Return to Silent Hill was Ruined by Multiple Changes to the Story of Silent Hill 2
Before I begin, I have to admit, that I haven't seen Return to Silent Hill yet. But after reading multiple reviews by the fans of Silent Hill 2, and reading the actual plot to the film, I had to talk about it.
Because I cannot believe how vastly different the movie was to the game, and these differences were so awful, that it pissed off a lot of fans. Silent Hill 2 is in my opinion, is my favorite horror game ever made. Once the remake was released in 2024, I bought the game upon release, and I instantly fell in love with the reimagining of the original game.
The movie doesn't bring that same magic to the table.
I don't understand why there were multiple rewrites to the story of the sequel. I would never have believed that this movie was made by the same director who made the first Silent Hill movie, that is actually pretty damn great. This new film was completely reimagined, but in the worst way.
Here are the multiple changes that did not sit well with me:
1. Eddie was barely in the movie. This dude was an important antagonist to the character of James Sunderland, but he only had a couple of scenes that barely lasted. And the worst part, is that James and Eddie don't ever battle like they do in the original story.
I don't get this change at all, and I was so disappointed that Eddie wasn't a major character to the movie. He is so important in the game!
2. Pyramid Head was cool, but fans were annoyed by obvious the movie felt it seem like he came from the mind of James.
In the game, it's a complete mystery as to how Pyramid Head exists. Even though the player learns that Pyramid Head is from the mind of James, it was kind of dumb how they explained this aspect in the film. Instead of letting fans come up with the answers on their own, James is shown painting Pyramid Head over his own face on a painting, and we even get a shot of James within the body of Pyramid Head.
I was so irritated hearing this part, because in my opinion, they took away why Pyramid Head is such a huge threat to James. He is supposed to represent the violent side of James, the guilty side, and instead, they made it so damn obvious how Pyramid Head is connected to James. I'm sure the audience could have figured it out on their own! What happened to the creepy mystery that the game had?
3. The backstory of why James killed Mary was completely changed.
This was by far one of the movie's worst mistakes when it came to the changes. James learns that Mary was a part of the Silent Hill cult, and to save her from the wrath of her father who is in charge of the cult, he kills her, giving her a mercy killing.
This was the movie version.
In the game, James killed Mary for selfish reasons. Mary had gotten an awful disease, and she had changed during the years she was sick. She constantly started to treat James like shit, leading to his moment of losing his mind. He kills Mary, and goes crazy. He is sent to Silent Hill, with no memory of what happened, and now he must relive extreme horror within the town to remember what he did.
The game version is far superior to the movie, and I'm in shock that they changed the motivation of why James killed his wife. He was supposed to be seen as the villain, not as the hero!
4. The rest of the female characters in the story of Silent Hill 2 was all in the head of James.
This was a pretty stupid change. Angela, Laura, and Maria are pretty important to the story of James. Maria was indeed fabricated by Silent Hill to resemble his wife, but the other two were hinted to be real people. Angela was another victim of Silent Hill, who was sent there as punishment for not wanting to accept the person that she killed, nor could she move on from the horrible past that she endured at the hands of her own family. Laura was close with Mary in the past, and she interacted with James in many parts of the game, showing the slow bond that he develops with her.
Why they decided to have Angela and Laura take place in his head, instead of being real people that he interacts with is so odd. This was definitely one of the strangest changes to the story.
While there were several pros to the film, I don't think the changes are going to sit well with many horror fans of Silent Hill 2. I don't think I'm ever going to watch this movie in theaters, because I honestly don't want to waste my money on a film that I'm probably not going to like in the theater. I will wait until it reaches streaming, to possibly give the film a chance at some point.
I wasn't expecting a copy of the game exactly, but I feel that the director did not really do justice to the source material of Silent Hill 2.
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