Slow dread, unnerving suspense, paranoia, unexpected startles, and gory demises made up a large part of our October. During the last week of the month we spent many hours beating the video game Silent Hill 2 (Remake) and saw a handful of horror films that were surprisingly high quality. If you want to emulate our viewing experience find a pitch black room, some good snacks, a television that excels at displaying pitch black and shadowed scenes, and a few cats that will sneak in and randomly jump on you every hour or so. Let’s plunge into the movies (and a show) that we watched before I spend a bit more time breaking down the video game.

SHOWS:

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities – “The Viewing”. With every episode I appreciate this anthology more. In “The Viewing” four semi famous strangers are invited to a mysterious event at a mansion. An homage to 70’s camp horror that is most unsettling as the characters are pressured to break their personal boundaries.

FILMS:

Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva – The rare sequel that excels in almost every way over its predecessor. This movie maintains the investigative reporter motif but adds in significantly more found footage content. The pace is faster and from the beginning the fear factor was ramped up.

The Long Walk – I picked this because the short story by Stephen King has long been one of my favorite works of his. Michelle wasn’t familiar with the source material (and I honestly haven’t read it in over 20 years) and it was interesting seeing her reaction as the plot unfolded. This is a gruesome watch with graphic gun violence and a story that is filled with unavoidable dread. The concept of subjectivity is so much easier to understand as time passes and a person can look back on the things they loved in their early adulthood and reflect on how that opinion has changed. I read King’s early works when I was much too young (12 – 13 years old) and at that time they were the best books of all time. Now I’ve taken most of them off those pedestals but still appreciate his imagination and brisk storytelling.

The Rule of Jenny Pen – John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush tear up scene after scene in this retirement home fear fest. I found myself meditating on the common horrors of old age as much as Lithgow’s evil puppet antics and found them both terrifying.

Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made – This was a late night last minute addition to our watch list which I queued up after seeing it on a recommendation thread. Part documentary, the film briefly explains the apparently cursed history of the movie Antrum before presenting the viewers that movie in all its glory. The movie within the movie is about a girl and her brother trying to reconnect with their deceased dog who they believe is in hell. Thankfully the nearby forest has a portal into the depths so they grab a shovel and head off. Campy fun filled with subliminal messages and jam packed with unnerving scenes. I would recommend this to horror fans in a heartbeat, especially if they want something off beat.

VIDEO GAMES:

Alan Wake – We started this game a while ago but can only play in short bursts since it makes me motion sick. This bums me out a bit because I really want to play the sequel. In the game you play author Alan Wake whose wife disappears as they travel to a small town for a vacation. You explore locales with a very Twin Peaks vibe as you try to find your wife. You also collect pages of a book that you are writing while trapped in a mysterious room. The book is narrating your adventures and often you’ll find a page that talks about an encounter you just had or are about to have in the game. It is confusing and fourth wall breaking in all the best ways. Unfortunately in between exploring there are combat bits interspersed that involve shining lights at shadow monsters and feel, at best, awkward to play. Thankfully in between this game and the sequel the studio put out Control which vastly improves both combat and storytelling. I think we have a few hours of this left.

Silent Hill 2 (Remake) – It is hard to compare a movie and videogame. In a game you have a vastly increased level of immersion, longer time commitment, and some control over how the story plays out. Michelle and I spent about 25 hours on our first playthrough of Silent Hill 2 and about 10 additional hours going back through the game to get various endings and trophies.

Often when we play a game like this that isn’t specifically made for two players. We pass the controller back and forth, each playing for 20-30 minutes. We did that for the first run through and the second time Michelle used a guide and I ran the controller as we made our way through as quickly as possible.

In Silent Hill 2 you play as James, a man who received a letter from his wife saying she is in the town of Silent Hill at one of their favorite places. Simple enough, except his wife died three years ago. James arrives to the town which appears nearly totally abandoned and fog covered, and it doesn’t take much longer before zombie like monsters start attacking him from the depths of the fog.

The game gives you a radio at the outset which starts squealing static noises when a monster is in the vicinity. This in and of itself is jarring, doubly so since the sound comes out of the controller and the speakers themselves are playing background noises and possibly monster noises too. The audio in the game is fantastic and chilling. The soundtrack is less music and more fear inducing soundscapes.

You guide James through the town following hints and clues that lead you to and through various areas and buildings. Apartment buildings, an abandoned hospital, a prison, and other areas are part of the journey – each one scarier and more disturbing than the one before.

Monsters include zombies in fetish gear, nurses wielding weapons, and various scurrying collections of legs and arms that are inherently wrong. My nemesis were the mannequins that hid around corners and did their best to leg hug you to death between kicks.

I won’t spoil the story, it is convoluted and twisted and definitely R rated. James meets a handful of characters as he tries to reconnect with his wife. As the player you slowly learn about what happened three years ago and the miserable history of those other characters you meet in Silent Hill.

In my opinion Silent Hill 2 was without a doubt the scariest thing we experienced this season, and one I’d recommend to almost anyone interested in a good video game. Replaying the game we discovered some interesting things, for example there was a trophy for not using the radio which we thought made the overall experience slightly more challenging but reduced the fear factor significantly.

Now we enter November, a neutral month of entertainment for us when we can let our resting heart rates return to normal before December when they will find another (much less aggressive) uptick in their pitter pattering as we begin enjoying our month of romantic comedies.