The Wasteland Reviewer

Return to Silent Hill (2026) Written Review

Is it okay not to expect disappointment now when you hear about a new film adaptation of a video game? For the longest time, video game adaptations were consistently horrendous, and filmmakers and studios just didn’t understand how to translate them over to the big screen. Fortunately, a few projects like The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, and Arcane found success on the smaller screen. Sonic the Hedgehog has been quite a bit of fun with a trilogy of films. But one type of game has struggled still on the big screen…horror games. Silent Hill has been adapted before and received lukewarm or hostile reactions. But filmmaker Christophe Gans returns to the franchise to adapt the second game with his vision. 

Does Gans deliver a compelling and engaging cinematic experience? This film is quite messy in its presentation. The whole film has a loose and unstructured nature that feels even more ineffective when you realize that the whole film can be boiled down to a single metaphor. There is also a pacing issue as the film has a feel of aimless wandering around and just running into creepy entities along the way. The character designs (ripped right from the games) are quite unnerving and effective. There is an inconsistency though in the rendering of said designs. The practical effects stand out and look fantastic (including the iconic Red Pyramid). But most of the film is brought to life with CGI that looks ripped out of a PlayStation 2 game (which is not a good thing at all). Purposeful or not, it is quite ineffective in keeping the audience engrossed due to its artificial feel. The music from game composer Akira Yamaoka is excellent and breathes so much life into the film. Honestly, it is so good that it tricks you into feeling so much but the music is doing all the heavy lifting. There are some scary and unnerving moments throughout the film, but they are not enough to wholly engage the audience. 

Does the screenplay from Gans and company do the film any favors? There is a powerful metaphorical core to the film but unfortunately it never feels like it delivers on the promise of such a deeply relatable and powerful thematic core. The dialogue and staging of the center relationship is quite clunky and unconvincing for sure. Since so much of the film relies on this emotional core, the experience falls quite flat when you don’t buy into the relationship. The film is so loose from a narrative perspective that you will probably disengage quite often and struggle to feel connected to what is going on. There is not a lot of rhyme or reason for most of the events in the film and it feels quite scattered. Return to Silent Hill struggles to offer a satisfying narrative experience at all.   

Does the cast of Gans film deliver any depth to the experience? Unfortunately, Jeremy Irvine’s central performance is quite flat and clunky. It is hard to buy into his emotional journey since his performance does not convey any authentic love or other emotions. Hannah Emily Anderson’s supporting turn as the key love interest is not the most memorable or effective either. A special shoutout should go to the actors who portray some of the creatures and monsters of the town as they sell the physicality and unnerving presence throughout the film. 

Is Return to Silent Hill an effective or engaging horror sequel? This film feels like you are walking through a video game…in the worst and most outdated ways. The visual experience just does not impress with its underwhelming effects. There is a lack of substance to this experience with only a singular message and some scares to offer along the way.