Inspired by one of the most popular and loved video games Silent Hill 2, a psychological horror film Return to Silent Hill is in the making.
The film is set to star Jeremy Irvine (War Horse, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) and fans just got a glimpse of him yesterday (May 30) as the Silent Hill 2’s protagonist James Sunderland.
Right after the PlayStation State of Play, Konami streamed a livestream of Silent Hill Transmission during which the publisher revealed a slew of details regarding the various projects that Silent Hills is working on. This included new gameplay and pre-ordering details for Silent Hill 2 Remake and a BTS look at the upcoming horror flick.
Everything we know about the upcoming Return to Silent Hill
Filmmaker Christophe Gans, who also helmed the first installment Silent Hill (2006) and first introduced the world to the Pyramid Head monster, announced in late 2022 that the survival horror franchise will return to theaters with Return to Silent Hill. However, this will apparently not be related to the first film, but, will rather stay true to Konami’s video game Silent Hill 2, originally released in 2001.
Drawing inspiration from Silent Hill 2, Gans stated that he wanted to adapt the game “as an act of passion,” citing the original four Silent Hill games as “masterpieces” in his view. During the live-streaming, Gans’s interview occasionally switches to a voiceover as the stream plays a few scene-by-scene comparisons between Return to Silent Hill and the original Silent Hill 2 game. “I came to adapt Silent Hill 2 with respect and passion. It’s an act of passion for me,” Gans said in the video.
As per Gans, “The second game is the most adult of all the Silent Hills.” He said that this is the story of the protagonist Sunderland who lost his bride and decided to return to Silent Hill looking for her. “And, he realizes that, basically, the town has changed. It’s become something like a hell, his own personal hell. And he’s going through all the circles of hell to find his wife, and find also, somewhere, the truth about himself.”
He continued, “This film adds an emotional level to the horror, and certainly because of that, the horror is even more disturbing, even more unsettling. I consider that the first film was like an epic journey of horror. This one is much more like a deep dive into some psychological horror.”
Talking about the movie-making process, Gnas mentioned since the entire crew is “big fans” of the video games, the design and other elements of the set resulted in better and easier. “The level of enthusiasm that I met on this film, to create that strange world of Silent Hill, was quite unexpected,” he said. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Okay, I will have to explain a lot of this film to my crew.’ And in fact… No, I didn’t have to. Because there was a 2.0 generation of Silent Hill lovers, and that helped me a lot.”
What is the film about?
Gans co-wrote the film with Sandra Vo-Anh and William Josef Schneider while Victor Hadida for Davis Films, Molly Hassell for Hassell Free Productions, and David Wulf produced it. While the first look of Return to Silent Hill was revealed at the 77th Cannes Film Festival this year when it premiered at the festival, fans across the world are only getting to see a glimpse of it now.
Irvine’s character Sunderland is a man who is shattered after his relationship with Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson), the love of his life, comes to an end. The film follows Sunderland as he returns to Silent Hill after receiving a mysterious letter from her and he discovers a once-recognizable town altered by an unknown evil. Sunderland comes across horrifying animals while looking for Mary desperately and starts to piece together what happened to the town. “But as he descends deeper into the darkness the secrets he uncovers lead to a horrifying truth, and James finds himself struggling to hold on long enough to save his one true love,” as per the official synopsis.
