Armless Man

Armless Man

The Armless Man

Other names

None

Debut

Silent Hill

Other appearances

N/A

Health

Medium

Locations

Junkyard

Weapons

None

Attack method(s)

Sprays acid from chest

The Armless Man is a creature that makes an appearance in the film adaptation of Silent Hill. Its design and mannerisms strongly resemble that of the Lying Figure from Silent Hill 2.

Role

The Armless Man is first seen not long after Rose Da Silva and police officer Cybil Bennett first arrive in Silent Hill. Cybil, having lost control of her police bike and crashed into the roadside, is escorting a handcuffed Rose back to Brahms when they encounter a huge drop-off in the road. Forced to turn around, they arrive near an old car-yard, where Cybil's radio and Rose's phone start emitting static noise. They then notice a shadowy figure shuffling in their direction. Calling out to it, the figure emerges onto the road and reveals itself to be a monster. Shrieking, it hurls a toxic projectile at them, melting Cybil's helmet and jacket. Cybil is forced to shoot the creature, which takes several bullets in the chest before falling back, apparently dead. As Cybil looks up towards the car-yard, she manages to make out several more of the same creature heading in their direction, forcing them to flee.

As seen in the DVD extra about the monster, before the scenes with Rose's husband had to be put into the film, Rose and Cybil were going to try to get to Toluca Lake together before Rose went off by herself, and were going to encounter many more monsters on the road, much more like the games. One of the scenes shows the two running, seeing one next to a car, and having to stop to shoot it. However, since the scenes had to be added, the extra scenes with the monster were removed, and the last we see of it is Cybil seeing them in the junkyard.

Appearance

The Armless Man strongly resembles the Lying Figure in Silent Hill 2. In both cases the creature is a distorted, but discernibly human-looking, creature, albeit heavily disfigured. Whereas the arms on the Lying Figure were somewhat apparent beneath its warped skin, however, the Armless Man lacks the appendages completely, hence its namesake. Like the Lying Figure, it staggers on crooked feet, though the Armless Man appears to be much more stiff. The Lying Figure, on the other hand, was extremely flexible, capable of bending over double. The Armless Man was able to spray an acidic toxin from its chest, which was strong enough to melt through a motorcycle helmet and leather jacket.

Production

The Armless Man is played by dancer Michael Cota. Actors auditioning for the role were asked to put their hands behind their back and walk in a distorted, exaggerated way. The costume had a hose in the chest area to spray the acid and a mask and tube running from its mouth and out of the back of the costume so that Michael Cota could breathe. This design is similar the Lying Figure from Silent Hill 2, and itself served as inspiration for the Smog in Silent Hill Homecoming, particularly the mannerisms.

Symbolism

The monster may serve to represent Alessa Gillespie's hospitalization.