This review contains spoilers
(Major spoilers for Mulholland Drive & Silent Hill 2)
The parallel between this game and the film Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch) is extremely interesting to me. They were both released in 2001, and they are the exact opposite in their interpretations of the exact same subject; guilt.
In the "Leave" ending of SH2 (the one that most players will get the first time around), after all of the hideous monsters and terrifying locations that James has fought his way through, he is granted an ending of redemption. Alongside Laura, he moves past the guilt he feels and sets himself free from his nightmare version of Silent Hill. In Mulholland Drive, we see the opposite. Diane imagines a magical fantasy world in which she can be with the one she loves guilt free. We then see the dream collapse into itself, and, Diane, not being able to handle the guilt in the real world, takes her life.
The major difference between the two is that in Silent Hill 2 there are several different endings. We only ever see Diane's story end in one way, but James' story has multiple different outcomes. On the whole though, they both deal with guilt over the murder of their loved one, and are unnervingly, at times beautifully, ethereal.
The parallel between this game and the film Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch) is extremely interesting to me. They were both released in 2001, and they are the exact opposite in their interpretations of the exact same subject; guilt.
In the "Leave" ending of SH2 (the one that most players will get the first time around), after all of the hideous monsters and terrifying locations that James has fought his way through, he is granted an ending of redemption. Alongside Laura, he moves past the guilt he feels and sets himself free from his nightmare version of Silent Hill. In Mulholland Drive, we see the opposite. Diane imagines a magical fantasy world in which she can be with the one she loves guilt free. We then see the dream collapse into itself, and, Diane, not being able to handle the guilt in the real world, takes her life.
The major difference between the two is that in Silent Hill 2 there are several different endings. We only ever see Diane's story end in one way, but James' story has multiple different outcomes. On the whole though, they both deal with guilt over the murder of their loved one, and are unnervingly, at times beautifully, ethereal.