The long-running Silent Hill video game series is regularly lauded as ahead of its time, daring to buck the trends of the genre of jump-scares and gore in favour of psychological fear and complex storytelling. Its second instalment, released in 2001, is to this day routinely cited as one of the best video games – if not the best – of all time, an early mainstream example of video games as an artform. Conversely, it’s film and television adaptations have been less well-received, some even deemed as simply strange.
Although produced as the third feature film in the franchise, Return to Silent Hill actually adapts the aforementioned Silent Hill 2. As in the game upon which it is based, the film sees James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine) receiving a letter from his lost love, Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson,) urging him to return to return to Silent Hill, where they’d met. Upon his return, James finds the town different to how he’d remembered it, eerily empty and shrouded in fog. He meets Laura (Evie Templeton,) a troubled girl who claims to have known Mary, yet seems hostile to James, and Maria – a woman who looks just like Mary, and begs James to abandon his search and leave town with her.
Unlike director Christophe Gans’s previous instalment in the series – 2006’s Silent Hill cinematic debut – in which Gans and writer Roger Avery ducked in and out of the lore set by the game, here Gans aims to be faithful to his source material. Several shots directly recreate those from the game, and the game’s musical composer Akira Yamaoka recreated musical cues from the game for the film. Yet, the film still attempts to reconcile its story with those of the previous films, even when Silent Hill 2 boldly disconnected itself from other game instalments.
Is the approach successful? The answer may vary from viewer to viewer. Whilst some may appreciate the copious game fan service, film fans could be left confused by the story. Return to Silent Hill is available to stream free and ad-free in Australia to decide for yourself.
Return to Silent Hill (2026)
Stream free at:
Kanopy (Ad-free)
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