RETURN TO SILENT HILL is a Front-Runner for 2026’s Worst Movie With a Brutal 6% Rotten Tomatoes Score
The video game movie curse was supposed to be dead. Studios finally figured out how to adapt beloved games without embarrassing themselves, critics stopped sharpening knives by default, and audiences started trusting these projects again. Then Return to Silent Hill arrived.
The new horror film, based on Konami’s classic Silent Hill 2, has landed with an absolutely punishing reception. As of now, it’s sitting at a jaw-dropping 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, instantly putting it in the conversation for the worst movie of 2026.
That number alone paints a grim picture, but the actual reviews are even rougher. Critics across the board have taken aim at the film’s muddled storytelling, cheap visuals, and baffling creative choices.
AV Club didn’t mince words, calling it, “Goofy and low-rent, it’s a dire look at what happens when you can’t leave the past behind—whether you’re a horror game character or a video game movie filmmaker.”
Flickering Myth took issue with how the adaptation misses the heart of the source material, writing, “Director Christophe Gans understands Silent Hill so arrestingly and vividly when it comes to visual nightmare fuel that it makes it all the more frustrating that, with this story, he still doesn’t "get" what he is adapting”
At Collider, the reaction was downright brutal: “This powerful survival horror story has been turned into an ugly, laughable adaptation that proves that maybe we should’ve never gone back to Silent Hill.”
GamesRadar+ echoed that frustration, noting, “A confusing plot, mediocre visual effects, and over-the-top acting might make director Christophe Gans' newest Silent Hill adaptation just as divisive as his first attempt 20 years ago.”
Fandomwire highlighted the disconnect between visuals and storytelling: “The successful recreation of a nightmare is impressive, but the hurdle is turning that nightmare into something that captivates audiences. When discussing a dream, it’s often the storyteller who’s enjoying themselves more than the listener.”
And Deep Focus summed it up with zero mercy: “I found the experience difficult to sit through and nonsensical from moment to moment, with its confounding story and shoddy CGI matched only by its lack of entertainment value.”
What makes this sting even more is the current state of video game adaptations. These movies aren’t automatic punchlines anymore. They’re often solid, sometimes great, and at the very least competent.
Seeing a console classic mangled this badly almost feels like a strange throwback, like stumbling into an old Hollywood cautionary tale that everyone else already learned from.
Return to Silent Hill follows James Sunderland, played by Jeremy Irvine, who returns to the fog-choked town after receiving a mysterious letter from his supposedly dead wife Mary, portrayed by Hannah Emily Anderson.
That setup is ripped straight from the game, and some recent trailers did show flashes of visual fidelity, including a disturbing take on the iconic Pyramid Head. Unfortunately, critics agree that surface-level accuracy isn’t enough to save what’s underneath.
The franchise itself is in a solid place. The Silent Hill 2 Remake is widely praised as top-tier horror, and Silent Hill f proved the series can thrive with bold, original ideas. Against that backdrop, this film feels especially out of step.
At least the future looks brighter elsewhere. Upcoming adaptations like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, The Legend of Zelda, and Sonic 4 all have a much better shot at avoiding this kind of critical bloodbath.
For now, Return to Silent Hill stands as a rough reminder that respecting a game’s imagery isn’t the same thing as understanding why it worked in the first place. And with a 6% Rotten Tomatoes score hanging over it, this trip back to Silent Hill is one journey most viewers probably shouldn’t take.
This is sad because as a Silent Hill fan, I was really looking forward to this movie and hoping that it would be good.