Silent Hill's original game composer says he was "incredibly happy" when he saw the new movie, claims it keeps "the spirit of Silent Hill intact"

Silent Hill's original composer, Akira Yamaoka, has seen an early cut of Return to Silent Hill and is overjoyed with what he's seen so far.

While praising director Christophe Gans' "great technique and great perception" for what Silent Hill entails during a behind-the-scenes clip from IGN's Fall Fan Fest, Yamaoka revealed his reaction to watching the big-screen Silent Hill 2 adaptation.

"The first time I watched Return to Silent Hill, I felt incredibly happy as the spirit of Silent Hill was intact," Yamaoka said. "As a spectator, it moved me a lot despite the total lack of VFX in the version I watched. For me, that meant the movie was a huge success."

Yamaoka also revealed he watched Return to Silent Hill with a temporary soundtrack taken from an unnamed "PlayStation 2 video game" (if we had to guess, it would likely be Silent Hill 2) and decided to compose the movie's soundtrack himself.

Return to Silent Hill adapts the events of horror classic Silent Hill 2, which sees James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine) return to the fog-filled town in search of answers after receiving a letter from his dead wife, Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson).

Speaking about his experience filming Return to Silent Hill, Jeremy Irvine told Radio Times, "It is fun, but playing scared is exhausting. My character is going through a seriously intense mental breakdown and has created this world of monsters around him in his head. It was the hardest work I’ve ever had to do on a job."

Return to Silent Hill, also starring Wednesday's Evie Templeton, hits cinemas on January 23, 2026.

From The Legend of Zelda to BioShock, discover more of the upcoming video game movies currently in the works. There's also a guide on Silent Hill f endings if you want the full picture in Ebisugaoka.