Return To Silent Hill explains why James killed Mary and tied it to a cult

Spoilers for Silent Hill 2 and Return to Silent Hill.

At the heart of Silent Hill 2 is James Sunderland's guilt. After killing his terminally ill wife out of frustration, he has thrown himself into a hell of his own making. The remorse for his actions and the inability to live with the horrors he has wrought become apparent. Corpses resembling James are scattered throughout the city, a strange woman named Maria—who embodies the qualities he wishes his wife Mary had—leans on him for help, and a menacing executioner who embodies his trauma stalks his every move, pushing him to confront the truth.

Bizarrely, Pyramid Head features more in the 2006 film, even though he shouldn't be in that story.

But in Return to Silent Hill, the latest film adaptation of the series, Mary asks James to do it. He is not driven by a selfish desire to be free, tired of taking care of his wife: it is a mercy killing. Her father, a cult leader (seemingly no relation to The Order), had poisoned her, and she wanted to get rid of his misery. It's a strange decision, as the film still pushes James toward the end of In Water, where he kills himself after being consumed by remorse.

“missing the whole point”

Angela grabs a knife with both hands in Return to Silent Hill.

Returning to Silent Hill's audience and critical numbers speak for themselves – it's not exactly a popular film. But this particular change to the story has proven particularly controversial, with some fans, like u/LEVITIKUZ, going so far as to say it completely “ruins the plot”.

“I understand that with movie adaptations things have to change from the comics or the book or the game,” they continued. “But this is the main plot of the game in that James selfishly killed Mary and the movie changed that. It made me so angry.”

Things aren't much better when scouring Letterboxd, either, with reviewers like Justin Decloux baffled by how “it completely misses the whole point of the original source material” and asking, “How can you love something so much and get it so wrong?”

As Robin M mused: “Let's make the home invader a good guy! And the wife of a cult member even though the cult has very little to do with Silent Hill 2!”

At least we have the remake?