Silent Hill 3: Unexpected deaths

Silent Hill 3 is one of the creepiest games ever made. The major creepy factor is made by the marvelous creatures design and the dense atmosphere full of tension and oppressive mystery. Sometime this feeling is broken by peaks of unexpectedness when Heather will die in an instant without having an idea of what is happening. More than any other game of the series, Silent Hill 3 is enriched in these creepy moments.

• The ghost in the train station: this creature is a complete mystery and it looks totally detached by the surreal atmosphere of the game. It is the ghost of a man that was killed by the train. Homicide or suicide this is not clear. To trigger the event that will bring to the possible death of the Heather, the player must read a newspaper and a letter. After that moment, while walking along the metro, the invisible man will appear throwing the player in the rails. Since that moment, few seconds will separate Cheryl from the death by an incoming train.

• Roller-coaster of the death: walking on the roller-coaster in the real amusement park will bring to a deadly crash with the incoming wagon.

• The creature of the sewer: passing close to the monster in the sewer while it is still alive will cause an obvious death. Heather will be dragged underwater by a tentacle.

• Watch your steps when you are in a train: opening the door at the end of the train will cause Heather to comically fall to her death.

 

• The red mist: this mysterious entity inside the amusement park will haunt Heather tirelessly. Few second of contact will cause Heather’s death.

 

• The curse of the mirror: my favorite. If you spend too much time in the room with the mirror in the Hospital, something creepy will happen. Blood and veins will start to spread in the room, covering everything. You can try to escape but there is nothing to do. Soon or later this sort of organic fungus will cover entirely Heather killing her.

• Claudia an the birth of God: attacking Claudia or taking too much time instead before eating the Aglaophotis at the end of the game will cause God to birth and the horrible death of Heather.

 

• The ceiling Trap (only hard mode): this will unexpectedly happens only in Hard mode, so it is even more unexpected. Do you remember the fake trap full of spikes that falls on you inside the Haunted House of the amusement park? Well now instead of stop, it will kill you if you don’t crouch. Very unexpected.

Don Kenn and his dark fairytale world on post-its

I recently discover the amazing art of John Kenn Mortensen (also known as Don Kenn), but I am totally a fan of his works. In his free time, he started to draw creepy and unique creatures that look jumped out from a dark fairy-tale on normal yellow post-its.

The effect of drawing on a simple post-it you can judge by yourself.

It is incredible how with only these small draws, he was able to tell different histories of a unique world. All his creatures belongs to the same world, a universe of shy but creepy creatures living very close to the blind human eyes. It is a complex and fascinating mythology made of black and yellow colors.

A deep bichromatic world.

It is amazing the number of creatures he creates… hundred of creepy and fairytale monsters. Some of them are giants and in contact with nature.

Is that a mountain?

The islands are not what they look like

Another kind of creatures is more creepy and sneaky. They come to visit the humans in their homes, when they are weak and vulnerable.

This is what can hide where you are not watching.

Something you will never want to see in the room of a child

The amazing property of these creatures is that they are similar enough to be part of the same mysterious universe, but so completely fitting in a specific draw to never look just  a “more of the same”.

Don Kenn works are not only simple monsters. There is a deep feeling of loneliness coming from these little masterpiece of creepy art. All the characters are alone facing these sneaky creatures. But there is no scare in their eyes, just surprise. The curiosity to meet these mysterious creatures is stronger than the fear.

To conclude I will just show one of Don Kenn draw with more details. Just enjoy it. If you want to see more of his creepy creatures, this is his official blog:

http://johnkenn.blogspot.com.es/

Monster of the Week: the Stranger

Origin: Cry of Fear

Appearance: The Strangers are tall and well dressed men. Till here nothing strange… well except that they have a giant book as a face. If the dress is very well maintained, the hands are ruined and rotten. These creatures walk very slow toward the player. They make a clear sound, an heavy breath, discontinue and creepy. Sometime this sound looks like an animal, more than an human. They don’t attack directly the player. They just walk toward him. The closer they are, the more the damage the player receives. From their body, the Strangers irradiate a sort of evil aura. They are tough and need a serious amount of damage to be killed.

Symbolism: The Strangers are a very rare enemy and usually they appear alone in narrow corridors. The symbolism here is easy, since their face is a giant book. Probably Simon, the main character, spent a lot of time stacked in an hospital bed. If you ever been there you will know that the books are the main diversion to save you from the boredom. But why a representation of a book will hurt the player instead to help him? Sometime an hobby can become a nightmare, especially if you are forced to do that because you don’t have other alternatives. This is the point when the books become a sort of enemy. Simon would like to do something else, like going outside of the hospital and having a life. But he is imprisoned in an bed. He cannot do nothing, except read a book. This heavy and contradictory feeling is symbolized by the behavior of the Strangers. The player wants to run from them, avoiding their aura of damage. But the Strangers can block your way in little corridors with their presence. You can run from them, but they will continue to follow you slowly. Sometimes the Strangers will not hurt you. They will just stay there in front of you, with their pages open. A bug in the code of the game or a symbolic moment to enjoy an old hobby?