On January 22, Christophe Gans' film "Return to Silent Hill" hits theaters — an adaptation of the cult classic Silent Hill 2 from the director of the first "Silent Hill" in 2006. However, early reviews suggest that the return to the foggy town has been unsuccessful.
After ten published reviews, the film's rating on Rotten Tomatoes is only 10%. On Metacritic, it scores 30 out of 100 based on six reviews.
IGN rated the film 5 out of 10, noting that "it's an adaptation that offers nothing new — fans are better off replaying the original game." Collider called the film "ugly and laughable," adding that "perhaps it wasn't worth returning to Silent Hill at all." Heaven of Horror gave it only one star out of five, admitting that "as a movie, it's just bad."
Reviewers agree on one thing: the atmosphere of psychological horror is lost in Gans' adaptation. Trace Sauveur from AwardsWatch writes that "the film fails to capture the suffocating sense of isolation and guilt that the original thrives on." Brian Eggert from Deep Focus Review called the viewing "a tedious and pointless experience," giving the film 0.5 out of 4, and Justin Clark from Slant Magazine stated that the director "stripped the story of all its psychosexual depth."
Amid such reactions, "Return to Silent Hill" already risks becoming one of the biggest flops of 2026. However, there are still too few reviews for a final verdict, and the film has a full theatrical run ahead — viewers will still be able to form their own opinion.