A few weeks ago, I described how I view comedy- tragedy set at a distance. Horror works inversely- things are scary because they are tragedy that is too close for comfort. In order for a movie or a book to scare us, it has to act like it knows us better than we know ourselves. It has to look at our expectations and play with them. It has to know our limits and poke at them.

Due to certain circumstances, I didn't grow up playing a lot of horror games, but when I finally did I started with the best- Silent Hill. Silent Hill 2, more specifically. I'm hardly  the  first one to call it a genius work of interactive drama, but it uses this method of horror perfectly to make an experience that scares you- but in a subtle way. This Halloween, we're going to analyze Silent Hill and how it scares the hell out of you. This is a spoiler warning- I tried not to spoil too many twists or the specifics of the endings, but I would highly encourage you to play it before reading further.

The two tools that the Silent Hill series used before Konami decided it wanted to screw over its employees and customers while simultaneously diving straightforward into a razor blade bath, was the uncanny and the unknown. There are no other tools better for scaring people. The uncanny valley effect: you know why everyone is terrified of dummies?

"You will soon know immeasurable pain"

When we see something inhuman with human-like features we think it's endearing. But at the other end, we something human-like with inhuman features, it's terrifying. Dummies cross the barrier from cute to scary because we don't see them as inanimate objects that are made to resemble people, we see them as people with something very wrong with them. That area where something is scary because it isn't human but close enough to be alarming is called the uncanny valley. It's looking at another person, but seeing something inhuman just below the surface.

The unknown is more obvious. Things are scarier when we don't understand them. Why are people afraid of the future? Why do people fear death? Because we don't know what's waiting for us when that time comes and we have to cross a threshold of unmarked territory. We fear the dark because it hides our surroundings and shrouds everything in mystery.

From the very beginning, Silent Hill 2 uses both of these tools to create a feeling of unease. It begins with our protagonist, James Sunderland, staring into a mirror to show how we're about to bare witness to the uglier aspects of his reflection. He reveals that a letter from his long dead wife, Mary, has brought him to Silent Hill, where he goes in search of her. And then you're only way to found out more is down a long, uneventful path down a road. As you walk, fog masks your forward progression and you cannot know what is in front of you. The quiet, serene sound of the outdoors soon becomes silent. That's when we enter a graveyard and we have our first interaction with another human being. Right away, there is something wrong with Angela. The moment we see her, she is holding her arm in a nervous manner, staring at a grave. When James tries to speak to her she gasps, shocked to find another person. And that's before she starts speaking. When she does, she stutters and frequently apologizes , as if James was going to hurt her. She acts like she doesn't quite understand James when he says that he's lost. Her voice acting is nervous and each line sounds like she's waking up dazed from a dream. You get the feeling that she knows something you don't, or maybe that she isn't seeing the same things you are. Whatever the case, she is obviously shaken and traumatized from some sort of event.

This. Is. Important.

Throughout the rest of the game, you'll have similar interactions with the other characters. You find Eddie, an insecure and overweight teenager with prominent anger issues, in a random suite at an abandoned motel with a dead body sitting on a chair. There's a disgusting, liquidy sound following pained groaning noises indicating that there's something to be feared in this room even if it isn't immediate- and that's when you find the sounds are coming from Eddie puking his guts out in a toilet. The first thing he does is deny any responsibility for the dead body, not even asking what James is doing there in the first place. He's very insistent that he's telling the truth, as if afraid that he would be looked down upon by James. But from what he and Angela say, something that they all can't explain has brought them to Silent Hill.

All of your interactions with other people are similarly aimless and confusing. When Pyramid Head shows up, nobody else mentions him. All of the other characters just seem to walk around Silent Hill like you, the player, does but they're being lead by something unexplained. Every interaction with another character is surreal. It suggests that they're not seeing the same things you are, but are equally as frightening.

That is until you meet Maria- who James mistakes for his beloved Mary. She seems relaxed and carefree, openly flirtatious. She looks exactly like Mary, but is much more sexual in her dress and mannerisms. She invites James to touch her to prove that even through her surreal presence, she's real. Oddly enough, Maria even knows James name without him telling her. She follows you for a time, but interacts with nobody and is clearly seeing the same foggy Silent Hill that James is seeing. Unlike the others, she isn't afraid or confused by you. She even sees Pyramid Head, who nobody else even mentions.

You also meet Laura, who has a serious disdain for James even though he has no idea who she is. She's a young girl, easily about eight years old, who doesn't seem to notice the dangers of Silent Hill. She just sort of runs around without a care, having no concept of the situation at hand.

If you can get a good look at the monsters through the fog or the shadows, you'll notice that they are all feminine in design. There is a strange emphasis on legs in most of them, and their bodies tend to have a curvy shape. One monster, the mannequin, is nothing but two pairs of legs. You get the feeling that there's something intentionally erotic about them while they stumble around and writhing as they move. Pyramid Head directly contrasts these creatures. He is a muscular, pale man covered in blood, and dragging a humongous knife with him everywhere he goes. One of the first times the player sees Pyramid Head, he is dominating two monsters who twitch like they're in pain. He holds one by its legs and sort of... thrusts into it? That's the best way I can describe it. This is a scene of sexual violence, even if it isn't explicit and vague on what exactly is happening. Either way, this masculine monster tortures the other, more feminine creatures in a particularly disturbing manner to exert some sort of patriarchal dominance over them.

At this point, the game has crossed a threshold and gotten uncomfortably close to the player. At first, this was a video game about a guy looking for his dead wife. Now it's brought in uncomfortable subjects like rape and oppression. This was also 2001, where the heaviest a game got was Metal Gear Solid's anti-nuke speeches. Nobody ever expected or even imagined that such a difficult subject would be addressed. And it does it in a strangely progressive way, too.

Along the way, the monsters become more sexual in nature from the busty, faceless “Bubble Head Nurses” to the “Abstract Daddy” which resembles two figures on top of a bed. Each character is faced with their own secret demons. Angela is comes face to face with a manifestation of her father's physical and sexual abuse. Eddie is confronted with his years of bullying due to his weight and ultimately gives in to the anger inside him.

James seems innocent from the start, with his gentle way of approaching other people and soft-spoken manner. But from the way other people react to him, you get the feeling that there's something about Silent Hill that is reacting directly to James. Pyramid Head kills Maria and James fails to save her- but she mysteriously comes back as if nothing happened only to then again be brutally killed by Pyramid Head, as if they are both trying to tell you something. It's then revealed that he himself has a lot of pent up aggression towards his dead wife. He has a misogynist side to himself that is unseen to the player but seen by the people he interacts with. That is why all the monsters are female, they represent James's frustrations with his wife and his sexual libido. Maria is the physical manifestation of how James wished Mary would have acted when she was alive.

It should become clear by the last time you see Laura and Eddie, that they are each viewing their own versions of hell separate from yours. There's an undertone of gender-based violence, more specifically, violence against women. On top of that is the theme of duality as each character is forced to face a previously unseen side of themselves. Laura sees herself as a victimized child, just waiting to die so she can get away from the horrible things she's been through. Eddie sees himself as an aggressive loner, rejected by society with his only comfort being that when everyone dies they are truly equal.

James's goal to find Mary suddenly becomes a battle to come to terms with his sins. Pyramid Head, the sadistic predator, represents the side of himself responsible for his crimes, created to punish him as repentance for how he treated Mary. When James confronts Pyramid Head, now knowing why he was summoned to Silent Hill, there are two Pyramid Heads standing in his way from seeing Mary.

Ultimately, James's redemption can come in about four different endings depending on the actions the player takes. Each one mirrors a character in the story. He can seek redemption through Mary's forgiveness, meeting her in the afterlife, embrace his insanity and attempt to bring her back, or to refuse redemption altogether and indulge himself in his own vices.

Silent Hill 2 is about a man attempting to apologize for his toxicity in a hell he created for himself.

There's also the dog ending. The Japanese sure do like to have fun.

This is all compacted with its gameplay. It's interesting how the game and the story intersect through the mechanics. Silent Hill games are never actually fun, and they aren't designed to be. They're designed to be emotionally engaging and intellectually stimulating. As such, the game purposely plays badly. The combat mechanics are awkward, you have to get into the right position and hope that your attacks land before a monster hurts you. You don't even know how much health you have during a confrontation with a monster, you have to pause and look at an indicator on the inventory screen to know and even then it's vague on how much damage you've taken. Remember that unlike most gaming protagonists, James is no warrior he's a clerk. He doesn't know how to fight, he's never really had to before. This means that every time you try to engage in combat, you're taking a severe risk. The save points are far apart, so there can be a lot at stake if you die. Every combat encounter has weight, you're much better off trying to run away but even that is a challenge in the dark, cramped spaces that make up most of the gameplay. Most of the time, you won't even know for sure if you're doing damage to an enemy until it falls over. Pyramid Head can't be damaged, in your first boss encounter with him you're only option is to try and hit him as much as you can without being hit by his enormous knife.

Everything about the game's design is done specifically to mess with you. The soundtrack especially- sometimes instead of music the game will play long, droning tones or unnerving and repetitive noises to make you unsure if what you are hearing is coming from behind you. Even the rock song playing as the theme is melancholy and strangely haunting.

The game also refrains from using jump scares like oh  so  many games do today. It focuses on its atmosphere, disturbing you with unsettling themes and foreboding environments. It uses perspective to paint the world around you, using its settings to resemble character traits. It's heavy with symbolism and themes. Often times it adds strange yet specific details but gives you no explanation.

Silent Hill 2, people. Scaring you in an intellectual and philosophical way.