Return to Silent Hill
Jeremy Irvine enters a fog-filled fever dream in Christophe Gans’ adaptation of the beloved video game sequel.
Through a Glass Darkly: Jeremy Irvine
Photo by Aleksandar Letic, courtesy of Cineverse.
by CHAD KENNERK
Based on the hit Japanese survival horror video game franchise from Konami, Return to Silent Hill largely draws from the narrative spine of the 2001 PlayStation video game sequel Silent Hill 2. Built as a standalone story that takes place in the series’ namesake, the film adaptation follows suit as James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine) returns to the fog-enshrouded Maine town after receiving a plaintive letter from his (dead) wife (Hannah Emily Anderson). The original game famously took inspiration from Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and pulled from the dream logic of filmmaker David Lynch, resulting in a psychologically rich video game cited among the best of all time. A recent 2024 remake for PlayStation 5 and other platforms reaffirmed that status, introducing the story to a new generation through contemporary visuals and technology. Gamers can now see the screen adaptation from director Christophe Gans, who helmed the first Silent Hill back in 2006, not to mention the fantastic cult favourite Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001).
Gans has been vocal about his desire to deliver a faithful adaptation, and his reverence for the source material is evident. In addition to Silent Hill 2, he draws inspiration from the much-mourned P.T., an eerie 2014 playable teaser for the Guillermo del Toro-directed (and ultimately cancelled) video game Silent Hills. Framed as an Orpheus-style ghost story, Return to Silent Hill embraces one of the game’s greatest strengths by turning the town into a psychological landscape. The nightmare world of Silent Hill serves as the setting for an internal dialogue as Sunderland works out the guilt and trauma of his past. Practical effects and prosthetics lend welcome texture to many of Silent Hill’s denizens, but uneven CGI undercuts those efforts, recalling graphics of the early 2000s and leaving action sequences more unfinished than unsettling. On the plus side, many of the creatures and monsters are portrayed by real dancers and acrobats, with Silent Hill choreographer Roberto Campanella returning to bring the same sensibility to the movement. Porcelain nurses direct from an Evanescence music video are among the more striking choreographed sequences. Another note of continuity is actor Evie Templeton, who also performed the motion capture and voice for the character Laura in the 2024 video game. The franchise’s stalwart composer Akira Yamaoka is also back to lend his distinct ambient tones to the Otherworld.
Framed like a series of video-game cutscenes, Return to Silent Hill often feels like watching someone else wield the controller. It leans heavily into the video game aesthetic, from first-person POV shots to enhancements that even make its actors seem digital. The faithful recreation of the decrepit, rotting town and its malevolent forces may appease die-hards, but with a game celebrated for its story, the adaptation seems to sideline much of the plot, omitting elements like uncovering clues and solving puzzles, which made the gameplay so engaging. Gans’ visual instincts remain sharp, but his visual flairs never really capture the ominous unease of the game itself. The underrated Jeremy Irvine hasn’t had enough opportunities to match his talent following a breakout in Spielberg’s Warhorse and strong performances in the likes of Great Expectations and The Railway Man. He looks convincingly tormented here but isn’t served by video-game-level dialogue (“Something happened here. Something really, really bad.”) Given the psychological focus, it’s a modest step up from last year’s dreadful adaptation of PlayStation’s Until Dawn, but this is no Gran Turismo or Uncharted. Watch out for the log truck on its way to a Final Destination.
Cast: Jeremy Irvine, Hannah Emily Anderson, Evie Templeton, Pearse Egan, Eve Macklin, Robert Strange.
Dir Christophe Gans, Pro Victor Hadida, Molly Hassel, David M. Wulf, Ph Pablo Rosso, Pro Des Jovana Mihajlovic, Mina Buric, Ed Sébastian Prangère, Music Akira Yamaoka, Costumes Momirka Bailovic, Make-Up Des Natasa Krstic, Creature Des Patrick Tatopoulos.
Davis Films/Electric Shadow/Supernix/WIP-Cineverse (US).
106 mins. France/USA. 2026. US/UK Rel: 23 January 2026. Cert. R (US), 15 (UK).
