Why do I find the Labyrinth so unsettling?

James got a letter. From a dead person. Oh dear.

Moderator: Moderators

valiturus

Post by valiturus »

Heh, you're not the only one. I find it terribly unsettling and dread every time I have to go down there. I try to avoid it at all costs, but sometimes if I'm feeling daring, I'll go down. The reason why I find it so freaky is the fact that you know Pyramid Head is down there, but you never know when he will show up. To make matters worse, the radio doesn't emit any static when you do meet up with him.
Empty_Eyes

Post by Empty_Eyes »

*Deep Sigh*.... I love this game... this series... So amazingly beautiful in all that it does. I used to be an atheist... now I'm a Silenthilleist. (Joking). There was a hole here and now it's gone... Jumping down holes, that plays a big part. How do you manage that in your head? Did anyone else find themselves avoiding going into those holes, their first time through the game? How do you get back... to something safe, familiar? Your leaving all that you know potentially (and realistically as you find out) forever (or until you play through again, or load up an old save.) As well as the other stuff alreadly said about the absolute blandness. I've always told people Hell for me would be a white room with no windows and no way of going "crazy" to cope with it. This section comes very close.
delusion
My Bestsellers Clerk
Posts: 374
Joined: 08 Apr 2008

Post by delusion »

The labyrinth was scariest place in the game. Also the prison, but in labyrinth where there was water all over the place and you hear fast footsteps from the lying figures and when you hear slow trudging noises you actually see PH slowly coming into you and the space is so narrow. Very creepy.
User avatar
dominik9
Just Passing Through
Posts: 61
Joined: 22 Jan 2009

Post by dominik9 »

well with the walls made of dirt , being 6 feet under the ground and not able 2 find the exit is pretty creepy
User avatar
Cold_Ethyl
Just Passing Through
Posts: 29
Joined: 03 Oct 2006
Location: Liverpool

Post by Cold_Ethyl »

Anyone else notice the black skid marks on the floors? Like when you scrape your sole on polished floor and you get a black rubber burn? Always reminds me of a body maybe being dragged through there, feet scraping the floors
Nice 'N' sleazy does it every time!
User avatar
MatchCat
Just Passing Through
Posts: 86
Joined: 29 Jan 2009

Post by MatchCat »

What I find the most fascinating about the Labyrinth is that it couldn't even exist. I like how you go deeper than deep just to get there and you end up like not to far away from where you started. It makes me wonder what part of that whole Historical Society to Labyrinth was real and what wasn't. I really enjoyed the Labyrith for it's unsettling atmosphere. Some of the major advances in the plot happend there. As well as scenes that still make me think today(i.e. Angela and Maria scenes). I recently replayed SH2 again and I still am afraid of getting lost in that place.
[img]http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff343/Wafflepudding/machinegunmovsma.gif[/img]
User avatar
SH3girl32
Gravedigger
Posts: 474
Joined: 04 May 2006
Location: MA

Post by SH3girl32 »

Well, I get scared cuz I know that you know who is down there waiting for you. The music bothers me too. Makes me uncomfortable.
Judgement1223

Post by Judgement1223 »

The labyrinth isn't really a maze, just like going through nowhere in a dark haze, getting lost for hours or getting lost for days,

no map to rely on just a series of twists and turns, things you've never seen disturbing things....your stomach churns,

locked up in your own mind's prison with hope but without a key,
peace of mind is what you seek the truth shall set you free :twisted:
User avatar
syntheticlung
My Bestsellers Clerk
Posts: 419
Joined: 31 May 2008
Location: New Zealand

Post by syntheticlung »

I love the labyrinth, it's a really well thought out portrayal of limbo to me. It kind of reminds me of the dark lodge off of Twin Peaks, a place that doesn't physically exist outside of the imagination and it unfolds as the character traverses it's "rooms". I think both Silent Hill 2's and Twin Peak's versions of limbo create a feeling that nothing exists beyond the walls that you see, kind of like it is suspended in a vacuum.
Oddish
Rosewater Park Attendant
Posts: 1299
Joined: 12 Jan 2008

Post by Oddish »

I just wonder if you could smuggle a suitcase nuke into it and set it off, would you actaully destroy anything in the real world? Also, would you kill Pyramid Head?
Arcturus
Just Passing Through
Posts: 54
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Location: Canada

Post by Arcturus »

Ah yes, the Labyrinth. I remember the first time I entered this disturbing area, I really wasn't expecting it. After having James transverse the prison, and jump through all those holes, and that never ending descent, I was expecting to end up in some kind of chasm. The Labyrinth made no sense at all, the design of the place was totally obscure. I mean Silent Hill was strange enough, but things really got a whole lot stranger to me. And it didn't help having all those monsters lurking in the corridors. My first time through I got lost but I kept at it, the battle with Angela's 'father' and running into Maria (Who should have been dead!) really added to the strangeness of this place. Personally, I found it to be memorable because of it's strangeness.
AgentX7k
Hope House Careworker
Posts: 731
Joined: 28 Feb 2006
Location: Australia

Post by AgentX7k »

Yeah it is scary, like NoWhere you don't know where you are exactly, it's far less grounded in anything resembling reality.
"The Body Is Cold?"
User avatar
MooseFlanagan
Just Passing Through
Posts: 63
Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Location: Liverpool

Post by MooseFlanagan »

To be honest, although the Labyrinth was incredibly unsettling, I actually found Lakeview Hotel to be creepier. As you go through SH2, things gradually slide away from reality, starting with the relatively normal apartments, moving into the hospital, then into the otherworld, and then, as a climax to the insanity, you have the Labyrinth. After that, the sudden switch back into what was (aside from the odd Mannequin and Doorman) an entirely normal area was really disconcerting, IMO, moreso than anything else you see in the game.
"So what if the world hands me a pile of shit? I'll comb through it for the corn. I'll dodge enemy bullets by a hair's breadth. I'll slaughter Mimics with a single blow. If Rita Vrataski is a goddess on the battlefield, I'll watch and learn until I can match her kill for kill. I have all the time in the world. Nothing better to do. Who knows? Maybe something will change. Or maybe I'll find a way to take this fucking world and piss in its eye. Only time will tell."
Oddish
Rosewater Park Attendant
Posts: 1299
Joined: 12 Jan 2008

Post by Oddish »

That's why most of us found the labyrinth so disconcerting. We descend through a tunnel to an abandoned museum of sorts, and then into a long-abandoned prison, and then to a morgue, and then to what looks like a mineshaft, complete with elevator, that takes us so far down that we feel like we should be treading magma. And where do we end up? Someplace that looks like the hallways at our school. I mean, one of those doors could be leading to Mrs. Desmond's English class, and another into the little boys' room.
PeachySakura24
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 2571
Joined: 26 Dec 2004
Gender: Female
Location: Insomnia land, where I am Queen!
Contact:

Post by PeachySakura24 »

^And after jumping through all those holes, you end up being on the normal surface when you leave, which is very unsettling. I wasn't too fond of jumping through the grave at first. That was the most unsettling for me.
User avatar
SHACKled89451
Gravedigger
Posts: 586
Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Location: Lake Tahoe, U.S.A.
Contact:

Post by SHACKled89451 »

And after jumping through all those holes, you end up being on the normal surface when you leave, which is very unsettling. I wasn't too fond of jumping through the grave at first.

I always thought that part was so clever, a perfect twist to complete your seemingly imaginary journey to the depths of hell. This part of the game creates a sense of despair and isolation that I've never experienced from a game, or even movie. huh.. a video game that can do that is pretty impressive.
revalations 23:16
User avatar
syntheticlung
My Bestsellers Clerk
Posts: 419
Joined: 31 May 2008
Location: New Zealand

Post by syntheticlung »

SHACKled89451 wrote:This part of the game creates a sense of despair and isolation that I've never experienced from a game, or even movie. huh.. a video game that can do that is pretty impressive.
Exactly, by this point in the game your so immersed and then you have to throw yourself down a handful of holes and by the time you reach the bottom it has successfully created a feeling of hopeless isolation. Genius, if only people who had creative control over other games and movies thought this way.
User avatar
SHACKled89451
Gravedigger
Posts: 586
Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Location: Lake Tahoe, U.S.A.
Contact:

Post by SHACKled89451 »

Genius, if only people who had creative control over other games and movies thought this way.
Very true... One movie that came very close to creating that feeling for me was "Book of Shadows..." Man, that movie is downright creepy...

The labyrinth will remain my favorite part of any game... so lonley and disturbing...
revalations 23:16
Oddish
Rosewater Park Attendant
Posts: 1299
Joined: 12 Jan 2008

Post by Oddish »

The hospital sequence in "Jacob's Ladder" was also extremely disturbing. I'm told that the Silent Hill Otherworld was in part inspired by it.
[url=http://www.silenthillforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=14918&start=0]See the SH2 Endings that WEREN'T chosen[/url]
PeachySakura24
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 2571
Joined: 26 Dec 2004
Gender: Female
Location: Insomnia land, where I am Queen!
Contact:

Post by PeachySakura24 »

^Oh, yeah. You can see a lot of what inspired Silent Hill if you watch Jacob's Ladder. That is a good movie. One day I made a rental list from the thread of Movies that inspired Silent Hill on here, and I got Jacob's Ladder, The Shining, and Session 9. I loved all of them. I have The Changeling in my Queue. The original, not the new Angelina Jolie one.
Post Reply