Bubble Head Nurses, Silent Hill 2

I really hate the Bubble Head Nurses in Silent Hill 2. They’re slimy-skinned, staggering monsters with bloated heads barely connected to their necks, but, luckily for James, their push-up bras and cleavage remain generously intact. That juxtaposition makes me feel gross—it aims to titillate slightly more than it wants to scare. Like, the Nurses’ skirts are too short, and when you knock one down, they wriggle on the ground with their ass up.

This is some successful monster-ing, though. The Nurses, like all of Silent Hill’s horrors, are meant to reflect the anxieties of their viewer. In 2’s case, that’s James and his unresolved wife trauma and sexual frustration. Unfortunately, I think James’ subconscious projections are supremely gross. Go to therapy.

Some of Richard Prince’s dripping nurse paintings from the early 2000s, masked, posing women covered in blood, make me think of the Bubble Heads. Everyone wants to debilitate the woman holding a syringe. —Ashley Bardhan