Silent Hill: A Game - Movie Comparison

Silent Hill has been one of the most popular survival-horror video game series' since the premiere of the first game in 1999. It was created by Konami and spawned three sequels and several spin-offs. In 2006, Christophe Gans directed a film based on the video game. The film follows the basic storyline of the first game, but also incorporated certain elements from the sequel games. The general plot and the depiction of the town remain the same in the movie however, there were certain alterations made to the story and to the characters. The following is a comparison of the famed video game and its cinematic counterpart.

The protagonist of the video game is a widower named Harry Mason. He is searching the town of Silent Hill for his missing daughter, Cheryl. The former resort town is desolate and dreary. There is a constant, inexplicable fall of snow. It is not known for sure where this fictional town is supposed to be located however there are several speculations ranging from New England to California.

The main character of the movie is Rose Da Silva, played by Radha Mitchell. She has taken her adopted daughter, Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) to Silent Hill against the wishes of her husband, Chris (Sean Bean). Upon awaking after a car crash, she realizes that her daughter is missing and she sets out to look for her. The location of Silent Hill in the movie is Toluca County, West Virginia. Silent Hill was the site of a major coal fire that was still burning. The town in the movie was based on the real-life town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, which suffered a massive coal fire. The snowfall in the video game is replaced by the fall of ash, which is more conducive with the storyline.