Return to Silent Hill – Movie Review (1/5)

RETURN TO SILENT HILL (2026) is a new horror movie adaptation of the iconic video game sequel “Silent Hill 2”. We’re in the same universe as the first movies and the first game, but with new main characters. Unfortunately, the focus hasn’t been on creating a solid story, and so, it isn’t a good movie. Read our full Return to Silent Hill movie review here!

RETURN TO SILENT HILL (2026) is a new horror movie based on the extremely popular Silent Hill video game franchise, which has become a horror movie franchise as well. This one is based on the Silent Hill 2 video game, so the characters are new, while the setting of Silent Hill should be familiar.

The overall look and feel should also feel very familiar, as it is made very much in the vein of the video game. I can absolutely understand and even agree with that choice. What I can’t understand or agree with is that the story hasn’t actually been adapted as much as just replayed. As such, it becomes a live-action version of (parts of) the video game, and that does not make a good movie.

Continue reading our Return to Silent Hill movie review below. Find it in theaters on January 23, 2026.

A too faithful adaptation of Silent Hill 2

Return to Silent Hill centers on James (Jeremy Irvine) as he receives a mysterious letter from Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson), the woman he loved and lost. This results in him returning to Silent Hill, where they lived happily together. Now, Silent Hill has become a shadow of itself. It’s consumed by fog, darkness, and all kinds of strange (and deadly) creatures.

This latest movie in the Silent Hill horror movie franchise is described as a “faithful adaptation of Silent Hill 2“. This is both very true and perhaps the most positive way to describe it. Because it definitely is not a good movie. It’s a video game turned into a movie with no concern about turning it into an actual movie.

No real storyline outside the one you know from the video game, which again, is a game.

As a video game, you participate and only need a few hints and nudges, and then you fill in the rest yourself. When watching a movie, a story should unfold, so even if it looks exactly like the video game (and it does stay true to the visual and auditory style), there also needs to be a story.

Awful story – or lack thereof – with a good cast

The huge problem – and it is huge – with this video game adaptation is that it stays far too close to the video game, and completely forgets to be a movie. I recognize that The Last of Us isn’t a movie, but what that video game adaptation has excelled at is creating a story based on the world of the video game. The long-running and (often) successful Resident Evil franchise also managed to do this.

With Return to Silent Hill, that doesn’t even seem to have been considered. And it shows! The story is so small, it should have been a short film. The rest is just computer graphics. It looks good, I will give it that, but it does not make for a good movie.

There is some redemption for this adaptation with the casting. Especially Hannah Emily Anderson (Dark Nature, What Keeps You Alive, The Purge series), who always delivers and plays multiple characters in this movie. The main character is portrayed by Jeremy Irvine (Baghead), who is often reduced to just reacting, so he doesn’t have too much to work with.

To be blunt, the one star in this review goes to Hannah Emily Anderson. It could have gone to Jeremy Irvine as well, but his character has virtually no storyline outside of reacting to his circumstances.

You can watch Return to Silent Hill in theaters

Return to Silent Hill sees director/co-writer Christophe Gans returning to the Silent Hill franchise. He also directed the 2006 original adaptation Silent Hill, which I liked much better. As someone who played that very first game and was terrified of it – I had to play with all the lights on and the sound fairly low – that movie worked well for me.

However, even that wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, and I expected that this adaptation of the sequel game, made 20 years later, would be better. Maybe that’s on me, but I feel I should be able to expect an actual and coherent story from any movie.

I love that composer Akira Yamaoka, who has scored most of the “Silent Hill” games, also made the score for this movie. Fans of the video game will probably enjoy being able to sit back and watch this familiar world play out. However, I have to review Return to Silent Hill in terms of how good a movie it is. And it is not a good movie. It’s a movie that is all form and no substance. Unfortunately.

So, watch it and have fun with it if you’ve played “Silent Hill 2” and enjoyed it. But if you’re not familiar with the video game, don’t expect to get much out of this movie except some video game visuals, a nice score, and some intriguing monsters.

Return to Silent Hill is out in theaters on January 23, 2026.

Details

Director: Christophe Gans
Writers: Christophe Gans, William Josef Schneider, Sandra Vo-Anh
Stars: Jeremy Irvine, Hannah Emily Anderson, Evie Templeton