Return to Silent Hill has sent us back to the bad old days of video game movies with an unspeakably low Rotten Tomatoes score.
As of writing, the horror – which adapts the story of Konami‘s seminal Silent Hill 2 – is sitting at 6% on the reviews aggregator.
Our own Return to Silent Hill review was similarly unkind to the adaptation. Our reviewer wrote, “Return to Silent Hill’s nonsensical story strips its 2001 source material of all moral and emotional complexity, leaving only elementary shock value from its original story of a widower tortured by guilt.”
In a world where video game movies are now at least serviceable and aren’t the butt of Hollywood’s jokes, it’s almost weirdly comforting to see a true butchering of a console classic. Thankfully, there are several upcoming video game movies that should fare better, including The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, The Legend of Zelda movie, and Sonic 4.
If you’re still (morbidly) curious, Return to Silent Hill sees James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine) back in the foggy town of Silent Hill after receiving a mysterious letter from his presumed-dead wife, Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson).
One of its more recent trailers at least showed off how closely it resembles some of the source material, including a terrifying take on the iconic Pyramid Head.
Elsewhere, the Silent Hill franchise is mounting a comeback. The Silent Hill 2 Remake is held up as a high watermark for horror, while J-horror Silent Hill f proved there’s plenty of life in original takes on the series. A remake of the first Silent Hill game is also on the way.
For more, check out the upcoming horror movies and new PS5 games on the way soon.
