The Quiet Hour

I can't understand the 4.7 rating. This movie may not stand out in any particular way but it doesn't have any of the hallmarks of a bad movie. The acting is good, it looks good, it has a simple story but one that is compelling and a good atmosphere. I enjoyed watching it.

Sarah and her blind brother Tom are trying to survive after an alien invasion has ended life as they knew it and wiped out most of the Earth's population. (She's described as "feisty" officially but not that's not the word I would have used. She's just trying to get by, like everyone else.) When a stranger, Jude, pursued by a violent gang, disturbs Sarah and Tom's home, they have to decide whether or not to trust him and figure out how to stop the threat of the gang.

It doesn't have sci-fi action, it's a "quiet" film with a background sci-fi setting but still some interesting alien images and ideas.

The actors are good, the filming is good and the production is good. If this was a meal I'd describe it as good vegetarian. There's nothing really original, there are other movies with a very similar theme out there. It's power is its youth, our heroes, honestly portrayed when faced with loss and other far more aggressive stranger adults, whom happen to outnumber them. The youngest is immature and has a disability, all wrong steps stem from this innocence. From that point of view this is well crafted, and an engaging experience. The plot has several moments of true creativity and forethought. It ends well, which was satisfying. For me, being much older than the cast, I tended to see many missed opportunities. Sometimes the camera captured nature or sky with real flare, but there could have been much more of this. The Quiet Hour could have been peppered with symbolic natural image, on both small and grand scale. I liked the location, but it wasn't invested with enough for me. Then there is the aliens. I'm assuming a truly tight budget, because a bit more of that creativity could have brought this movie into a more contemporary horror. We enjoy a new age of computer graphics, and we should delight in possibilities. Overall though, as the movie wasn't long, I'm happy to recommend it.

Visually, this low budget drama is nicely done with atmospheric location and lighting.

The performances aren't bad. The main problem is that the actors really had very little to work with, and I feel for them.

There is no real plot beyond a very shallow rehash of the besieged-by-nutters theme. The SF/alien aspect is completely superfluous and is in no way required by the travesty that masquerades as a storyline. The dialogue is dreadful, with thin chunks of cliché exposition and old-hat speculations about aliens who the budget will not allow us to see.

As is so often the case, the first reviews of this movie are implausibly glowing... and similar. Draw your own conclusions.

As often, reviews and ratings on IMDb are completely wrong, as I found The Quiet Hour vastly underrated.

In gloom and at slow pace, accompanied by a very rich and touching score by Carlos José Alvarez, following Sarah and Tom through the hardships of survival is an intimate journey.

By avoiding an excess of action-driven plot points, as you would expect from your average alien invasion film, this one comes across far more evocative and tense.

It reminded me a bit of Testament by Lynne Littman, but The Quiet Hour is the better cinematic experience of the two, and I guess somewhat more positive. (Not that any of them could really be called cheerful to the slightest.)

I really should learn to check reviews before watching these things. I could have gone out to the shed, got some paint, daubed it on a wall and sat down to watch that dry instead.

Described as "sci-fi" there was very little to merit that description apart from a few brief CGI shots of alien spaceships hanging from the clouds like haemorroids. At least that was all I saw of the sci-fi element in this film before I realised that its lack of pace was casting an air of gloom over me and switched off.

The plot is slow. I mean, glacial. It's also, how can I put this.........dull.

I tried really hard but gave up after 35 minutes.