Everything we know about Return to Silent Hill (Director, synopsis, release year, and more)

Those who are part of Silent Hill‘s diehard fanbase are in for good news. Not only is the next movie confirmed to be in the works, but filming is set to start extremely soon! Based on the survival horror game that’s widely considered to be one of the best ever, Return to Silent Hill will mark the third film adaptation in the franchise. Though the first movie from 2006 had a cult following and many called it a guilty pleasure, the second, Silent Hill: Revelation from 2012, did not receive positive reviews at all. Fingers crossed Return to Silent Hill is the best one of the bunch.

At this time, we don’t have a trailer or even a poster to base our judgments on, but we do know a few key elements about Return to Silent Hill to share with you all. And so far, it sounds like it could be very promising.

Return to Silent Hill director

The best news about the upcoming adaptation is that director Christophe Gans, who helmed the first movie, is back. Since directing Silent Hill (2006), Gans only has one directing credit to his name — a 2014 adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. That said, it’s tough to know how much (or how little) the French filmmaker’s style has changed over the years, so we’ll have to wait and see. Fans of the franchise are excited to see him return.

Return to Silent Hill synopsis

Return to Silent Hill is confirmed to be an adaptation of the second game, Silent Hill 2, and will reboot the previous installments. According to a report from Deadline in Nov. 2022, the project is “already selling well off of a strong script by Gans, Sandra Vo-Ahn and Will Schneider.” That’s a great sign! Here’s the unofficial synopsis on IMDb; we’ll be sure to update this if we get a fresher one:

"Follow the story of a young man coming back to Silent Hill, where he has known a great love. Inspired by the second game of the classic survival/horror franchise of Konami."

In an interview with Jeux Video (via Full Throttle FPS), the director teased the story this time around:

"“The script for a new…movie [is] totally independent from the two previous movies made and respects the way Silent Hill has evolved. [It’s] a bit like Twilight Zone, the Fourth Dimension, a place where anything and everything can happen.”"

Return to Silent Hill filming

As teased earlier, filming for Return to Silent Hill has either already just begun or is about to. Multiple sources have reported that shooting should start in February 2023 in France. The exact locations have not been confirmed yet but we’ll add photos here if we see any set leaks. According to the Deadline report we cited just before, casting was underway as of late 2022, so we’re assuming the movie has all the main roles sorted out now. We’ll be sure to update you once we hear who the cast members are.

When could Return to Silent Hill come out?

Although we don’t know how long filming for Return to Silent Hill is expected to go, we still know a general timeframe for when the movie will be released. That’s because director Christophe Gans has already confirmed it! According to Gans, he expects the movie to be released sometime in 2023. If we’d have to guess, we’d estimate sometime in late 2023, maybe timed to Halloween or the Christmas holidays. Considering filming is just starting now, they’ll have to work fast to get the movie out by the end of the year.

Check back with us at Hidden Remote as we get more updates on Return to Silent Hill!