Review of the film “Return to Silent Hill”; A big disrespect to the fans

Return to Silent Hill is terrifying…but not the good kind. Christopher Gans, the director of the 2006 film “Silent Hill”, has now returned to the world of one of the best video game franchises after almost 20 years to bring its most acclaimed story to the screen in the worst possible way. “Return to Silent Hill” (Return to Silent Hill) is an adaptation of the second game of the “Silent Hill” game series, which was released last year. But just as Bloober Team managed to turn the masterpiece of the Silent Hill franchise into another forgettable horror game, Guns has proven that he shouldn’t have returned to the world of Silent Hill. In my review of Return to Silent Hill, I discuss Gans’s misguided decisions in his new video game adaptation.

Warning! In the review of “Return to Silent Hill”, there is a risk of revealing the story of the film and the original game

Review of the film “Return to Silent Hill”; An adaptation that should not have been made

Hollywood has proven many times that adapting video games is not an easy task. From Borderlands to its sequel Five Nights at Freddy’s just a few months ago, bad video game movies far outnumber good ones. Maybe that’s why this time to make a movie based on “Silent Hill 2”, they went to the familiar director for the fans of the franchise, namely Christopher Gans. Gans, who directed and wrote the 2006 film, was able to somewhat handle the world-building and story of this Konami horror franchise 20 years ago. Meanwhile, there is also a movie “Silent Hill: Revelations” (Silent Hill: Revelation), which was released as a sequel to the 2006 movie in 2012, when the 3D debate was still hot; But just as Christopher Gans was not willing to return to direct, “Revelations” has nothing to say. However, after the release of the remake of “Silent Hill 2”, Konami realized that the demand for this franchise, especially the second part, was high, so they again approached Gans, who is hot as hell, to attach the next film.

Although the remake of “Silent Hill 2” is not a hit, at least it managed to attract a new group of younger audiences to the original games. But “Return to Silent Hill” won’t only appeal to younger audiences, it will also attract old fans. “Return to Silent Hill”, as the name implies, is more useful for those who have already met the games and now want to return to its world; Because if you are not familiar with the story of the original game, Guns’ script will not help you.

The story begins with James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine); An artist who once had hopes and dreams for himself, but now he has sunk into the abyss of despair. Still suffering from a mental breakdown after his relationship with his girlfriend Mary (Hannah Emily Andersen) ended, James often causes trouble on his late-night outings. His therapist, Em (Nicola Alexis), is a confidant of secrets and a patient stone who wants to help James; But with the arrival of a letter from Mary, James quickly abandons everything and returns to Silent Hill; The city where they met Mary and lived together.

Returning to Silent Hill, James quickly realizes something is not right. The city is completely engulfed in ash and fog, and its only inhabitants are the (not so terrible) monsters that James is running from. Traversing the town and encountering those familiar to the Silent Hill players, James gradually confronts the true nature of his relationship with Mary.

As you probably know, this relationship between James and Mary forms the basis of the narrative of “Silent Hill 2”. The monsters and nightmares we see in Silent Hill are all the result of James’s frustrations and mental breakdown as a result of his relationship with Mary. But this relationship shows itself in “Return to Silent Hill” in flashbacks. Instead of being more precise about the nature of this relationship, Gans also visits the same sect as in the first film and examines their role in the nightmare of Mary and James’s life.

For the rest of the movie, Guns tries to scare you with silly and sudden scares; which, of course, does not succeed in this matter either; Meanwhile, Silent Hill games rely on the atmosphere and world of the story to scare the audience, rather than relying on supernatural fears or double violence. Gans implemented this theme as much as possible in the first film “Silent Hill”. Although he has made only one other film since 2006 (“The Ugly and the Beautiful” in 2014), it seems that in “Return to Silent Hill” he forgot all the subtleties of his work in the first film and made the main story and the role of other key characters more complicated with his arbitrary narrative decisions.

Of course, I don’t think a proper script could have gotten a better performance from Irvine and Anderson. Irvine, who plays James, with a performance that is either extremely dry or caricature, either falls off the canvas or off the canvas. Anderson constantly throws you out of the scene with makeup and strange hats; It’s not like you’re dealing with a psychological horror movie. You can guess what an irresistible couple these two actors make when they get together. Fortunately, Gans finally rids us of the James and Mary of his film and comforts us with James’ suicide. Of course, the original game has 6 different endings, and Konami has not yet explained which ending is correct or Canon; So Gans chose whichever one he liked and included the ending.

Silly fears have replaced psychological terror

If “Silent Hill” (2006) had a good thing, it was relying on mechanical special effects and make-up. In “Return to Silent Hill,” Guns has more ambitious CGI; A decision that made the movie look worse than it is. The acid-spewing computer monsters are juxtaposed with the ever-dreaded nurses and, of course, the pyramid head (who comes and goes for a few moments), resulting in a sloppy image and disjointed visual tone. With a budget of 23 million dollars, “Return to Silent Hill” had a lower budget than the previous film (which had a budget of about 50 million dollars in 2006). Overuse of CGI, especially when the budget is tight, exacerbates a film’s flaws, and that’s exactly what happened with Return to Silent Hill.

Fortunately, the composer of the original games, Akira Yamaoka, is back for this film, bringing his iconic score to Guns, one of the most recognizable and treasured elements of the Silent Hill universe. (They also used Yamaoka’s music for the 2006 movie, in fact, they brought the same soundtrack and the opening and closing parts of the game to the movie). “Return to Silent Hill” reminds you that without a good image and story, music cannot be as effective as games; However, this music is the only element that makes each sequence bearable. Probably the makers of the film have reached the same conclusion, because silence is rare for a story that basically takes place in “Silent” Hill. Moments that could have heightened the scares with background silence, or haunting sound effects to show the terror of James’ world, are undermined by constant music and not-so-good sound effects.

Unfortunately, Return to Silent Hill is not a worthy adaptation of one of the most important video games of all time. Christopher Gans failed to live up to expectations and ended up making a soulless film that is neither faithful to the original game, nor does it have a proper script that can be viewed as a separate film. So, here we are with a movie that remains like thousands of titles released on various streaming platforms every day and forgotten just as quickly.

As we started the new year with one of the best video game adaptations of all time, the “Fallout” series, “Return to Silent Hill” can already be placed alongside the “worst movies of 2026” and remind you that the original game is still superior to any remake or adaptation. Perhaps this failure will make Konami understand that it should not return to Silent Hill.

Film ID “Return to Silent Hill” (Return to Silent Hill)

Director: Christopher Gans
Author: Christopher Gans, Sandra and Anne, Will Schneider, based on Konami’s Silent Hill 2 video game.
Actors: Jeremy Irvine, Hannah Emily Anderson, Evie Templeton, Pierce Egan, Robert Strange, Nicola Alexis
Product: 2026, United States and France
Site score IMDb to the movie: 4.1 out of 10
Rating of the movie on Rotten Tomatoes website: 18%
Summary of the story: James is not in a good mental state after his relationship with his girlfriend Mary broke up. After receiving a letter from Mary, he quickly reaches the town of Silent Hill; where he first saw Mary and settled with her. After James reaches Silent Hill, he finds that the whole town is covered in ash and thick fog and there is no news of its inhabitants. Instead, a nightmare awaits James that reveals the true nature of James and Mary’s relationship…

The review of the film “Return to Silent Hill” is the author’s personal opinion and does not necessarily represent the position of DigiCala Mag.

Source: Digikala Mag