‘Return to Silent Hill’ review: Lost in the fog

The true scares hiding within the borders of Return to Silent Hill are found in its gritty look, sloppy characters, and unfinished special effects.

In my restless nightmares, I see that movie. Return to Silent Hill. Davis Films and writer-director Christophe Gans (2006’s Silent Hill) promised they would take us there again someday. But they kinda did. Well, we’re alone there now…

In our “special hell”…

Waiting for a better sequel…

Waiting for the return of the foggy, sleepy town on the big screen that captures the magic of Silent Hill to come see us. But it never does. And so, we wait, wrapped in our cocoon of pain and loneliness, wondering why this film fell off the rails so messily with such strong source material to pull from.

The tale of a town.

Return to Silent Hill is the third film back in the horrific foggy town of Silent Hill, a fictional town cursed with monsters and ritualistic death. Plot elements for the reboot sequel take inspiration from the second entry in the video game franchise, Silent Hill 2. For survival-horror die-hard fans, this story is beloved and acclaimed as one of the best in the franchise, with its 2024 remake winning multiple gaming awards.

In this case, Return to Silent Hill captures the general framework of Silent Hill 2, but it fails to heed the plot points and aesthetics that make it special. Instead, it charts a grittier path, crafting a new narrative that is all high-octane pacing wrapped in an easy-to-follow bow. While in the same breath, they do not take the time to build, develop, and process everything around it. Return to Silent Hill is all flash, giving the appearance of horror and emotional character depth, but when you pull back the surface, there isn’t much foundation.

A mysterious letter.

Return to Silent Hill focuses on James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine), a man dealing with the grief of his girlfriend’s death, Mary Crane (Hannah Emily Anderson). Years after her death, James receives a letter from Mary asking him to return to their special place in Silent Hill. Upon arrival, he discovers the town is shrouded in a mysterious fog, with ash falling from the sky and monsters roaming its streets. The movie descends into a tale of James searching for Mary, encountering strange individuals, and piecing together why she asked him to come back.

As a whole, Return to Silent Hill channels the essence of James’ journey to find Mary. The mystery of the letter, his pain of her loss, and his descent into madness uncover all the horrors in town. James’ confusion over everything weaves into the narrative, partly due to the movie’s ambiguity and the delay until the grand reveal. As James pieces the mystery together, we’re kept on our toes along for the ride. This serves as a highlight because mystery is at the forefront of Silent Hill; there is a question to answer, and Return to Silent Hill builds towards its ending, both to its benefit and detriment.

To get that answer, Return to Silent Hill deviates from its source material, building new lore and reframing it into a more digestible plot. Unfortunately, that decision strips away the powerful message at the heart of the story, opting for a tale wrapped in tropes and familiarity that doesn’t push the envelope. Without any spoilers, Return to Silent Hill drastically changes backstories and key characters, turning them into lifeless surface-level characters without any true individual depth. This is felt in our main hero as well, hurting their journey and the grand reveal.

A town of darkness.

Speaking of changes, Return to Silent Hill opts for a darker and grittier aesthetic, reminiscent of 2012’s Silent Hill: Revelation. Frankly, the movie feels messy and hollow. Characters look sullen and pale, with hollow eyes and a ghostly appearance. Their behavior is erratic, coming across as caricatures of horror movie archetypes rather than fleshed-out real people. There is no journey for the choices; everything and everyone is already at its height of weirdness and mayhem. The only grounding point is the terrifying environments, which thankfully exude the decay and eeriness of this forgotten town.

This revelation also feels strange due to many other elements coming across as unfinished and fake. Sure, this is a horror movie set in a fictional video game town, but Return to Silent Hill should transport us into a world of believability. One example is the appearance of the mysterious Maria, also played by Hannah Emily Anderson. The twist in the story is that Maria looks like Mary, but her appearance and demeanor are edgier.

In the film, Maria is wearing an obviously fake blonde wig, and the outfit looks more like a costume than an ensemble (e.g., the colour choices, aesthetic, materials, etc.). All of that makes it a little hard for the audience to see her as a three-dimensional character and not another prop in this lame haunted house. The same issue is felt throughout all characters and scenes. Laura (Evie Templeton) comes across as a Victorian ghost child, Eddie (Pearse Egan) is a villainous non-entity, and many locations have the appearance of being filmed on green screen. Return to Silent Hill comes across more as an interpretation of Silent Hill than a finished product.

Through the eyes of evil.

Beyond its story and environments, Return to Silent Hill attempts to stand out with its special effects and editing choices. Unfortunately, this area achieves mixed results. The film incorporates flashy editing cuts to translate James’ pain and intensity onto the big screen, heightening the tension.

For example, the perspective shifts from third person to James’ POV randomly during chase scenes. This switch pulls us into the action and the chaos around the characters, feeling like a video game. However, the shaky camera angles and constant switches hinder the momentum. We can applaud Return to Silent Hill for trying something new – it just gets lost with everything else. For every experimental element, there’s a random editing flash, camera angle, or cut that counters it.

That messy grittiness translates into the special effects, too. A noticeable issue comes from effects not connecting to the characters on screen. We’ve mentioned the obvious greenscreen work, but elements like monsters, characters, fire, and the town itself don’t look believable. There’s a level of post-production work missing from the final product. Another month or two could have done wonders in fixing issues of monster textures, lighting, and blending of environments.

The bottom line.

Return to Silent Hill is a long-awaited sequel (reboot?) that fails to live up to expectations. With a strong source material at its helm, the movie squanders the potential to push itself into being a better film. Characters come across as surface-level archetypes, special effects look unfinished, and strange editing choices hinder the momentum.

It’s a shame because Return to Silent Hill has all the elements to create a stronger film. The framework guides the narrative along and teases something greater, even going so far as attempting it. What remains, in actuality, is a flashy and messy film with the appearance of Silent Hill, but with little to no scares and even less depth.

Return to Silent Hill is now playing in select theaters. Watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy of Davis Films. Read more articles by Justin Carreiro here.