The new Silent Hill movie, Return To Silent Hill, seems to have the perfect opportunity to rectify the major villain mistake made by the 2006 film. Directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary, 2006’s Silent Hill tried to bring the eerie world of the Konami survival horror games to the big screen. When it first premiered, the film was panned by viewers and critics, who were dissatisfied with all the changes it made to the original video games.

However, surprisingly, the film’s popularity grew from strength to strength over time, and many viewers started appreciating it for its effort to accurately encapsulate Silent Hill‘s atmosphere. Unfortunately, despite receiving more favorable reviews in recent years, the movie still gets criticized for its flawed portrayal of a primary villain. Return to Silent Hill can fix this misstep by closely adapting one element from the original game.

Return To Silent Hill Can Fix The First Film’s Flawed Pyramid Head Interpretation

A New Return To Silent Hill Update Is A Good Sign

The first Silent Hill movie was not received too well when it first premiered in 2006. However, over the years, the film has grown on the ones familiar with the games and garnered a lot of appreciation for its chilling visuals of the titular town. When it comes to its story, though, many cannot help but notice how the film completely misinterprets Pyramid Head’s significance in its storyline. From a visual standpoint, Pyramid Head in the movie effectively strikes fear in a viewer every time he appears on the screen because of his massive stature and inhuman aura.

The movie also brings some subtle changes to the original pyramid head’s helmet to make him appear more menacing than his video game counterpart. Sadly, despite all these efforts to make Pyramid Head look “cool” and surreal, the film completely forgets what made him scary in the first place. From the looks of it, Return to Silent Hill is finally fixing the first movie’s mistakes by sticking to the original Pyramid Head’s design and, hopefully, also capturing the essence and symbolism of the character in Silent Hill 2. Here is a look at Return to Silent Hill‘s Pyramid Head design, which makes him look a lot like how Silent Hill 2 portrays him:

2006’s Silent Hill Movie Missed The Point Of Pyramid Head

There Is More To Pyramid Head Than Meets The Eye

The 2006 movie introduced Pyramid Head as a regular monster who lurks in the central town after it transforms into the dreaded Silent Hill. In the original game series, however, Pyramid Head was first introduced in Silent Hill 2 and never supposed to be a one-dimensional antagonist whose sole purpose is to kill anyone who enters the town. Instead, he is supposed to be a projection of the protagonist’s (James Sunderland) repressed guilt and desire for punishment for murdering his wife, explaining why he looks a lot like an executioner.

The game’s story developer, Takayoshi Sato, also confirmed this (via CoreGamer) by saying, “Pyramid head is the distorted memory of the executioners.” While discussing Silent Hill‘s weirdly terrifying monsters, Sato also said that monsters that evoke true fear are beyond one’s understanding in appearance and also a reflection of one’s true self. Owing to this, Pyramid Head is a lot more than just a vicious, monstrous entity in the town, and it is wrong to portray him without the psychological depth and turmoil he symbolizes. Return to Silent Hill should remain more loyal to its source and correctly capture the layers in Pyramid Head’s characterization.

Will Return To Silent Hill Be Better Than The 2006 Movie?

Return To Silent Hill Seems To Be On The Right Track

Although little seems to be known about the new Silent Hill movie, little details about its storyline suggest it will be a far superior adaptation than the 2006 film. Instead of treading the same path as 2006’s Silent Hill and combining the best aspects of all the games, Return to Silent Hill is sticking to adapting Silent Hill 2, which is often touted as one of the best games in the series. As the movie’s teaser trailer suggests, director Christophe Gans seems to have a clearer idea about how he wishes to portray the video game’s story.

The few shots of the movie’s storyboard in the teaser also seem reminiscent of many visuals from Silent Hill 2. Even the casting choices for the movie, including Jeremy Irvine as James Sunderland and Hannah Emily Anderson as Mary, align well with the original characters’ appearances. However, since the 2006 movie and its sequel were underwhelming adaptations of the Silent Hill games, it is hard not to be cautiously optimistic about the new film.