Silent Hill is one of the most popular franchises in the survival horror genre, and recently, it welcomed the release of Silent Hill f.
Silent Hill f features a couple of firsts for the series, such as being set in the 1960s, and it’s the first game not to take place within the namesake town of Silent Hill. Instead, it’s set in a small town in Japan called Ebisugaoka, centring around the teenage high school student Hinako Shimizu and her friends, Shu Iwai, Sakuko Igarashi, and Rinko Nishida.
However, when it comes to the latter of Hinako’s friends, Rinko Nishida, without giving too much away, “friends” is perhaps not the best term to describe their relationship. Well, I recently had the opportunity to speak about this with the English-speaking actor who brought Rinko to life, Frankie Kevich. Frankie is perhaps best known for being the voice of Conduit in Apex Legends, Arachne in Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, as well as having starred in several children’s animations.
It’s fair to say that Silent Hill f is something a little different for Frankie, and she explained how this opportunity came to be.
“I think I auditioned for it a few months before we began recording,” she told me. “I was shocked but happy that I got this role. I auditioned for a couple of different characters, and when I got the call back, I was told I’d be playing Rinko, the one character that I felt the most out of my comfort zone, and the furthest away from myself.
“I think it was after the audition process, I learned it was a horror game, and I saw its first teaser trailer with all the flowers and that it was going to be set in Japan. It was both beautiful and absolutely horrifying at the same time. It was then that I learned it would be something really different for the Silent Hill franchise.”
Frankie continued, “The Japanese culture embraces nature and horror, and those are some ingredients that make Silent Hill f uniquely spooky. It’s also not set in a wide-open town; it’s more of an enclosed, man-made space, and you feel exposed to its elements. The flowers are haunting but beautiful, but it very much retains that Silent Hill vibe and feels authentic to the series.”
Rinko is a very complex character, and that’s putting it mildly.
As Frankine explained, “Rinko is a close friend of Hinako; she can be described as a bit of a busybody and a stickler. She’s very much an overachiever-type and a by-the-book kinda girl. She’s a bit arrogant and condescending in the way she talks to people. A lot of the friendship dynamic changes with Rinko in the story, but she’s a great foil for her character.”
Having starred in several children’s animations such as Magic Mermaids and Rainbow World, I sensed that Frankie had to tap into a different skill set here to portray Rinko.
“With a children’s animation, you can allow yourself to be a little more campy, over the top and exaggerated. It’s a different kind of fun. So, going from that world into Silent Hill, it was definitely daunting because you’re hopping into such a bigger legacy, and then there’s the task of exploring Hinako’s backstory,” she said.
“Despite being in the video game realm, playing a character like Hinako is also very different to playing Conduit in Apex Legends. Silent Hill f is more cinematic, and you really have to embrace how a character fits into the story and world, then find a way to navigate that. Whereas with Conduit, you have to find different ways of saying the same lines, like hearing her jump from a ship. But that allows you to be extra creative, which is a lot of fun to play with a character like that. Conduit is bright, lively and allows me to be more comedic.”
Having played many different roles throughout her career, Frankie draws from her life experiences to bring the emotion into a performance.
“All my characters want to be strong and to be heard. Each has a unique approach and attitude; there are tactics for how they might be handled. I can use my own experiences from various stages of my life, from school and as an adult. You eventually became adaptable to how you approach a performance. For example, Rinko is not a tomboy nor is she super scrappy; she’s very prim and proper, whereas a character like Conduit is more rough around the edges, but she’s also very playful,” she explained.
Female characters, especially in recent years, have shown signs of evolving for the better; we’re not only seeing more female leads, but there seems to be less of an emphasis on sexualisation. As with male characters, there should always be room for both physical and mental confidence. But there still seems like a long way to go before female characters are on an equal level with their male counterparts.
“It’s massively important, especially in the video game realm, where it can be very male-dominated, that female characters are shown for their strength, whether it’s mental or physical,” Frankie said. “I’m really excited to see more strong women who can not only just kick your butt, but she’s also smart and determined. I really hope to be part of that movement. It’s huge for me.
“Growing up in the 90s and 2000s, a lot has happened over the years, and it hasn’t always been perfect. The Charlie’s Angels reboot (2000) has super feminine and super strong characters that know their worth and don’t get pushed around, even if being sexualised. It’s progress, here and there.
“I have an older brother, and I’ve been a fan of a lot of anime and video games, but it’s often looked at through a male lens, and many shows were never seen as very feminine, but now that wave is changing and I’m seeing more characters like me, and that’s really cool, and it’s really important.”
Reflecting on a whirlwind year or so, Frankie told me what has given her the most pride and joy in life.
“Every professional win is huge for me, and it’s really validating, especially in a career that is feast or famine,” she began. “You get wins for some months and others, it’s dry. Whenever I get to work on really cool new projects and work on characters that I’m connecting with and I love, that is always so fulfilling and brings me a lot of joy, but I was also able to travel outside of the country for the first time in a couple of years with my partner.
“Getting to disconnect for a little bit from our typical world and experience new cultures and new spaces. That’s been a big highlight for me. I think travel fills a part of your soul. You get out of your own head and escape minuscule problems that you are hyper-fixating on, and you get to see new perspectives outside of your bubble. It helps clear the mind of anxiety and can be very joyful.”
