Alice Krige: Queen of ‘Silent Hill’ and Horror’s Most Malleable Monster

Of the many monsters roaming the ashen realm of Silent Hill, one stands head and shoulders above the rest. Christophe Gans’ 2006 adaptation recreates the terrifying spectres found in Konami’s survival horror game, from faceless mutant nurses and cockroaches with strangely humanoid heads to the rotting corpse of a sexual predator bound with rusty barbed wire.

That’s not to mention the muscle-bound brute known as Pyramid Head (Roberto Campanella), who instantaneously strips the skin off of his unlucky victims. But these monsters pale in comparison to an ostensibly demure religious leader claiming to protect her flock. Leader of a fanatical cult called the Brethren, Christabella (Alice Krige) not only rules through oppressive fear, but her self-righteous cruelty is responsible for thirty years of death and destruction.

Once an idyllic mining community, the tiny town of Silent Hill was ravaged by a coal seam fire that left it virtually uninhabitable. Decades later, the abandoned city exists in a liminal space where monsters lurk in the malevolent darkness. When her adopted daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) has a series of frightening dreams, Rose (Radha Mitchell) takes her to the decimated village, hoping to spark Sharon’s memories and contextualize her fear. But Rose finds herself not only separated from the little girl but pulled beyond the borders of reality and trapped in a dangerous hellscape of alternating fog and darkness. Alongside a cop named Cybil (Laurie Holden), she must not only survive the nightmarish creatures of Silent Hill, but also uncover her daughter’s connection to the town and its chaotic evil.

Following a series of ominous clues, Rose discovers that long before the cataclysmic fire, Christabella commanded the Brethren with a deadly variation of historical misogyny. Born out of wedlock, the cult leader proclaimed her niece Alessa (Ferland) a witch, sparking ostracization from both children and adults. When the vilified child was raped by a janitor while hiding from her relentless bullies, Christabella insisted they “purify” her through ritualistic immolation. But Alessa managed to survive this hideous ordeal, and the Brethren’s fire spread to the mines, leading to city-wide destruction. Survivors are now trapped in an alternate reality that periodically falls victim to Dark Alessa’s metaphysical rage. In the thirty years since her horrific mistake, Christabella has convinced her followers that they have survived the apocalypse thanks only to their purity via adherence to her oppressive rule.