There is no shortage of essential video game series that have helped push the industry forward in important ways, yet Silent Hill is a franchise that doesn't always get the respect that it deserves. Silent Hill hasn't broken out and successfully invaded other forms of media in the way that Resident Evil has, but it's still one of the biggest names in the survival horror genre.
The Silent Hill games frequently embrace psychological horror over the constant jump scares of the Resident Evil series, which can result in deeply disturbing sequences. It's been a decade since the last official Silent Hill game, but the franchise still contains some genuinely unnerving scares.
10 The Pyramid Head Emerges
The Silent Hill series focuses less on combat and strong offensive maneuvers than Resident Evil does, but that doesn't mean that the survival horror games don't feature intimidating monsters. There are dozens of disturbing creations that course through Silent Hill, but few generate the purely horrific intensity as Pyramid Head.
First appearing in Silent Hill 2 as one of James Sunderland's grim visions, Pyramid Head is so scary because of its surreal design. The audience doesn't fully understand what Pyramid Head is, or what it's trying to do, which adds an extra layer of nightmare logic to the experience.
9 Silent Hill 3's Bloody Mirror Hallucination
Mirrors are ripe territory to create scares. There's so much to do with the concept of an untrustworthy or warped reflection, but Silent Hill 3 establishes that its protagonist, Heather Mason, has a mirror phobia. One of the most effective sequences in the entire game is set in Brookhaven Hospital when Heather enters a room that's decorated with a giant mirror.
The other side of the mirror slowly gets bloodier, and Heather can't escape the room from where she came in. This haunting image gets progressively worse and even seeps through to Heather's side of the mirror if she can't escape in a timely fashion.
8 Homecoming's Scarlet Boss Is An Awful Mix Of Disturbing Ideas
The later entries in the Silent Hill series are largely mixed bags, but there's usually something creepy to appreciate in each of them. Silent Hill: Homecoming manages to deliver one of the scariest bosses from the entire series. Homecoming's Scarlet Boss is a testament to how important sound design is in the horror genre and how it can push a disturbing idea over the edge.
Scarlet resembles a body horror hybrid between a porcelain doll and a daddy long legs. It's an intense visual, but the cracking sound released from Scarlet's prolonged limbs and the nightmarish lullaby that plays over the encounter is even worse.
7 The Abstract Daddy From Silent Hill 2 Is A Living Manifestation Of Trauma
The original Silent Hill is a classic, but it's Silent Hill 2 that's often regarded as the best entry in the series. Silent Hill 2 is rich in themes and subtext, which produce some scary abominations. Angela encounters a creature that looks like an amalgamation of bodies and a bed, known as the Abstract Daddy.
Silent Hill frequently uses its monsters and characters as psychological symbolism, but the message behind Abstract Daddy is just devastating. Whether it's referred to as Abstract Daddy or its alternate title, Ideal Father, this monster is a disturbing presentation of how trauma festers and manifests in surprising ways.
6 Eileen's Giant Head Watches Over Henry In The Room
Silent Hill 4: The Room deserves infinite respect for the bold swings that it takes with its story. The Room effectively dismantles the player's usual safety zones, and the game's central apartment hub becomes increasingly invaded by supernatural events. Silent Hill 4's use of space and sound design is impeccable, but the game also confronts the audience with truly abnormal sights that defy explanation.
The giant head of Eileen that Henry encounters in The Room just feels wrong. It's not an overt threat to Henry, but its belabored breathing and motor functions make it something that the player immediately wants to leave behind.
5 Heather Mason Spends Some Time With Mannequins
Less can be more, especially in the survival horror genre. An endless undead assault is a frightening and dangerous sight, but video games can truly creep out their audience with subtle sequences where it's unclear what's dangerous. Mannequins have eerie connotations even outside of the horror genre, but they're never a welcome sight in Silent Hill.
Silent Hill 3 utilizes remarkable restraint with its room full of mannequins that Heather enters. The audience is ready for a confrontation, but the lifeless bodies behave themselves. This only makes the abrupt screams and crashes that happen in the room more frightening.
4 The Toluca Prison Bathroom's Phantom Guest
There's such a heavy sense of dread that hangs over every new location that's discovered in the Silent Hill series. The Toluca Prison that James explores in Silent Hill 2 is a dark and filthy disaster, but it also messes around with his head and his tenuous grasp on reality. Bathrooms are frequent opportunities for powerful jump scares in the Silent Hill series, and this sequel is no exception.
Toluca Prison's bathroom has a locked door, which James can investigate several times, to no response. However, when James attempts to leave the bathroom, he hears a bloodcurdling scream. It's an incredibly clever way to play with expectations.
3 Harry Mason's Disorienting Journey Through Silent Hill's Other World Alley
There's nothing quite like someone's first experience of something new, and the original Silent Hill receives the honor of completely confounding the audience as they travel into the depths of Silent Hill for the first time. Harry Mason's arrival in Silent Hill is unnerving but still grounded in reality.
Normalcy gradually slips away as Harry transitions between worlds, and Silent Hill begins to skew its camera angles and taint its reassuring scenery. This is one of the first things that the audience experiences, and it remains a memorable sequence where it's clear that safety is now gone and that unexpected darkness lies ahead.
2 The Glowing Lights Of Borley Haunted Mansion Push Heather Out Of Her Comfort Zone
Silent Hill 3's abandoned amusement park setting is a stroke of genius. The juxtaposition between the theme park's seemingly friendly images and the true horrors that fill the community consistently keep the game tense. One of the strangest and most effective sequences is when Heather explores the amusement park's haunted house attraction, Borley Haunted Mansion.
The experience starts as a playful version of haunted house tropes, but then an intimidating red glowing light that's accompanied by abrasive static begins to advance on Heather. The confusion and mystery behind this phenomenon makes it more terrifying than if Heather was simply chased by a maniac.
1 Harry Watches Lisa Meet Her Gruesome End
The Silent Hill games are typically isolating experiences, and any allies are more than likely to morph into threats or become horrifying casualties. The player's barometer for Silent Hill's dark storytelling isn't yet calibrated during the first game, and it's not crazy to think that Harry might be able to survive along with Lisa, the nurse that he befriends during his journey.
Silent Hill squashes this optimism with a sudden attack on Lisa that features a graphic death, but one that still largely leaves the audience in the dark. It's devastating to lose Lisa, but it's more frightening to not fully comprehend why she's killed.