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[Ghosts Of Gaming Past] A Review Of ‘Silent Hill: Homecoming’
Welcome to Ghosts of Gaming Past — here we’ll be reviewing older horror games, classics and non-classics we missed when they were originally released. Have a game you’d like reviewed? Send us an email.
Written by Ryan Peters, @Thrashmarshall
The last decade hasn’t been kind to Silent Hill. The series once shared the spotlight with Resident Evil as the pinnacle of survival horror, praised for being a disturbing approach to the horror genre that produced some of the most memorable gaming experiences of the last generation. Like Resident Evil however, Konami’s longstanding survival horror franchise has seen a steady decline in both quality and audience interest, with purists saying the series has lost its way and newcomers put off by the poor quality of the last few entries. It’s a sad thing to think that the best Silent Hill has had to offer over the last few years has been two lackluster movie adaptations.
This descent into mediocrity didn’t happen overnight however, for many it began with the release of 2008’s Silent Hill: Homecoming, a game that tried to push the series onto a new generation of consoles with a batch of fresh, but ultimately bad ideas. Die-hard fans of the series approached the announcement of an American developer handling a Silent Hill with much trepidation, which in the end was justified.
Silent Hill: Homecoming tells the story of Alex Shepherd, a soldier supposedly injured in combat overseas, returning home (get it) to find his hometown filled with demonic creatures and his younger brother missing. The plot is typical Silent Hill and after the interesting opening that feels like it’s lifted straight from Jacobs’ Ladder it quickly unravels into a boring mess. There is an attempt at story telling present in Silent Hill: Homecoming; an ancient cult with dark secret, sudden jumps into the twisted and nightmarish world of Silent Hill. The problem is that the characters are so badly written and the plot itself is so trite that it becomes almost impossible for players to care about what’s going on.
It seems that great lengths were taken to try and make the plot as “Silent Hill” as possible, trying to link the narrative in with the existing fiction and gives players a disturbing and thought provoking experience. In reality however the plot of the game feels like its’ trying so hard to be a Silent Hill game that it fails to do exactly that, due mainly to the poor writing that makes it almost impossible to actually care about anything that’s going on.
Plot and atmosphere are essential for a survival horror game and both are severely lacking in Homecoming. If the game itself was fun to play then these missing elements could be forgiven to some extent, unfortunately Homecoming has some serious technical and gameplay issues that make it almost a chore to play through the eleven hour story-line.
As soon as game starts up its multitude of technical hang ups become apparent. In the jump to next-gen, developer Double Helix seemed to stumble over the new hardware, Homecoming was lacking in the visuals department back when it was released and it looks even worse five years on. Combine this with the multitude of technical and design issues the game has and it all makes for a pretty rough package.
Silent Hill has never had the most colourful visuals but Homecoming really looks like a mess of dull browns and greys for most of the game. When Double Helix drags players into the ‘Nightmare’ sequences things do improve in the visual department (including a peeling wall transition ripped straight from the movie adaptation) but none of the rusted and dank environments are particularly scary, nor do they show much creativity. To be fair the fog mechanic is spot on however it shrouds a dull town filled with bland characters and environments that are plagued with frame rates so poor at times the game almost comes to a standstill.
The gameplay was hit pretty hard in the jump to current gen consoles as well. The jump to a behind the player camera angle means that the game plays out like a low rent third person shooter instead of a fully-fledged survival horror, this feels especially true when using the games’ solid but uninspired aiming mechanic that feels out of place from the rest of the game. Alex and his role as a soldier allowed Double Helix to focus on fixing the infamously poor combat mechanics of the series, however by choosing to implement a combo and dodge system the tension and threat that comes with fighting the hell spawn that plague the town is totally killed. It all feels like a bad Halloween inspired Punch Out and it is really one of the lowest points of the game, one that has to be repeated over and over until the credits finally roll.
For all its poor design choices, awful plot and technical problems Silent Hill: Homecoming does have some redeeming features that may be enough to make it enjoyable for some gamers. When Homecoming stops trying to revolutionize the franchise and simply tries to be a Silent Hill game it’s a solid enough experience to recommend to those wanting to explore the history of the franchise. There’s pleasure to be had in exploring a foggy town with nothing but the torch on your jacket and the pipe in your hand, the familiar item pick up noise is enough to make fans of the series smile and some of the monster designs are pretty impressive.
The Final Word: Silent Hill: Homecoming should be commended simply for being a survival horror game during a console generation that has all but given up on the genre. As a game, it’s lacking in so many areas that it’s difficult to recommend it for those that haven’t played it already, particularly those unfamiliar with the Silent Hill series. There are enough great horror games out there to spend your money on to ensure Silent Hill Homecoming should be low down on the list. Those that do pick the game up however will find it to be a serviceable but poorly conceived experience that tries it’s best to modernize this franchise.
Silent Hill: Homecoming is available on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (reviewed).
We are now one full month into Spring 2024, which kicked off on Tuesday, March 19 and comes to an end with the start of Summer on Thursday, June 20. This year’s summer movie season has a whole bunch of exciting horror highlights, including A Quiet Place: Day One, MaXXXine, and Alien: Romulus, but let’s hold that particular thought until June rolls around.
We’re here today to talk about Spring 2024 and the many horrors we still have left before the weather gets warmer and we find ourselves in the heat of one hell of a spooky summer.
Here are 12 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Spring 2024!
STING – April 12
Two words: SPIDER HORROR. Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood) hopes to induce eight-legged terror with his brand new horror movie Sting, only in theaters April 12.
Of particular note, Sting features practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, with the spider in this one inspired by H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph!
In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider. The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.
“But as Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable.”
BLACKOUT – APRIL 12
Indie darling Larry Fessenden is back with new horror movie Blackout this Spring, Fessenden’s third movie – following Habit and Depraved – to put his own spin on classic monsters.
While Habit was centered on vampires and Depraved was a fresh take on Frankenstein’s Monster, Larry Fessenden’s Blackout is the filmmaker’s contribution to werewolf cinema.
The film follows Charley, an artist whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might be a werewolf. He distances himself from those he loves and sinks deeper into solitude, his flashes of memory of his nighttime grisly acts manifested through his artwork.
ARCADIAN – APRIL 12
If Nicolas Cage is covered in blood, you better believe we’re going to be watching. Cage gets his own A Quiet Place with Arcadian, a new creature feature coming to theaters April 12.
In Arcadian, which also comes to Shudder later this year, “After a catastrophic event depopulates the world, a father (Nicolas Cage) and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge at night.”
Jaeden Martell (IT 2017) also stars in the post apocalyptic monster movie.
ABIGAIL – APRIL 19
If you’re bummed about Melissa Barrera being fired from the Scream franchise, you’ll definitely want to get out to your local theater this month to support Abigail, the new VAMPIRE BALLERINA horror movie from Scream and Scream VI directors Radio Silence.
Barrera stars alongside fellow horror favorite Kathryn Newton (Freaky) in Abigail, which is actually the latest horror movie in Universal’s relaunched Universal Monsters Universe.
In the film, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL – APRIL 19
One of the most talked about horror movies of Spring 2024 has been the Halloween 1977-set Late Night With the Devil, which has been playing in theaters since its premiere on March 22.
Late Night with the Devil will begin streaming at home on April 19, 2024, less than one month after arriving in theaters. Shudder will be the exclusive streaming home of the movie.
David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in Late Night with the Devil, set on Halloween 1977.
In the found footage-style film that captures a period aesthetic, “A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.”
INFESTED – APRIL 26
Spring 2024 is all about SPIDERS – sorry, arachnophobes! – with the previously mentioned Sting being followed by the French creature feature Infested (Vermines) later this month.
What’s particularly exciting about Infested is that its director, Sébastien Vaniček, has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, so this will be our first taste of what Vaniček is capable of within the genre. And the buzz for this one is strong.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, for starters, Bloody Disgusting’s own critic Trace Thurman raved that Infested is “one of the best spider attack movies in years.”
In the upcoming horror film, “Fascinated by exotic animals, Kaleb finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap.”
HUMANE – APRIL 26
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with IFC Films’ Humane, coming to theaters this month.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to reduce the earth’s population.”
The wild premise? 20% of the world’s population must VOLUNTEER TO DIE!
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
I SAW THE TV GLOW – MAY 3
Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters this May.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for BD, “I Saw the TV Glow offers a layered and authentic portrait of identity, wrapped in ’90s nostalgia and surreal imagery that embeds itself deep into your psyche.” Meagan continues, “Schoenbrun delivers a singular vision of arthouse horror that entrances for its fevered dream style and insanely cool imagery.”
In A24’s latest, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”
TAROT – MAY 3
Originally titled Horrorscope, a much better title if you’re asking me, Screen Gems returns to the big screen with studio horror movie Tarot this Spring, a Tarot-card themed spookshow.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards in the upcoming Screen Gems horror movie Tarot. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
The hook for this one? Artist Trevor Henderson designed the film’s eight monsters!
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 – MAY 17
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion classic The Strangers spawns a brand new reboot trilogy this year, with first film The Strangers: Chapter 1 kicking things off in theaters on May 17.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is expected to follow in Fall 2024.
Madelaine Petsch is the lead of the new reboot trilogy, playing a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
IN A VIOLENT NATURE – MAY 31
Slasher fans who have been hungry for a new Friday the 13th movie won’t want to miss In a Violent Nature, which plays out like a Friday movie… entirely from Jason’s perspective!
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31.
In the film, “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.”
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but the approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”
THE WATCHERS – JUNE 14
M. Night Shyamalan returns with the new thriller Trap this coming August, but the road to that film’s release will be paved by the feature debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Ishana Night directed The Watchers, in theaters from WB/New Line on June 14.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Which Spring 2024 horror movies are YOU most looking forward to?
Spring 2024 Horror Preview: 12 Horror Movies You Don’t Want to Miss
4 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Late Night with the Devil’ at Home
‘Under Paris’ – A Monster Stalks Paris in What Might Be the Next Great Shark Attack Movie [Trailer]
Blumhouse and Lionsgate Join Forces for Brand New ‘The Blair Witch Project’ Movie!
The ‘Scary Movie’ Spoof Franchise Is Getting a Reboot at Paramount!
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