Question: When the town first turns into "Dark Silent Hill", you can briefly see some sort of monster behind rose that shoots skyward. What monster is this? Is it Red Pyramid?
Answer: I would like to point out that Michele is very much correct. I submitted this question years and years ago, and it was based on my foggy memory of seeing the film for the first time in theaters. I've since watched the film a number of times on DVD and Blu-Ray, and it definitely is just pieces of the ground floating upwards through the air.
Question: Why exactly does the radio in the movie (and the game) react with static when a monster approaches? I've never been able to figure this out.
Answer: It's either simply the same phenomenon explored in the film "White Noise," or it could be Dark Alessa warning them. She doesn't want the mother to be killed; but she does need to refine the mother's will, for the final conrontation with Christabella, with tests of emotional and physical endurance.
Question: Can somebody out there explain the ending for me? It made no sense. Someone told me they believed the mother and daughter, as well as the cop died in the accident and they were trapped in the town. However I don't buy that as the father and the other police found no bodies in the crash.
Chosen answer: They did not die in the accident. Rather, Alessa's rage and the demon's power caused the town of Silent Hill to fracture into at least three different "dimensions" that we know of (the real world, "fog world" and "other world", plus potentially others). Rose and Sharon are unfortunately stuck inside of one of those alternative realities. The sequel also confirms that they are very much alive.
Question: Why was Pyramid-Head's name changed to "Red Pyramid" for this film adaptation?
Answer: It is a reference to the red pointed hoods the executioners of Silent Hill wore in colonial times. This is also why the helmet is a pyramid in the game. Since he is never officially named in the game, only referred to by the characters as "Pyramid-Head," the filmmakers were free to come up with their own reference for him. "Red Pyramid" sounds more dramatic than "Pyramid-Head" and it ties the creatures' reason for being into the name.
Question: Does Christabella still recognizes the disfigured Alessa in the church scene? If so, why does Christabella looked so shocked and scared?
Chosen answer: Judging by the burned state of Alessa's risen body, it is possible that Christabella realised who it was. It would then make sense that she would be afraid, because it was she who ordered that Alessa be tortured in that awful way. Even if she did not recognise her, the appearance of Alessa's body rising from the floor surrounded by barbed wire is a pretty gruesome image, fear is an understandable reaction.
Question: Why are the roads that are leading in and out of Silent Hill gone? And at the end of the movie, why does the road reappear when Rose drives out of Silent Hill?
Chosen answer: The roads symbolise the gateway into Silent Hill's alternate world which was opened because Sharon/Alessa was called to the town. It reappeared because Alessa has the power to do this.
Question: Before the sequel went into production, the writer of the first film (Roger Avery) was supposed to return to write it, and even worked out a plan to write it from prison after he was jailed for vehicular manslaughter. But he ended up getting dropped. I'm just curious... did he actually ever write a draft for the sequel? And if so, is it available online? The second movie wasn't very good (in fact it pretty much sucked), so I'd be interested to see what he originally had planned before being dropped from the project.
Answer: In an interview Roger Avary said he only started working on a basic outline of the 2nd film which he did not complete. He did not comment on the content of the outline and it is not available online anywhere.
Question: Every time the otherworld comes, a siren blares in the distance. If Alessa wants revenge why would a siren be on the church and why would it go off? Unless Alessa wanted something to warn Rose when danger is near.
Answer: The implication in the film is that the Church blares the siren or has it rigged to blare when the "darkness" is coming. Basically to warn anyone outside to seek shelter. In the original game (on which the movie is very loosely based), the siren is more abstract, and seems to be a sort-of supernatural warning of the impending transition between the "fog" and "dark" worlds. There is no 100% agreed upon reason for the sirens in the games, only fan-theories.
Question: Why is it illegal to enter Silent Hill?
Answer: In the context of the movie, the air around the area is toxic due to the coal-mine fires underground. Therefore, it's a prohibited area. Additionally, there had been illegal activity in the past (like Cybil says, a child-abductor once used the area to store the boy he kidnapped), which is also likely a factor as to why it's completely fenced in.
Question: Anyone have any idea why Rose decided to try and outrun the police officer? It didn't appear Rose did anything illegal, so it seems she could have just waited to see why she was pulled over and then continue on her way.
Answer: It's illegal to enter Silent Hill and Rose knew the officer would try to stop her.
Why is it illegal to enter Silent Hill?
The air is toxic from the coal fires. Too much of a potential for people to get hurt or die by going in for too long.
Question: To my understanding, the creatures only come out when the 'darkness' comes. But in the scene where Rose and Cybil run into the acid-vomiting zombies, there was no 'darkness'. Am I misunderstanding something?
Answer: In the games at least, the monsters are present even when the darkness isn't there - they could be a sign to indicate that the darkness is coming. It's not until the darkness comes that they are bombarded with them, and the most fierce creatures come out (in the case of the film, Pyramid Head - though he appears in the second game where there isn't a 'darkness' per se).
Question: How does the cop end up in the alternate Silent Hill? Alissa doesn't need her, and she shows up after Rose has already explored a little. I wouldn't expect Alissa to leave the opening to The dark Silent Hill open (not how you trap someone). Furthermore when it shifts from them and the spitting monster to the father and police, the police are already there, how did they not end up in the dark hill?
Answer: It's never explained in the film, but in all likelihood, it's feasible that Alessa brought her into the "fog world" in order to help Rose with her goal. Especially as she likely senses that Cybill is protective of children, and thus would want to help find Sharon. Or she simply was pulled in somehow when she was pursuing Rose. It's difficult to say, since the "rules" for how the town works in the film adaptation are not as clear as the rules from the original video-game, and there are plenty of changes.
Answer: All three died in the wreck. This is how they were able to enter the purgatory version of Silent Hill and why Alessa and Rose returned to their own home to find it similarly deserted.
Nobody died in the car-wreck. This is a fan-theory that got out of control and contradicts not only the sequel (where it's blatantly shown they are alive), but this film's internal logic (which operates on the idea of there being multiple realities/dimensions) and the logic of the video-game source material. (Which similarly operates on the idea of there being multiple realities).
Any word on why Alessa and Rose returned to a home that was shrouded in fog just like Silent Hill, and why they and Christopher could not see one another? They left Silent Hill but remained in the alternate dimension? I'm genuinely curious because this is the first I've heard that their deaths were just a fan theory. I know Alessa was in the sequel, but I just chalked that up to the sequel being a really, really bad film.
The implication at the end of the movie seems to be that Sharon and Dark Alessa merged back together into one person, and she is purposely keeping herself and Rose in the fog-world. While the movie itself isn't clear about why, a common interpretation is that Alessa wants to be together with Rose forever, perhaps to have a mother figure. (Which is definitely keeping with the film's themes of motherhood and the repeated mantra about mother being god in the eyes of a child.) The sequel is admittedly really bad and ret-cons this. But neither film indicates that they died.
Answer: I thought it was just big pieces of the ground shooting upward. I didn't see pyramid head there at that time. Just pieces of silent hill shooting upward.
Michele Hedges