Judging by the consistent quality of recent movies and television shows, it’s clear that we’re in a golden age of video game adaptations right now, but decades ago, truly good video game movies were an exception to the rule. In fact, up until the last few years, video game movies were usually guaranteed slop. However, 20 years ago, a little movie called Silent Hill hit theaters, and by some miracle, it was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, with several sequels now come and gone, it seems like that initial release was a bit of a fluke. Removed from the standard issues that come with sequels, it seems like the Silent Hill movie series dropped the ball in a major way, so, where did it go wrong?
From Quality to Slop
In the early 2000s, director Christopher Gans had a pet project in mind: a film adaptation of Silent Hill 2. However, deeming that story too difficult to tell, he instead proposed an adaptation of the original Silent Hill, and after years of development, the film was finally released in 2006. Loosely based on the original game, the Silent Hill movie follows Rose, a mother who must investigate the titular town after her daughter goes missing. Though not the most inventive horror movie of all time, Silent Hill was effective thanks to its palpable atmosphere, smart integration of the source material, and a decent script with worthwhile performances. Although critics didn’t love the movie, fans were happy enough, and if that’s all that ever came of Silent Hill movie adaptations, this would be a different article. Instead, the wrong lessons were learned.
Six years later, in 2012, a sequel was released: Silent Hill: Revelation. Acting as a sequel to the first movie, instead of an adaptation of any specific Silent Hill game, the issues were apparent from the start. Instead of Christopher Gans, writer/director M.J. Bassett was brought aboard, and unfortunately, they didn’t seem to have much passion for the games. Instead, the script was weak, characters were shoddily forced into the narrative, and the whole thing felt like a gimmick. It was a 3D movie from the 2010s with the subtitle of “Revelation”… not much more that needs to be said. Again, if things ended here, it might be forgivable. Instead, the Silent Hill slop was far from finished.
Returning to the Hill
Flash forward to this year, where video game movies are all the rage, and Christopher Gans is back again with another adaptation: Return to Silent Hill. Unfortunately, this too was a blunder. As Gans first desired, Return to Silent Hill is a loose adaptation of Silent Hill 2, but it misses the mark in almost every way. Despite a few decent scenes, Return to Silent Hill is a mess of CGI, terrible editing, and a confusing script that makes very little sense. Even the critics and audience agree that it’s a bad flick, with an 18% critic score and 28% audience score on RottenTomatoes.
So, after two progressively worse sequels, surely Silent Hill movies will take a break, right? If it’s up to Christopher Gans, that’s not the plan. According to some statements made earlier this year, both Gans and composer Akira Yamaoka have expressed interest in making a fourth Silent Hill movie, potentially adapting Silent Hill 4: The Room. Honestly, at this point, I have zero faith that it’ll be a watchable product. Unlike the Resident Evil movies, which were pretty bad but didn’t try to be anything other than mindless action schlock, Silent Hill movies consistently flounder. At this point, it’s probably best to let it rest, but knowing Hollywood, that probably won’t be the case.
