Silent Hill is getting a live-action movie once again with Return to Silent Hill, which adapts one of my favorite games in the series: Silent Hill 2. Christophe Gans, who directed the first film, is back for the third live-action film. (The second film adapted the Silent Hill 3 video game.)

The story of the Silent Hill 2 video game follows James Sunderland, who receives a letter from Mary, his wife. The weird thing is that she died three years ago. The film changes some details here and there, but the core of James’ journey of torment and suffering remains intact.

“For me, what was interesting is that that story, which is the story of the obsession of James Sunderland for his dead wife, means something for a film buff like me,” Gans tells us. “My favorite movie of all time is Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock, and it tells the story of James Stewart loving a girl. You think she’s dead, and he finds her again and he can’t recognize her. Somewhere, the story at the heart of Silent Hill 2 is the same.”

James is searching for Mary, but he meets a somewhat familiar face with Maria.

“I like the strange chemistry that exists between James, Mary and Maria,” the director said. “And that’s my way to make the adaptation of Silent Hill 2. You know, try to show the strange, morbid romanticism of that love story.”

Akira Yamaoka is an important element of the Silent Hill franchise, responsible for composing many tracks for the games and the first live-action film. Gans brought the musician back for Return to Silent Hill.

“You know, it was a deal-breaker thing,” he said. “If the production refused that I put the music of Akira Yamaoka in the film, I would not have done the film for sure. For me, it’s impossible to think about Silent Hill and not hear the music of Akira. And as I said, it’s not only the sound of Silent Hill, it’s the soul of Silent Hill. Sometimes, the people who don’t know the music of Akira think that it’s weird. It’s weird music for a horror film. But for the people who love Silent Hill, it’s absolutely crucial that we hear that music and not another music.

“So yes, I’m very happy. And also, you know, with the years, I became friends with Akira. And we were very happy to join together again on a project, 20 years after the first film. And I love the fact that in this film, it was not only the composer of the film, but also one of the co-producers of the Japanese part of the film. So I’m always very honored to work with such a guy.

“He’s nice, and he’s so talented. And it’s very easy to understand each other also because, even if he was living in Tokyo and I was living in France, we have the same taste. We saw the same film at the same time. It was funny for me to say, ‘When you’re doing that in Silent Hill, you’re thinking about this Italian movie made in 81?’ ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ We were living on opposite sides of the earth. And actually, we were watching and loving the same thing at the same time. It’s almost like my brother on the other side of the world, and I like him very much. And I can’t stop thanking him for his confidence in me. He trusts me, and it’s nice. It’s nice to work with such a guy.”

Return to Silent Hill releases in theaters on January 23, 2026.