Silent Hill 4: The Room

Silent Hill 4
Developer(s)	Konami Team Silent
Publisher(s)	Konami
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 Xbox PC
Release	JPN June 17, 2004 NA September 7, 2004 EUR September 17, 2004
Genre(s)	Survival Horror/Psychological horror
Mode(s)	Single player

Silent Hill 4: The Room is the fourth installment in the survival horror series. The game was released in Japan on June 17, 2004, North America on September 7, 2004, and Europe on September 17, 2004. The Room was released onto multiple platforms consisting of the Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and PC.

Synopsis

Template:Spoilers Henry Townshend is living in South Ashfield, a town half a day's drive away from Silent Hill. One day he finds himself mysteriously locked in his own apartment. He cannot escape through either the windows or his front door, which has been chained shut from the inside. No one, not even people standing directly outside the door, can hear him when he pounds on the door and cries for help. After five days of entrapment Henry finds a hole that has opened up in his bathroom wall. Armed only with a steel pipe that broke loose when the wall opened, a bottle of wine, and a carton of chocolate milk, he is about to venture into the hellish madness of Silent Hill.

The hole leads Henry to different and definitely out-of-world places, inhabited by dangerous and sometimes unkillable creatures. In the first four worlds he witnesses the murders of four people who are stuck in corresponding realm like him. The murders then happen in the real world, too. As Henry ventures further, he learns more and more about a serial killer Walter Sullivan that terrorized Ashfield several years ago and left certain numbers carved on his victims. Walter was arrested and committed suicide. However, new victims bear similar numbers, and different events suggest that Sullivan is not really dead.

Walter Sullivan was born in the same Room 302 (where Henry lives now). His parents fled the scene soon afterwards, as the baby was unwanted. Superintendent handed the newborn to the medics, and so Walter found his way to the "Wish House" orphanage in Silent Hill, where he was taught of occult rituals. Later Sullivan began to believe that the Room itself was his mother. Therefore he decided to "wake" it up through the "21 Sacraments" ritual, which required, in particular, 21 murders. Walter killed 10 people, taking their hearts out. He then went through the ritual of Assumption, which allowed him to make himself the eleventh victim yet stay alive and even become immortal. His goal is to kill another 10 people to complete the 21 Sacraments. Henry meets two Walters: one adult (real) and one child, an image conjured by real Walter's reminisces.

The four victims that Henry encounters in his wanderings are numbers 16 through 19. The twentieth murder, however, is interrupted, and the victim (Henry's neighbour Eileen Galvin), still alive, is taken to the hospital. Henry rescues Eileen and together they try to stop Walter. By the while, Henry's apartment becomes increasingly haunted and dangerous.

In the final fight scene Henry must make Walter mortal again and kill once and for all. To make things more difficult, Eileen becomes possessed and is about to walk in a mechanism that will kill her, so the time is short.

The game has four different endings, depending on whether or not Eileen survives and on whether or not Henry has cleared his apartment of the hauntings. See below for the detailed description of the endings.

About the game

Template:Spoilers This installment of the series features revised controls and attacks (the player is able to "charge" an attack, allowing its power to build before the attack is launched), modifications to the item menu and map, and segments that are played from a first-person perspective. Also, for the first time there are no "safe" areas: monsters are able to follow you from area to area, and the ghosts in the game are unkillable and will constantly bedevil Henry in the subway section and elsewhere. (Previous games in the series featured unkillable opponents - such as Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2 - but these encounters were brief.) Even Henry's apartment, seemingly set in the "real" world, becomes increasingly haunted and dangerous throughout the game. The plot of the game expands upon the history of a serial killer mentioned in Silent Hill 2 and of the cult that seems to control the town.

Silent Hill 4 was not originally slated to be a Silent Hill game ^[1]. The Silent Hill team of designers planned for it to be an original concept for an original game not affiliated with any other franchise. After the general pre-production of the game, Konami decided that instead of launching a new franchise, they would convert the game to a Silent Hill title. The connections to the other Silent Hill games (including the story of the serial killer), were added early on in the development of the game, and consequently the entire game was extensively redesigned.

In contrast to the previous characters in the Silent Hill series, such as the deeply troubled James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2 or the moody Heather from Silent Hill 3, Henry is a rather quiet fellow, and we don't learn much about his past.

Sequels

A sequel title is planned for unspecified next-generation console (assumed to be the PlayStation 3).

• Silent Hill 5 (TBA)

Additionally, a prequel is planned for the Playstation Portable handheld.

• Silent Hill: Origins (TBA)

Influences and trivia

• This is the first Playstation 2 Silent Hill game to have a subtitle: "The Room". Previous ones just had the number of game (Silent Hill 2, 3, etc.). However, the Xbox rendition of Silent Hill 2 had the subtitle "Restless Dreams". In Europe, Silent Hill 2 had the subtitle "Inner Fears".
• It is also the first Silent Hill game where players have a limited inventory and only one save point.
• Silent Hill 4 makes a possible reference to the fate of Silent Hill 2's protagonist James Sunderland. A man named Frank Sunderland is the superintendent of the apartments in the game, and at a certain point in the game Henry comments that Frank's son went missing. This could be an indication as to what happened to James at the end of Silent Hill 2.
• The novel House of Leaves and its use of impossible physical spaces may have been an influence on the series (especially in Silent Hill 4), with its almost interminable corridors. During one part of the game, Henry walks down an infinite staircase relating to the one within the novel. Henry also puts together a scrapbook of letters of a journalist he learns about, just like Johnny Truant in House of Leaves.
• In the liner notes of the Silent Hill 4 soundtrack, an address is listed for the strip club "Heaven's Night." That address is: 2121 Carroll St., South Vale, ME. James Sunderland briefly visits Heaven's Night in Silent Hill 2.
• Though the town of Silent Hill is officially located somewhere in New England, there is a body of water in the town named "Toluca Lake", named after the real Toluca Lake in Southern California, near Burbank, North Hollywood, and Studio City. Director David Lynch is legendary for having eaten lunch at Bob's Big Boy restaurant every day for approximately seven years straight. [2] That particular Bob's Big Boy is located in Toluca Lake, CA on Riverside Drive, just down the road from Warner Bros. Studios and Universal Studios.
• The apartment setting in this game strongly resembles and is clearly influenced by the film Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. Just as Jefferies from Rear Window observes his neighbors though his apartment window, Henry from Silent Hill 4: The Room observes his surroundings in a first person view and is able to spy on what his neighbors are doing. Henry is similarly confined to his apartment, just as Jefferies is in the film, although not by a physical condition, but rather by a physical obstacle. There are portions of the first Silent Hill game that may have been influenced by Hitchcock films as well, implying that the creators may in fact have been fans of Hitchcock's work.
• The name of the main character, Townshend, is also a name of the New England town prominently mentioned in the story The Whisperer in the Darkness by H. P. Lovecraft. Townshend is located in Vermont, that is, not very far from Ashfield.
• Henry's relationship with Cynthia has much in common with James' relationship with Maria in Silent Hill 2. In both cases, the troubled and somewhat passive male hero encounters an extremely assertive, seductive young woman who promises him sexual favors if he will save her from the monsters. In both cases, the men are clearly interested, but are intimidated and somewhat baffled by this display of predatory sexuality in the middle of such a terrifying environment. In both games, the man and woman are repeatedly separated, and the woman is ultimately killed only to make a surprising return later. (Cynthia returns as a ghost, but Maria returns, seemingly, as herself.) Finally, both women eventually appear as floating, spectral monsters, with deadly tendrils that lash out at the hero (although in Maria's case, this is only in certain game endings.)
• The name of the character Jasper Gein is a probably a reference to infamous serial killer Ed Gein. An "Eric Gein" is mentioned in the radio quiz show James is subjected to in the hospital in Silent Hill 2, and it possible that Eric Gein is related to Jasper.
• If the player continues to look out Henry's windows, various strange things are seen. For instance, at random intervals, a head falls past the window at a very fast speed.
• Silent Hill 4 is (apparently) the first game of the series without a possible "joke" ending. The joke endings of previous games featured UFOs, and this is fleetingly mentioned in Silent Hill 4, when Henry talks about rumors of a UFO passing by the Silent Hill lighthouse.
• After an increased use of rock music (including the first use of vocals for the series) in Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4 uses much less music than previous entries in the series, with the most notable tune being the theme.
• Silent Hill 4 is arguably the first game in the series since the original in which the monsters are based not on the hero's own fears, guilts, etc., but on another character's. The creatures of the original Silent Hill were based on Alessa's imagination (rather than Harry's), and here the monsters seem to be created by Walter's Sullivan's mind.
• The game's story closely resembles that of the 2000 film The Cell. In the movie, Jennifer Lopez enters an alternate world created by the villain's mind. She encounters creatures and traps inspired by the killer's real life murders. She also meets a young boy who is actually the younger, innocent version of the killer.
• There are also some elements borrowed from the 2001 thriller Thir13en Ghosts, where a man collects a certain amount of ghosts to activate the Gates of Hell, with a gigantic razor machine used for the final sacrifice.
• Some elements seem to have been inspired by Japanese horror films such as Ringu. Notably when Cynthia returns as a ghost with long black hair that covers her face.

Endings

• Escape. After Walter falls to the floor he lifts his arm up, calling out "Mom" before he goes motionless. The room starts to shake. Eileen, still alive and no longer possessed, slumps to the ground. We see Henry call her name and reach out to her, then the screen fades to Young Walter knocking on Room 302's door in Walter's apartment world, calling out to his Mother to "let him in". He then falls to his knees and to the floor, fading away. After he disappears, the door leading to Henry’s apartment opens. Next Henry is walking away from the Ashfield apartment buildings. He looks back and then continues on, saying Eileen's name. One day after Henry is at the normal world hospital in Eileen's room, and he has brought her flowers. Eileen says to him, "Guess I'll have to find a new place to live, huh?" This ending is considered the "best". To obtain it the player must keep Eileen from getting hurt and clear Henry's apartment of hauntings.

• Mother. This scene is the exact same as the Escape except when Henry visits Eileen in the hospital, she tells him "Well, I guess I can go back to South Ashfield Heights now." We then see Henry's apartment as it was at the beginning of the game, covered in blood and rust, implying that the spirits still haunt Room 302. To obtain this ending the player must keep Eileen from getting hurt, but not clear Henry's apartment of hauntings.

• Eileen's Death. After Walter falls to the floor he lifts his arm up, calling out "Mom" before he goes motionless. The room starts to shake. The screen fades to Young Walter knocking on Room 302's door in Walter's apartment world, calling out to his Mother to "let him in". He then falls to his knees and to the floor, fading away. After he disappears, the door leading to Henry's apartment opens. We see Henry sitting up in his bed once more, then a shot of him in first person point of view in the living room. The radio is on and the announcer speaks, "And now, the news: Yesterday in Ashfield in the woods near Silent Hill the bodies of five men and women were discovered. The police reported that that all the murders appeared to be the work of the same perpetrator. They are continuing their investigation. Four of the victims were found dead at the scene, and the fifth victim, a Miss Eileen Galvin, was transported to St. Jerome's Hospital, where she died a short time later. Police say that Miss Galvin's injuries matched exactly those of the other victims." When the announcement finishes Henry falls to the floor by his chair, moaning "Eileen ..." in sorrow. To obtain this ending the player does not have to keep Eileen from harm, but they do have to clear Henry's apartment of hauntings.

• 21 Sacraments. After Walter falls to the floor he lifts his arm up, calling out "Mom" before he goes motionless. Henry stares down at him, and then suddenly falls to his knees, holding his head in pain. He then stands up, as if possessed. We see Young Walter in the apartment as it was at the beginning of the game with blood and rust. He cuddles up to the couch saying, "I’m home, I won't let anyone get in the way... I'm gonna stay with you forever..." The radio turns on and the announcer has this to say, "And now, the news... Yesterday, in Ashfield and the woods near Silent Hill the bodies of five apparent murder victims and a sixth severely wounded female victim were discovered. The woman was immediately rushed to St. Jerome's Hospital, but died a short time later of her injuries. She has been identified as a Miss Eileen Galvin of Ashfield. The last body discovered was found in Room 302 of the South Ashfield Heights apartment. It is believed to be that of its occupant, Henry Townshend ... The body was reportedly disfigured beyond recognition, making identification impossible. Once again, we've got late breaking news... Five unnamed police officers have been found dead, for reasons unknown, in the South Ashfield Heights apartments, along with its superintendent, Mr. Frank Sunderland. All the other residents of South Ashfield Heights have been rushed to St. Jerome's Hospital, many complaining of severe chest pains. These strange incidents are similar to the ones which occurred in Silent Hill some years ago. More news to follow." This ending is considered the "worst". To obtain it the player does not have to keep Eileen from harm, nor do they have to clear Henry's apartment of hauntings.

Music

Main article: Silent Hill 4: The Room - Original Soundtracks

The original 2-disc soundtrack for Silent Hill 4: The Room, composed by Akira Yamaoka, was released in Japan on June 17, 2004 and its catalogue number is LC1292-3.

External links

• Official Silent Hill 4 site (Konami Europe)
• Silent Hill series (Konami Japan)
• Gamespot
• Silent Hill 4: The Room at MusicBrainz
• Silent Hill 4: The Room at MobyGames
• Translated Memories