It’s always a reason to celebrate when negative cinematic streaks get broken. Take the notion that all video game adaptations are generally crap thanks to a near unbroken stream of attempts since the 90s – that stance has all been smashed by a procession of media that finally “got it” such as The Last Of Us, the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise, Fallout and Twisted Metal. In addition to this, a more recent combo breaker was the magnificent 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple obliterating the assumption that January was typically a graveyard dumping ground for failed horror releases and with such streaks dispeled or broken, various genres are free to continue, explore and grow.
Or at least, that was until a single film came along to stubbonly reaffirm that both fallacies aren’t quite that false after all. What behemoth of mediocrity could possibly tarnish both the recently restored good names of video game movies and January horror releases simultaneously? All secrets will be revealed with a Return To Silent Hill.
Artist James Sutherland meets Mary Crane in a chance meeting in which the two spark up an attraction as the latter is seeking to leave her hometown of Silent Hill. Years Later we discover that not only did the two fall head over heels, but they moved into the titular town, but in the present day, James is doing so hot as their relationship eventually ended for some mysterious reason and he’s taken to obliterating his emotions with booze with little success. His mental well being takes yet another body blow when he receives a letter from his lapsed love, begging him to return to Silent Hill and find her.
However, upon returning to Silent Hill, the sunny, Maine burg is literally a shadow of its former self as the entire place is smothered in fog and blanketed in constantly falling ash that falls like gothic snow. Oh, and monsters. The place is also littered with writhing, fleshy, acid spewing monsters who prove to be a worrying clue that all is not well in town. Exploring and going ever deeper into Silent Hill, James also discovers that the place also has the disconcerting habit of occasionally falling into a hell dimension which seems to be a home to bigger and badder demons such as the hulking, helmeted Pyramid Head, or a spider made out of a mutated human body.
Realising that nabbing a postcard that reads “wish you was here” is rapidly becoming impossible, matters are made even more surreal when, on his desperate search for Mary, he runs into a succession of women. First there’s the bedraggled Angela who seems resigned to her fate and then there’s the young girl, Laura, who proves to be frustratingly elusive. However, weirdest of all is Maria, a woman who closely resembles James’ lost love, but seems to have a completely different personality and as the accumulated horrors of Silent Hill do their utmost to fray his sanity, could it be that James has already beaten them to it?
Back when video game movies were still in their relative infancy, one of the few titles that managed to rise above mediocrity was Cristophe Gans’ Silent Hill, which managed to deliver a legitimately creepy atmosphere and cool monster set pieces while it cherry-picked from Silent Hill lore. However, while Gans has returned to that ashy town after wisely sitting out the risable Silent Hill: Revelation, it seems that despite an admirable attempt to faithfully adapt the legendary Silent Hill 2, he’s ran right into the exact same dead end. While the first game delivered a more innovative, atmospheric serving of survival horror than some of its peers, it was the second game that really pushed the boundaries of video game plotting by taking the horrors of the eponymous town and adding a more psychological and personal edge. However, what proves to be somewhat ironic is that, while many complaints concerning the lion’s share of adaptions stem from the movies not actually following the original plots, it’s actually Gans’ attempt to faithfully recreate the game that sets of the radio crackling warning signs.
While playing Silent Hill 2 drew you into a world that becomes a massive allegory for grieve and a separation from reality, watching Return To Silent Hill instead feels more like watching someone else play the game who selfishly won’t let you have a turn. In fact, at times Gans seems to be trying to recreate the game so much, some of the iffier effects shots (not to mention James’ extravagant hair) bizarrely have you feeling like you are actually watching the game. Unfortunately, this feeling doesn’t at any point translate into fear or even a sense of mild discomfort, and worse yet, it isn’t particularly interesting either. To fans of the game, you’re essentially watching a sped up walk through which between endless running, wandering and fighting lumpy creatures, doesn’t really allow its deeper themes to resonate other than the sort of melodramatic grief that generates enigmatic thousand yard stares.
With that being said, the cannibalising of a legendary game certainly isn’t worthy of the woeful, 9% score it currently has on Rotten Tomatoes and if I had to fish for compliments, Gans certainly hasn’t lost his touch when it comes to adapting the denizens of Silent Hill for the big screen. But even here, we run into some issues – sure it’s great to see Pyramid Head or those disturbingly shapely nurses strut their stuff once more, but aside from looking monstrously cool, they don’t actually do anything we haven’t seen them do before. The nurses twitch and buck, those mummified skin-things puke their acid bile, those big bugs chitter and swarm and Pyramid Head swings his big chopper (oo-er), but even the once chilling sound of that air raid siren signifying a shift to that Rammstein-themed hell dimension seems to have finally lost its edge.
Maybe, after years of me assuming otherwise, remaining too devoted to the source video game proves to come with its own set of problems. In an attempt to mimic the multiple endings of the game, the climax feels muddled and unfocused and the stylized performances that ape the game lack conviction when you’re not the one moving the characters around with a game controller and actually involving yourself in the story.
Despite bringing back that lauded visual style, Christophe Gans fails to make both his and our Return To Silent Hill anything more than strangely soulless love letter to a story best enjoyed in its original format. As a result, we get a film that, for all it’s accuracies, ends up being far too bland for newcomers, while proving to be yet another disappointment for devoted fans of the game. Maybe the Hill should think about falling silent for the duration…
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