Silent Hill, Konami’s popular anthology horror media franchise, is best-known as a series of survival horror video games. Created by Keiichiro Toyama in 1999, Silent Hill’s first four games, all developed by Team Silent, hold a special place in gamers’ hearts. Still, the other six (mostly Western-developed) titles that make up the beloved horror franchise, as well as the two feature film adaptations and the numerous print tie-ins, have all contributed to Silent Hill’s enduring appeal.
Although new Silent Hill offerings have been scare for the last several years, Konami recently confirmed a slew of new franchise releases: a PlayStation 5 remake of Silent Hill 2; two new Team Silent-developed games, Silent Hill: Downfall and Silent Hill f; and Return to Silent Hill, a third installment in the film series. Still, for fans who can’t wait any longer to scratch that Silent Hill itch, there’s even better news. From (stylized as FROM) is a must-watch, and criminally under-discussed, sci-fi horror series that treads similar ground — here’s what to know.
What Is Silent Hill About?
Although each installment in the Silent Hill franchise focuses on different characters, the games all share a few commonalities. For starters, the games — and movie adaptations — are set in the eponymous New England town. (Well, Silent Hill 4: The Room aside.) Shrouded in mystery, Silent Hill is rife with unsettling inhabitants, strange disappearances, parasitic beings and otherworldly deities, and the goings-on of a ritualistic cult. A defining game of the survival horror genre, Silent Hill and its sequels trade B-movie tropes for a deeply unnerving, fog-filled atmosphere and hallmarks of the psychological horror genre.
The first few installments of the game series, in particular, were praised for putting players in the shoes of an “everyman” character, who must solve puzzles and struggle through fight sequences. In the first game, for example, players guide protagonist Harry Mason through the monster-filled town to find his lost daughter, Cheryl. Unlike typical video game protagonists, Harry doesn’t have combat training. Unfamiliar with firearms, Harry’s aim is unsteady — and that impacts the player’s ability to name. If the player has Harry sprint away from danger, he’ll soon gasp for breath. And, unlike the tank-like player characters found in first-person shooters, he can’t sustain a ton of blows from Silent Hill’s enemies, either.
In Silent Hill 2, one of the franchise’s most-acclaimed installments, players control James Sunderland, a man who ventures to Silent Hill to find his wife. She’s dead — but a mysterious letter tells James that she’s there, waiting for him. Taking cues from the films of David Lynch (Mulholland Drive) and Adrian Lyne (Jacob’s Ladder) as well as Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Silent Hill 2 trades cults for an exploration of its main character’s psychology, with even the game’s monstrous enemies reflecting the protagonist's subconscious.
Heather, a teenager, stars in Silent Hill 3 — a game that entangles its protagonist in the town’s cult activities and oscillates between the “real world” and the “Otherworld”, a kind of Upside-Down version of Heather’s reality. Other installments follow a trucker who becomes stuck in Silent Hill; a soldier who searches the town for his missing brother; and an incarcerated person finds himself stranded in the titular town. Of course, that’s just a taste of the various stories set within the Silent Hill universe. As an anthology horror series, the possibilities are near-endless, and that’s probably why players keep coming back to Silent Hill time and again.
What Is FROM About?
Created by John Griffin for EPIX, the sci-fi horror series FROM features a stand-out ensemble cast. Stars include Harold Perrineau (Lost), Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), Eion Bailey (Stalker), David Alpay (The Tudors), Shaun Majumder (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), Scott McCord (The Sinner), and Ricky He (Wayward Pines), among others. After premiering in February 2022, the series was praised for its story — something that’s sure to appeal to Silent Hill fans. Not to mention, Perrineau’s top-notch performance drives an impressive cast of vets and newbies, reiterating just how character-driven FROM is at its core.
Not unlike Silent Hill, FROM is set in a nightmarish American town. And, somewhat like Silent Hill: Origins, people find themselves trapped in the town. In fact, the town traps everyone who sets foot inside its limits. At night, horrific creatures emerge from the forest to plague the town — as if its unwilling inhabitants needed another reason to search for an escape. While not quite elevated horror, FROM shows a lot of promise to go deeper than shows that came before it, like Wayward Pines.
In the pilot episode, the Matthews family — Jim (Bailey) and Tabitha (Moreno) and their two kids — take a detour that lands them in a small town. After being instructed by Sheriff Boyd (Perrineau) to get back on the highway, the Matthews find themselves caught in a loop: they can’t seem to drive out of the town, no matter which road they follow.
After a car runs them off the road, the Matthews family is truly stuck in the town — something that becomes even more unsettling as night falls. From monster-warding talismans to a boy in white who appears suddenly to some characters, the town is full of mysteries to unravel, making FROM an edge-of-your-seat horror series that’s perfect for Silent Hill fans.
Where to Stream FROM
A collaboration between production companies Midnight Radio and the Russo brothers' (Avengers: Endgame) Gozie AGBO, the first 10-episode season was originally greenlit for YouTube Premium back in 2018. After YouTube shifted gears to unscripted content, FROM landed with Epix Studios and MGM Television. Airing on the Epix network, the show had a successful, Saturn Award-nominated first season, and was renewed in April 2022, just a few months after its premiere.
The show’s second season, which is scheduled to premiere on April 23, 2023, will air on MGM+ (MGM Plus). Not familiar with MGM Plus? That’s probably because the streamer has undergone quite a few name changes. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) bought out the stakes of co-founders Lionsgate and Paramount in 2017, the long-standing Epix — a premium cable channel akin to Starz, Showtime, and HBO — underwent a rebrand. As of 2022, when MGM was acquired by Amazon, Epix became the MGM+ service, a sister platform to Amazon’s more established Prime Video and Freevee (formerly IMDb TV).
Aside from FROM, MGM+ features the Forest Whitaker-starring Godfather of Harlem, Chris Brancato’s (Narcos) Hotel Cocaine and the follow-up to Belgravia from Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey). New seasons of shows like Condor and Chapelwaite may also be in the works, with Amazon encouraging a “more is better” approach for the fledgling service.
When the streamer relaunched in earnest in January 2023, it also tapped a deal with Paramount to have box office-topper Top Gun: Maverick (2022) on offer, too. Creatives at MGM+ promise more book adaptations, along the lines of Ben Macintyre spy novels, and series that recall the epic, sweeping films from the studio’s past, like the classic Doctor Zhivago (1965). To watch FROM and other titles, viewers can subscribe directly to MGM Plus for $5.99 a month, or purchase it as an add-on through their existing cable or satellite TV packages for that same price.
When Will the New Silent Hill Be Released?
Since the 2010s, new Silent Hill offerings have been scarce. In 2015, Konami canceled Silent Hills, a would-be dream collaboration between filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), Metal Gear Solid mastermind Hideo Kojima, and actor Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead). This sparked fan outrage, to say the least.
With many, many canceled projects to its name, Silent Hill has kept fans waiting. In fact, 2012 marked the last non-demo releases, the PlayStation Vita exclusive Silent Hill: Book of Memories, as well as a pubg竞猜皮肤领取 绝地求生全球邀请赛稳定饰品押注网页|PUBG手游结果官方网站 and Silent Hill HD Collection, a high-def re-release of Silent 2 and 3, both for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
After much fanfare, the series now has several new games on the horizon, all of which were announced in October 2022. First up, there’s Silent Hill: Ascension, an “interactive media experience” developed in part by Bad Robot Productions, which is slated for a 2023 release. And then there are other new, more traditional games — Silent Hill: Downfall, developed by No Code (Stories Untold) and published by Annapurna Interactive (Stray), and Silent Hill f, a new mainline game set in Japan during the Shōwa period and written by the team behind the interactive novel When They Cry. Finally, a remake of Silent Hill 2 for PlayStation 5 and PC rounds out the recent game announcements.
Is There a Silent Hill Movie?
Directed by Christophe Gans and starring Radha Mitchell (Finding Neverland), Sean Bean (Game of Thrones), Laurie Holden (The Boys), the first live-action adaptation of the series, also called Silent Hill, hit theaters in 2006. Despite unfavorable reviews, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, the movie’s sequel featuring Adelaide Clemens (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Martin Donovan (Tenet), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix Resurrections), was released in 2012.
Although Gans was unable to return for the sequel, he confirmed his involvement in an upcoming third installment, Return to Silent Hill, which is now in the early stages of development. All of this to say, don’t count Silent Hill out, but consider filling the gap with episodes of FROM.