of the best comics books of all time, it doesn’t show any of the franchise’s iconic locations, and it could be even described as forgettable, but fans of the Silent Hill franchise have seen (or rather, read) far worse things in the years.
3 Silent Hill: Past Life
Silent Hill: Past Life is one of the most interesting takes on Silent Hill in comic book form, starting from its setting. The story takes place in 1867, which is far earlier than what players have seen in any of the games. To put things in perspective, the earliest story chronologically is found in Silent Hill: Origins, which takes place around the 70s.
Once again, fans find a protagonist with a despicable past in Jebediah Foster, a violent outlaw who has fallen in love with Esther Munroe, a widow who longs to move from the Wild West to the mysterious town of Silent Hill. Of course, Jebediah and Esther won’t find the family paradise they were hoping for in the town, and Jebediah will have to face the demons of his past if he wants to survive this new ordeal. The story is written by Tom Waltz, who has also written Silent Hill: Sinner’s Reward, but this entry feels like a huge step-up from his previous contribution to the franchise.
2 Silent Hill: Downpour – Anne’s Story
Tom Waltz’s final contribution to the Silent Hill franchise is also arguably his best. Silent Hill: Downpour – Anne’s Story is the only comic book series that is directly tied to the game series. Specifically, this series acts as a side-story to Silent Hill: Downpour, focusing on Anne’s perspective of the events, instead of the game’s protagonist Murphy. As Anne wasn’t fully developed during the game, this comic book gives the character a second chance, giving her a more well-rounded personality and the chance to fight her own demons.
Sadly, this series was mostly overlooked by fans, as it came out a long time after Silent Hill: Downpour‘s release, and the game didn’t even have a stellar reception to begin with. Now that the franchise is back on track, fans would surely love to see more comic books try to expand what’s been told in the games, focusing on different characters or different areas of the town.
1 Silent Hill (2006 Movie)
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Director: |
Christophe Gans |
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Release Date: |
April 21, 2006 |
The 2006 Silent Hill movie, directed by Christophe Gans, is a very loose adaptation of the first game in the series. Instead of Harry Mason, the protagonist role is given to Rose de Silva, who gets lost in Silent Hill with her adoptive daughter Sharon, which is the name given to the movie version of Cheryl. Although the movie is quite different from the games, many fans praised how it managed to capture the franchise’s atmosphere, both in visuals and in tone.
At the time of release, Silent Hill was widely regarded as one of the best videogame movie adaptations of all time, which honestly is not saying much given the standards of the genre during that era. Even if there are far better adaptations today, Silent Hill is still a great love letter to the franchise, and that’s the reason why fans are eagerly waiting for director Gans’ return to the series with his next movie. Especially since the second film, Silent Hill: Revelation, was a complete disaster that was not directed by Christophe Gans.
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