Editorials
‘Silent Hills’ Isn’t Dead Yet
Last week, the Internet exploded when rumors surfaced that Kojima would be leaving Konami. Kojima was removed from the company’s list of executives and his branding was erased from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain promotional art as Konami went to work erasing Kojima Productions from existence. It seemed like the relationship between the two had soured, and while we still don’t have the full story, we do know that it’s bad.
A joint statement recently confirmed that Kojima will stay long enough to finish Phantom Pain, but his tenure likely won’t last much longer than that. After three decades together, two hugely influential names in the games industry will be parting ways.
As much as I’d like to memorialize the two, there just isn’t time. We can get to that after they let us know they’ve noticed the elephant in the room. The world wants to know, just what in the hell is going to happen to Silent Hills? This is the series’ last chance at staying relevant. It’s the game that’s keeping one of the genre’s most beloved franchises from finally, quietly, fading into obscurity. If this game dies, Silent Hill will almost certainly die with it.
I don’t know about you, but that terrifies me. So before we get into this, here’s something to put a smile on your face, because the rest of this article might get a little heated.
Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom. At least not yet. Konami still owns the IP, they own the engine that powers it, they have a talented team of developers, and I think we can assume that while it’s still very early in development — it was only ever given a nebulous 2016 release window — some progress has to have been made on it. This is progress that Konami isn’t likely to throw that away easily, especially since it’s one of the few properties they have left that people care about.
If that’s not the most depressing thing you’ve heard today, it might not have sunk in yet. Silent Hill is currently one of Konami’s most promising brands, because aside from Metal Gear and Dance Dance Revolution, they don’t have a whole lot going on right now.
The company is very active in Japan, but not so much anywhere else. Pro Evolution Soccer is forever stuck in FIFA’s shadow, Castlevania isn’t nearly as popular as it once was, and that’s not even taking into account last year’s abysmal Lords of Shadow sequel. They’re relying heavily on the success of MGS V, which I’m sure will do great, because that’s one of the few brands they have left that large numbers of people still get excited about.
It feels strange to say it, but for the first time in years, Silent Hill has our attention. It has the world’s attention. Kojima’s publicity stunt with the P.T. demo was nothing short of genius, and it was also exceedingly effective. Even non-fans had their attention piqued when this happened.
A not-insignificant portion of our anticipation for Silent Hills came from the fact that Kojima would be directing it. That was exciting, but I’d argue his involvement was overshadowed by one of the other names that were — and are still, as far as we know — attached to it: director Guillermo Del Toro.
Kojima has name recognition among gamers, but Del Toro has it everywhere else.
Guillermo Del Toro is hot right now. Most of us fell in love with him around The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth, or if you’re really into movies, Cronos did it for you. For the rest of the world, it took a massively successful vampire-themed TV show and some giant robots battling Kaiju. How long it took isn’t the point, we’re all on the same page now, and that’s what matters.
Silent Hills came to be because of this director. Kojima and Norman Reedus signed on after the fact — the deal is between Del Toro and Konami. I would have liked to see where he took it, but Kojima can be replaced.
I touched on this earlier, but I feel its importance can’t be stressed enough. Silent Hills has a lot of momentum behind it. Its reveal took over the Internet last August, and fan theories, discussions, and trailers like the one below have kept it in the spotlight ever since.
This game has a level of awareness that the franchise has never had before. Even in its prime, Silent Hill didn’t have this much excitement surrounding it. This series will never have as good a chance at being successful than it does now. If Konami wants to bring it back, this will almost certainly be their only chance to make it big again.
Some of this hype can be attributed to our wanting a good Silent Hill game for years now, but a lot of it also has to do with how much the horror genre has grown right now.
Scary is mainstream, and I’m sure Konami would like to take advantage of that.
This whole situation sucks. I’ve been dreading the moment I jump online only to see the headline “Silent Hills Cancelled!” and while that may very well happen, I’m going to try and stay optimistic. Because as bad as it might look right now, I think there’s as good a chance at our seeing this game release as we might see it get lost in dreaded development limbo, alongside so many other promising horror games.
Konami has handled this with absolutely no grace. This is a communications breakdown and they should be ashamed of how poorly they’ve been treating their fans. The only way they can make this up to us is by bringing us an unforgettable horror game, and they can start by opening their damn mouths already. If Konami hopes to survive this transition, they’ll need to do better than this.
It’s worth mentioning that while I have reached out to Konami for a comment, as my finger hovers over the ‘Publish’ button, they have yet to respond. I doubt that’ll change, but if it does, I’ll be sure to update accordingly.
I first heard about The Mandela Catalogue through a couple of nephews who were obsessed with the ARG’s sinister mythology. It was only after watching Wendigoon’s in-depth analysis of the series that I realized just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
In fact, I’d already been exposed to the nightmarish visuals of Alex Kister’s YouTube creation for years at that point without even realizing that it was the origin of several viral “cursed images” and spooky memes that had leaked into the wider internet – with this viral element actually being a part of the Catalogue’s overarching narrative.
Flash-forward to 2026 and the unprecedented success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has led to Hollywood betting on horrific internet properties with existing fanbases, which means that Kister’s unique hybrid of both religious and analog horror is finally headed to the big screen with a script written by Kister himself alongside Tyler Clifton.
While this news shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing success of The Mandela Catalogue (both myself and Wendigoon having previously predicted that the series would inevitably make the jump to theaters one day), plenty of horror fans are likely confused as to why so many folks are excited for what appears to be a Hollywood adaptation of a series of creepy .jpeg images under a VHS filter.
With that in mind, today I’d like to invite fellow readers to accompany me as I explore the origins of Alex Kister’s viral hit and attempt to explain exactly why we should all be excited about the Mandela Catalogue adaptation!
From High School Writing Project to Internet Horror Phenomenon
The first seeds of The Mandela Catalogue were sown when Kister was still in high school and developed a writing project subverting religious tropes in a world where biblical history had been altered by demonic forces. A little while later, Kister came across an analog horror contest on Reddit and decided to adapt his ideas into a standalone video where he would edit a religious kids’ cartoon –The Beginner’s Bible: The Nativity, to be specific- into something far creepier. This is how the iconic Overthrone video was born, with this viral short film taking on a life of its own as fans demanded more eerie content from Kister.
Though the video was originally meant to be a one-and-done sort of affair, with Kister actually regretting some of its primitive visuals and considering the editing amateurish and “YouTube-Poop-like” when compared to his current standards, fan reaction and free time during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the (then) seventeen-year-old filmmaker to continue producing content set in this same world. The Mandela Catalogue name was inspired by the Mandela Effect conspiracy theory, as the series would slowly begin to explore the subtle horror of alternate histories.
Inspired by existential dread brought on by extended periods of quarantine as well as a personal crisis of faith, Kister continued to expand his alternate timeline where the rise of Christianity had been prevented by what was presumably the Devil disguised as the Archangel Gabriel. This alternate course of fictional events led to the existence of certain paranormal anomalies that had come to be accepted as “normal” by the 1990s, which is why most of the series’ supernatural horror is presented in such a matter-of-fact manner.
Most of this background information and religious lore is delivered by increasingly cryptic broadcasts and in-universe PSAs, as well as the occasional found footage video, that often have to be decoded by clever viewers. Of course, it’s the consistently disturbing imagery that made the series so popular – much of which was originally created by Kister on a smartphone!
The Alternates: Horror’s Most Unsettling Modern Monsters
The show’s early episodes mostly take place within the fictional Mandela County in Wisconsin and depict life in a world where demonic entities are capable of using media to enter our reality. This process usually involves scaring victims into killing themselves and then repurposing their bodies as horrific doppelgangers referred to as “Alternates”. This terrifying phenomenon has become so common that local police already have specialized procedures in place to deal with the issue, though this usually consists of simply ignoring calls for help so as to avoid spreading so-called “Metaphysical Awareness Disorder” any further.
Over time, Kister would expand this mythology and incorporate different kinds of Alternates into the mix, though the story never stopped deconstructing religious concepts. The series’ second volume exponentially increased both video quality and the overall narrative scope as we began to follow the lives of characters who had already grown up in this dystopian hellscape where the government is forced to prohibit religion, television, and even mirrors in the hopes of mitigating the damage done by the ongoing invasion of otherworldly entities.
The really interesting part comes into play when you realize exactly how the Alternates make use of scary media in order to spread their demonic influence, with the analog horror of it all being a diegetic part of the story and something of a memetic trap orchestrated by the false Gabriel.
I particularly appreciate how some characters begin to suspect that there’s something wrong with their version of reality and that things weren’t meant to play out this way, especially when Mark utters the haunting line “who have I been praying to all this time?” That’s why I think The Mandela Catalogue is an effective piece of religious horror even if you don’t subscribe to the Christian worldview, as the mere idea of a world where evil has already won is a universally terrifying concept in and of itself. Not only that, but the series’ uncanny analog imagery alone is already worth the price of admission, as you’ve likely already noticed by looking at the pictures accompanying this article.
Why The Feature Adaptation Could Be Horror’s Next Big Success
It’s actually been a whole year since Kister first announced that he had been working on a feature-length screenplay for a Mandela Catalogue movie since 2022, with his proposed story following an ensemble of high-school graduates who uncover a supernatural conspiracy after the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student. This premise sounds similar to narrative elements present in the series’ second volume, but I’m pretty sure that Kister is going to go the Kane Parsons route and make the movie more of a spin-off than a re-imagining of its source material.
While notable Hollywood producers like Aaron B. Koontz, Scott Stuber, and Steven Spielberg himself are backing the upcoming project, I feel like there’s no one better to adapt this deeply personal exploration of faith and the dark side of communication than the person who first came up with it. That’s why I can’t wait to see Kister’s work on the big screen, as I have a feeling that this young filmmaker is the next one on the list about to make cinematic history – especially since this is clearly a passion project that has been in the works for years at this point!
That being said, there’s always a chance that the film could end up unleashing a fresh wave of Alternate incursions, but I guess that’s just a risk we’ll have to take.
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