Silent Hill Ending Explained: No One Leaves Silent Hill

Based on the successful video game franchise of the same name, "Silent Hill" is psychological nightmare film about a woman named Rose (Radha Mitchell) who travels to the fictional town of Silent Hill, West Virginia, to investigate the past of her adopted daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland), who she believes grew up in the mysterious town that has long since been cut off from the rest of the world after a devastating fire. Rose and Sharon are separated after a car accident, leaving Rose to explore the horrific town on her own to find her daughter, in a reimagined version of the original game which centers on a man looking in the town for his lost daughter.

Rose is joined by a skeptical police officer named Cybil (Laurie Holden) who is convinced Rose is up to no good, but once the duo both experience the unsettling and unexplainable monsters of Silent Hill, Cybil joins Rose on her quest to find Sharon, figure out the truth of Silent Hill, and get the hell out of there before they're killed.

"Silent Hill" the game was visually inspired by the film "Jacob's Ladder," which influenced both the game and subsequent film's trademark terrors. Rose and Cybil's journey through Silent Hill is not easy, with new atrocities awaiting them around every corner and the cult inhabitants of the town also trying to kill them. Cybil unfortunately doesn't make it out alive, but after Rose gets to the bottom of Sharon's story, she packs up her daughter and makes it home alive ... or do they?

The Dual Dimensions Of Silent Hill

The truth Rose discovers is in regard to a small child named Alessa Gillespie who was brutally burned by the cult of Silent Hill for the crime of being born out of wedlock. Her pain and rage made her vulnerable enough to allow the devil to take possession of her in exchange for granting her revenge against the townspeople, fracturing her being into three separate entities: Alessa (an adult woman, burned alive as a child, confined to a hospital gurney), Dark Alessa (the corrupted portion of Alessa) who frequently appears as a narrator to Rose, and Sharon Da Silva (the innocent side of Alessa), Rose's adopted daughter.

With the fracturing of Alessa came the fracturing of the town of Silent Hill into multiple dimensions. When Rose and Sharon drove into the town of Silent Hill, they entered the ashy and depressive looking dimension, transporting out of the dimension they'd been living in. While Rose is on the search for Sharon, the world looks blue, foggy, and bleak. When Rose doesn't return, her husband Chris (Sean Bean) goes looking for her, but as he passes into the city limits without Sharon, the area leading to Silent Hill looks like the normal dimension, albeit rainy, but still full of warm colors. He sees the town as it exists to the rest of the world, while Rose experiences the grotesque dimension ravaged by Alessa's rage.

There's No Escape

Toward the end of the film, the devil enters Rose in order to gain access to the cult's sanctuary and fulfills his promise to avenge Alessa. The cult has found Sharon and Cybil and intends to "cleanse" them both with fire. Cybil unfortunately dies, but before the cult has the chance to burn Sharon, cult leader Christabella stabs Rose and inspires some of the cult members to lose their faith. This moment of vulnerability allows the devil to leave her body and terrorize everyone inside the sanctuary. Barbed wires extend from Alessa's hospital bed, shredding the townspeople in gruesome ways. Rose holds Sharon to her body, telling her not to look at the carnage, but before she closes her eyes, Dark Alessa appears to Sharon and she passes out.

When the revenge plot has been fulfilled, Rose leaves the sanctuary with Sharon, who locates their vehicle and drives home. Unfortunately, when they leave Silent Hill, the world around them is still bleak, blue, and hazy. They are still trapped in the alternate dimension, even as they re-enter their home. Chris can sense and smell Rose and Sharon, but he cannot see, hear, or touch them. It's a bleak ending considering all the duo have endured, but it is fortunately revealed in the film's sequel, "Silent Hill: Revelations," that Rose managed to free Sharon, but remains trapped in the dimension herself.

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