2026’s present lowest-rated horror film continues a tragic 20-year-long pattern for a franchise that has evident potential. The world of horror is maybe one of many trickiest genres to get proper in no matter format it is discovered inside, be that films, tv exhibits, video video games or extra.
That is oftentimes most simply evidenced on the earth of movie, since films have simpler to measure success metrics by way of each their field workplace gross and assessment scores. With 2026 having already been rife with horror films, it is thus all of the extra fascinating to notice that the yr’s present lowest-rated horror movie can be one which continues a tragic film document.
Return To Silent Hill Continues The Recreation Sequence’ Tragic Film Overview Report
Whereas followers held out hope for Return To Silent Hill earlier than the 2026 film’s launch, the movie sadly has earned a largely adverse essential reception. This will greatest be seen in its assessment scores, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a majorly low 17% critic rating – which can imply Return to Silent Hill stays one of many lowest-rated films of 2026 on this regard – and a 29% viewers rating, in addition to IMDb giving the movie a 4.2 star out of ten.
Regardless of the recognition of the Silent Hill video games and the lasting essential reward and acclaim they nonetheless boast, Return To Silent Hill‘s lackluster assessment scores continues the pattern of the Silent Hill movie variations not getting close to to the constructive reception of the supply materials they adapt.
The unique 2006 Silent Hill fared greatest, however nonetheless solely netted a 34% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, although it managed a 63% viewers rating and a 6.5 on IMDb. Its successor, 2012’s Silent Hill: Revelation, has a strikingly low 8% assessment rating on Rotten Tomatoes, although its viewers rating is notably barely increased than the brand new 2026 film, with a 35% viewers rating, and a 4.9 stars out of 10 score on IMDb.
Given the primary three Silent Hill video games are sometimes celebrated as among the greatest and most layered horror video games of all time, the observe document of those variations is all of the extra tragic to notice, particularly since they now comprise 20 years of the franchise’s historical past.
Why Return To Silent Hill’s Overview Scores Are So Low
Return To Silent Hill‘s points are a mixture of the way in which wherein it adapts Silent Hill 2, and the changes it makes to the unique story.
The Silent Hill video games do in some methods seem like extra inherently difficult to adapt into the world of flicks, for the reason that enchantment of a lot of their gameplay is within the very particular atmospheric nature of them, that means failing to duplicate this precisely instantly loses followers.
Nevertheless, Return To Silent Hill‘s criticisms present viewers had points with greater than its tone. Within the movie’s efforts to adapt probably the most gripping parts of Silent Hill – such because the ever-famous Pyramid Head, who’s ostensibly probably the most well-known horror figures of all time – Return To Silent Hill typically appears to lose sight of what makes the sport’s figures and scenes genuinely gripping, decreasing them to set dressing at a number of factors.
Mix this with a sequence of alterations to the supply materials’s authentic story that derail a lot of what made the narrative resonate the primary time round that seem to have been made for unclear causes, and it is easy to see how and why Return To Silent Hill did not join with audiences as a lot as had been hoped for. Hopefully, the Silent Hill franchise will someday get a film that breaks this sample, and demonstrates the complete cinematic potential of the sequence and its fascinating tackle the world of psychological horror.