I’m sure most of you are already aware of the huge fan project, The REAL Silent Hill Experience, a roughly 3 and a half hour documentary/fan review of the Silent Hill series to date and a collaboration between Fungo, from site affiliate Silent Hill Media, and Rosseter and Derfuzwar from the general media site Twin Perfect and was years in the making.

The video series debuted back in October and gained both fans and critics within the Silent Hill fandom. Personally, I enjoyed watching their series… up to a point. I can’t say I was very happy how later games, especially Shattered Memories were presented and mocked nor did I agree with some of the facts presented in their Silent Hill and later supplementary videos. I was also disheartened by their impressions of past and present members of Konami staff, especially Akira Yamaoka and how they originally the placed the blame of the decline of the series and all current misinformation on the stories at the feet of Silent
Hill 2 and 3 guide author, Dan Birlew. This “Blaming Dan Birlew” section has since been removed so it’s not fair of me to harp on that point anymore, but if you are curious I did talk about it at length about it in the Hell Descent Podcast #8 which also contains my full email interview with Dan Birlew and a my summary of the deleted section.

You are probably wondering why I’m bringing this all up now considering these videos were out months ago…Well I’ve had several people tell me in email and on my youtube page that “I need to watch this,” that “Konami should hire these guys” and that they “know everything there is to know about Silent Hill” and I thought I should put it out there that: Yes I’ve watched the documentary in its entirety but unfortunately as a long time Silent Hill fan myself I wasn’t enamored with the series as much as other were and I disagreed much with what was presented. I think my disappointment first stemmed from being promised a documentary when in reality the video plays out more like a review of each individual title and eventually unapologetically just bashed the newer games. I was under the impression the series would be more neutral then that considering Fungo’s assurances in that past these games would be treated fairly.

I also wasn’t too keen on the presentation, even though the editing was phenomenal, due to a large portion of the series focusing on just two guys talking on a couch. There was just too little game footage for my taste and before the release I was picturing something more like Game Trailer Retrospectives that is made up of primarily of game footage with voice overs.

Lastly, I think my biggest issue with the series is with how they pushed their own theories as fact. Now there’s nothing wrong with discussing theories and God knows Silent Hill is filled with ambiguity but from the get go we were promised that everything presented would be backed by in game examples and I found this wasn’t always the case. Some examples include the Good+ ending in Silent Hill being canon, that Alessa made the boiler explode to set herself on fire, or that Eddie shot a football coach. Additionally, it didn’t sit well with me that they never provided provided sources for quotes presented from those involved in the movie and Konami staff and we never truley knew their context (especially that sexist Gans quote yeeeesssh). But this just how I feel and I don’t expect everyone to feel the same.

Even though I may disagree with their conclusions I’m glad it was made because it lit the fire of debate on the older games when we all thought the debate was long since gone lol. Speaking of debates, over the past couple weeks Xuchilbara from the Silent Hill Community forums has been doing her own review of each video in the series (she’s up to #7) on her tumblr account. She provides a different take on what’s Silent Hill “canon” also based on what’s presented in the games and so far I’ve found it a fascinating read. You all should check it out! 😀 and if you haven’t already watched The REAL Silent Hill Experience yet go an do so already!!

Source (The REAL Silent Hill Experience, Xuchilbara’s Reviews)