History YMMV / SilentHill

* TaintedByThePreview: ''Return to Silent Hill'''s announcement has a lot of fans worried because Creator/ChristopheGans is once again in creative control. The plot of ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' is built like a house of cards and depends very heavily on the symbolism, events, and characterization all working in tandem with each other, while Gans has shown past form for randomly tossing in iconic imagery and making unnecessary changes to the story seemingly just for the hell of it.

* TaintedByThePreview: ''Return to Silent Hill'''s announcement has a lot of fans worried because Creator/ChristopeGans is once again in creative control. The plot of ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' is built like a house of cards and depends very heavily on the symbolism, events, and characterization all working in tandem with each other, while Gans has shown past form for randomly tossing in iconic imagery and making unnecessary changes to the story seemingly just for the hell of it.

** Cheryl ([[NamesTheSame no not that]] [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 one]]), an everyday cheerleader decks herself and her squad in army attire, black war paint and armed with guns so they can save some of their team. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer This is a thing in a piece of Silent Hill supplementary material]].

** Ike Issacs, who's essentially a prisoner of the town and forced to create twisted and surreal paintings and by the end is left for dead by Cheryl ([[NamesTheSame no not that one]]) and her Cheerleader squad. Instead of invoking sympathy, he has gained ire by many who see him as a lazy idiot who willingly chose to stay in the town (while subsequently ignoring any attempts to escape such as a state trooper who hasn’t been attacked that patrols the streets regularly) and when seeing innocent bystanders he does nothing to help them.

** According to director Christophe Gans, the cult's theology was changed from occultist to fundamental Christian in order to be more [[ViewersAreMorons easily understood by Western audiences.]]

* TheScrappy: Among instalments, ''Homecoming'' is this to the fandom.

* UnfortunateImplications: The decision to gender-flip Harry into Rose was explained by the creative team as stemming from the fact that the character's motivations felt very "feminine" to them. Many critics including Dena from ''WebVideo/LeeAndDena'' [[https://youtu.be/KB1vKSA4fgs?t=581 took issue with the change]] as it played into outdated gender roles and implied that a man looking for his missing child was unrealistic. Dena further noted that the executives meddled in the production to increase the importance of Christopher (Sean Bean's character) because they didn't feel that a female lead would sell.

*** Mary, for that matter, seems less a dedicated IllGirl whose trust was betrayed than a tormented DeathSeeker. As her health and beauty decline, she alienates and badgers James, using his obligation to care for her as a knife to drive into him until he relents to put her out of her misery. It's possible he's trying to perceive it that way to assuage his guilt, but it doesn't seem to work at all.

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHell: The first movie only used a few CG effects (noticeably the bugs and the fog). All the monsters were done with live actors, which arguably makes the effect that much creepier.

* HilariousInHindsight: Alice Krige portrays the [[BurnTheWitch fanatical]] Christabella. A few years later, she would play a witch in ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice''.

** While ''far'' from VindicatedByHistory, the first ''Silent Hill' is actually well praised and respected in recent years mainly due to how well and beautiful the special effects are and the small amount of detail certain scenes have, only to be hold down due to changing of the plot.

* UnacceptableTargets: ''Silent Hill 2'' and to a much lesser extent ''Silent Hill 3'' are held up as some of the greatest examples of video game art in existence, and expressing any form of negativity towards them will NOT be tolerated by the fandom.

* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/SilentHill here]].

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Christabella]] is the manipulative [[SinisterMinister leader]] of the fanatical [[ChurchMilitant Brethren]]. An uncaring [[TheFundamentalist religious extremist]], Christabella despised her nine-year-old niece, Alessa, for being born out of wedlock, having her condemned as a witch and using her position to encourage the other students at Midwich Elementary to bully and torment Alessa daily. Citing Alessa's rape at the hands of a school janitor as proof that the girl was "filth", Christabella took Alessa to the Brethren's sacrificial chamber and hung her over a bowl of hot coals, slowly [[BurnTheWitch burning her alive]]; the ritual failed and resulted in part of Silent Hill being destroyed by fire. After Christabella and the Brethren became trapped inside Silent Hill, Christabella continued to use their fear to keep them under her control. Believing Sharon to be the Devil's spawn, Christabella burned Cybil alive and was prepared to do the same with the little girl, forcing her sister Dahlia to watch everything.

* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/SilentHill here]].

* MoralEventHorizon: Christabella crosses it far in the past when she [[WouldHurtAChild trials her child niece Alessa to be burnt to death by the Bretheren]] out of IrrationalHatred. Alessa luckily survives but is [[FateWorseThanDeath left in a severely crippled state]].

** The [[UnpleasableFanbase ''Silent Hill'' fandom]] is notoriously vocal -- particularly concerning sequels that haven't yet been released. Fans complained about the supposed overemphasis on combat in ''Homecoming'' six months before it hit the shelves. ''Shattered Memories'', on the other hand, has no combat at all -- and people still complained about ''that''. There's also a great deal of grief being voiced over the fact that the protagonist has a touch-screen cell phone to represent the menu commands.

* ScapegoatCreator: Until around 2015, an easy way to generate a FlameWar among ''Silent Hill'' [[BrokenBase fans]] was to ask who caused the series' DorkAge: Tomm Hulett, or Creator/{{Konami}}. To one half of the fanbase, Hulett, the man who took over as the director of the series after [[ToughActToFollow the original development team]], Team Silent, disbanded following [[VideoGame/SilentHill4 the fourth game]], was responsible for everything that went wrong with the series from ''VideoGame/SilentHillOrigins'' onward, from questionable creative decisions to changes in gameplay mechanics to the PortingDisaster that was the ''Silent Hill HD Collection''. To the other half, Hulett has been the only person keeping the series alive, and it was Konami that broke up Team Silent and passed the franchise off from studio to studio while destroying everything that made the original games great. The only thing they both agreed upon is that the series went downhill after Team Silent broke up, and that ''someone'' is to blame.\\\
However, the Hulett-bashing has mostly gone dormant and shifted to a focus on Konami ever since the ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' debacle. Now, pretty much ''everybody'' agrees that ''that'' mess was Konami's fault (as well as pretty much all the other messes), especially in the wake of their abandonment of most AAA game development in 2015-16 to focus on mobile gaming and pachinko machines. While Konami's fraught relationship with Creator/HideoKojima, the director of ''Silent Hills'', tends to be portrayed as a one-way street a bit too often (Kojima had gone seriously overbudget on ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain''[='=]s TroubledProduction, putting him very much in Konami's bad graces), Konami's announcement of a ''Silent Hill'' pachinko machine just months after they canceled ''Silent Hills'' read like a deliberate insult towards the franchise and its fans -- especially coming from the prior ''HD Collection'' debacle.

** Pyramid Head is ''exclusively'' a being created from the desire of James Sunderland to be punished for his sins...except he's not. Despite this being the oft-cited reason why Pyramid Head's appearances in the films and other games aren't welcome, even in ''Silent Hill 2'', Pyramid Head was an established icon that had roots in the Order's punishment rituals. Even across the franchise, his motivation as a punisher generally stays consistent, although ''who'' he punishes tends to vary, and ''Film/SilentHillRevelation3D'' goes the extra mile and brands him a protector.

** The very idea that Lauryn got the Necronomicon, a book that could bring the dead back to life and cast unspeakable horror...on ''eBay'' of all places.

* CommonKnowledge: Everyone knows that the series is all about a troubled hero who battles his own personal demons, right? Nope. [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 From the very beginning]] the series has always been about a cult known as "The Order" and the main characters attempts to stop them from bringing their God out into the real world. While there have been [[VideoGame/SilentHillOrigins some]] [[VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming games]] that mix the cult and personal demons plots together, the cult has always played a part in the series. Even the games that seemingly don’t have anything to do with The Order, such as ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' and ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'', make subtle references to the cult itself [[note]] ''Silent Hill 4'' especially makes it clear that the villain of the game, Walter Sullivan, was a part of The Order before becoming a serial killer[[/note]]. If anything only two games have nothing to do with The Order and focus strictly on the personal demons angle, ''[[VideoGame/SilentHillShatteredMemories Shattered Memories]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/SilentHillDownpour Downpour]]''.

** Pyramid Head had a damn good - and at the time [[ItWasHisSled rather brilliantly symbolic]] - reason for playing the role that he did in ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', which is what made him so terrifying and memorable. Turning him into a recurring slasher movie villain who came back many times over - or creating other characters who were [[{{Expy}} obviously similar and filled much the same role]] not only robbed him of his mystique but more-often-than-not [[MotiveDecay ignored the symbolism that made him so disturbing in the first place]].
** The concept of the main character being a TragicHero with a DarkAndTroubledPast has been repeatedly mocked by a good portion of the fanbase, especially in the more controversial games like ''VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming'' and ''VideoGame/SilentHillDownpour'', when they weren’t the first to come up with that. This idea dates back to ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' as James [[spoiler:murdered his wife and the town torments him for trying to subconsciously forget it happened]]. The difference there was that [=SH2=] was the only game at that time that truly focused on that aspect of the character, whereas [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 the first game]], as well as the [[VideoGame/SilentHill3 next 2]] [[VideoGame/SilentHill4 games]] focused more on their capabilities as fighters who are trying to survive the town (or escape their room in Henry’s case) and its many monsters as opposed to battling their inner demons, making James and his struggle unique. When the series was being developed overseas by different American studios they copied the tragic route for all their main characters so many times that it eventually became a an overplayed ClicheStorm.

** The movie itself is this to an extent. If you mention ''Silent Hill'' to most people, they'll think of the movie (or its sequel) instead of the games.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Several of the male antagonists, in some portions of the fandom. Pyramid Head and Walter tend to get the most of it, though. Vincent, Sewell, and Richard have also had it to a lesser extent.

** The ''Silent Hill'' fandom is notoriously vocal -- particularly concerning sequels that haven't yet been released. Fans complained about the supposed overemphasis on combat in ''Homecoming'' six months before it hit the shelves. ''Shattered Memories'', on the other hand, has no combat at all -- and people still complained about ''that''. There's also a great deal of grief being voiced over the fact that the protagonist has a touch-screen cell phone to represent the menu commands.

* CatharsisFactor: For a [[TheFundamentalist Fundamentalist]] scumbag like Christabella, it is massively therapeutic when she receives her CruelAndUnusualDeath from Alessa.

** Ike Issacs, whose essentially a prisoner of the town and forced to create twisted and surreal paintings and by the end is left for dead by Cheryl ([[NamesTheSame no not that one]]) and her Cheerleader squad. Instead of invoking sympathy, he has gained ire by many who see him as a lazy idiot who willingly chose to stay in the town (while subsequently ignoring any attempts to escape such as a state trooper who hasn’t been attacked that patrols the streets regularly) and when seeing innocent bystanders he does nothing to help them.