“Find Beauty In Terror” — SILENT HILL f Interview with Frankie Kevich

I'm working my way through Silent Hill f currently, and it's everything I was hoping for from this game. It's a breath of fresh air for the series, with a new setting and visual style, while staying true to what made Silent Hill so scary in the first place. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to the series, it's easy to get sucked into the world and care about its cast of characters. While centered around Hinako Shimizu, she regularly encounters her friends throughout the game, including Rinko Nishida, who has a big part to play in the game's story. I had the opportunity to catch up with Frankie Kevich, who recorded the English voice for Rinko, and we talk about her experience with the Silent Hill franchise, recording for this game, and more:

What was your first introduction to the Silent Hill franchise? Was it a particular game or the movies? Or Silent Hill f?

Frankie Kevich: I had watched a little bit of my brother playing the original Silent Hill 2 game from 2001, but I was pretty young at the time and kind of a scaredy cat, so I didn't get to watch much of it. But I remember he raved about it, so when I booked Silent Hill f, I went and watched quite a bit of gameplay and analysis of previous games in the franchise. The English cast of Silent Hill f actually just finished playing the original Silent Hill 2 together in preparation for the release!

This survival horror game is different from other survival horror games and other Silent Hill games for many reasons, including the timeframe, setting, and story focus. Can you tell me what stood out to you about the world of this game?

Frankie Kevich: I think, like many people, the beauty of the world was something very new and interesting. I remember watching the teaser from a few years ago and seeing all the flowers that were gorgeous and grotesque. It was so different from what I had imagined of a Silent Hill game, but I was so intrigued. But as I started recording and learning more about the themes and the journey that we find Hinako going on, the story is the thing that really is going to stick with me from this game.

What can you tell our readers about your character Rinko and how she comes in contact with the protagonist/player, Hinako?

Frankie Kevich: Rinko is one of Hinako's close friends. We meet her early in the game, among her other friends, Shu and Sakuko, where they share a lighthearted moment. She's quite a prim and proper gal, she's very put together, and there is an interesting tension that we catch onto pretty quickly between Hinako, Shu and Rinko.

For our readers who may not be super familiar with the process of recording vocals for a game, can you tell them a little about your approach to preparing for a role and the recording process?

Frankie Kevich: Of course! Every game is different. For Silent Hill f, we were dubbing Japanese to English, so I got to follow the wonderful lead of Yuuka Iijima. You don't usually get the whole script beforehand, so all of the prep work really needs to be thought through before the recording session, and you need to be flexible and adaptable when you get in to record. For Rinko, I decided to stay rather close to what I did for my audition and callback; she was very high-pitched, but I kept a textured quality to hear. I knew that her dynamic amongst her friends was a bit of a know-it-all, so I tried to emotionally prepare to come in for these scenes with a little bit of a superiority complex. When you're in the booth, you get to watch the pacing and delivery of the Japanese, so you try to match the mouth shapes and flaps while trying to bring the dialogue to life in English. It's a lot of moving parts that you're working out for the very first time when recording, but it was a lot of fun!

Since this is a world that is separate from our own reality, was it fun to be able to play around with how your character interacts with Hinako at different points in the game?

Frankie Kevich: Oh absolutely! A lot of tension comes from the unpredictability of these characters, so it is always fun getting to do something unexpected. Rinko's character, specifically, I feel like you can never really tell when she is being honest or when she is trying to manipulate the other characters. She seems to be very selective about when she chooses to be vulnerable and when she chooses to be eerily calm, so there is a lot of fun getting to play around and see what makes the most unease.

How long was the overall process for recording your role in the game?

Frankie Kevich: The recording process was rather quick for this game. For Rinko, I had 2 sessions with her, but even though we only spent a few days with her, when you're in that dim recording booth, watching all of the twisting, horrifying scenes, it felt so immersive.

Have you had a chance to see or play the game for yourself? What has been your reaction to the mix of beauty and horror in the game? I love the mix of fog and flowers. It's such a wonderful color contrast, while also being completely terrifying as you're fleeing from monsters in this world.

Frankie Kevich: I have watched some gameplay, but I have not gotten a chance to play it yet! I just got the code to start playing, so I am SO excited to dive in! I love the amount of detail they put into Ebisugaoka; it is such a beautiful and quaint town, but that somehow makes it even more eerie as you see nature take over in such violent colors. And I'm so excited to see how the fog plays into the exploration.

Do you traditionally like playing survival horror games? Are you excited to play this for yourself?

Frankie Kevich: I have not played a lot of horror games; they are just so scary, and I like to play late at night! But I have really enjoyed playing horror when I'm doing it with other people, and I know the English cast of Silent Hill f is aiming to stream it together, so I'm really looking forward to braving the fog together! I am also so excited to play through it because there are certain endings that I don't even know about!

Tell us what you can about VelociPastor 2! Or any other project you have coming up.

Frankie Kevich: VelociPastor 2 is a live-action horror-comedy feature film that I have had the honor of being part of! It is a sequel to an absolutely hilarious indie film that they made a few years ago about a pastor finding a dinosaur claw and turning into a velociraptor. It's so silly, but it doesn't take itself too seriously, and the team has brought so much of that fun and ingenuity to a sequel! I play the role of Lena, who will be the classmate of Doug, the velocipastor, and she gets wrapped up in their adventures as they try to uncover the mystery behind a murderer on the loose in Italy. We are hoping for a release sometime in early 2026, but the original movie will be re-releasing physical copies this year!