Hellion - El ángel caído

When it comes to the characterisation of children, Hollywood doesn't really have much of a gray area: a kid can be either unbearably cute and sweet or, alternately, a supernatural Hitler. That's pretty much it. When you go for the second option (which I encourage), your movie pretty much stands or falls with the child's acting performance. I'm glad to say "Whisper" really hits a bulls-eye in that field, because Blake Woodruff is an intensely frightening kid who nails every scene he's in. He's almost as scary as Harvey Stephens from "The Omen", the movie "Whisper" so transparently tries to ape. In fact Woodruff is almost too good, because it's incredibly frustrating how nobody ever picks up on his evilness. You know that scene from every slasher ever where you're supposed to yell "don't go in there!" when a character's being stupid? "Whisper" gives you that feeling for pretty much its entire running time, and nobody listens here either. Doesn't change the fact that it's quite entertaining though, because the scares are very well-done (despite the overuse of dream sequences) and the finale gives you everything you could want from this kind of B-movie. Just don't expect anything really creative.

During the years it was idling on my watchlist, I hadn't at all looked further than the poster, rating and synopsis, being under impression it's an indie film, so it was surprising to hear the fanfare of Universal studios, and see Michael Rooker and Joel Edgerton popping up. "Whisper" is, at core, a tired old story of an antichrist ("fallen angel", in the words of this film) child that doesn't get told or updated as much lately, but back in 2007 "Whisper" had fun realizing the old tale with minor changes and effort for entertainment.

Max (Josh Holloway) is denied a loan for a food shop he wants to own and operate, cornered and feeling down he gets persuaded to realize a kidnapping & extortion scheme by his friends. Together with his wife Roxanne (Sarah Wayne Callies), friends Sidney (Michael Rooker) and Vince (Joel Edgerton), they do the deed and soon start to understand that David is no typical child... He's a Damien from "The Omen" with an attitude of a Kevin McCallister. Well casted as well, I've always thought it's especially hard to create a good antagonistic child character in horror, and anchor it with befitting performance. Thankfully, Blake Woodruff delivers enough, and it's a shame this was his last before last ("Victor Crowley") movie. Against Blake stands the band of criminals, from which Michael Rooker disappears way too fast for my satisfaction, Joel Edgerton is good as the mischievous and problematic adult, Sarah Wayne Callies gives a solid performance, just her character doesn't stand out with anything, and Josh Holloway, the main protagonist, is also okay. Sit back and enjoy the little malice slowly manipulating and, of course, eventually killing people. Other than that, participate in the struggles and melodrama of the kidnappers, none of which will come off as new or more exciting than usually. Pacing's just quick enough to not lower itself into tediousness. As for the technical and aesthetical choices behind "Whisper", it smells of the according cinematic traditions of the 2000's, and I don't mean it all that badly, production design, special effects and such are fine. A Hollywood straight-to-dvd horror, is what it feels like.

"Whisper" is a good choice when you have run out of those mischievous children horror flicks that you like, and a decent choice for a random evening horror movie. It'd even better in younger audiences, despite the R rating it's not overtly explicit. My rating: 6/10.

This is a movie that you start to see it like a movie at Friday night, maybe even a cheap horror, but in conclusion it's established to be a good movie, not a cheap horror as you think at beginning. It prove to worth all the time you've spend to watch it. The good acting of Josh Holloway (known as Sawyer from Lost), Sarah Wayne Callies (known as Dr. Sara Tancredi from Prison Break) and the talented child Blake Woodruff, is make you feel good with this movie, only in case when you want to see a good thriller-horror movie. It has an interesting subject with a very well constructive story, almost like The Omen (2006), only better, and you'll discover that this movie doesn't have good or bad characters, only good or bad choices and strength of choose. Enjoy this movie! It's worth all the money.

If you too like to watch a movie just for a bed-time story you know the kind - it can't be complete crap, because you won't get into the story in the first minutes, but can't be too good too, 'cause you won't fall asleep during the rest of it. Magic category. And not so numerous as it looks like. "Whisper" seemed to fit, but - surprise - it doesn't.

A quite good Ransom-Omen-Shining mix story provides actors some good dialogues to play and apart from few flaws it holds the level. Solid, creative directing (which could be even better if wasn't so "present", so "hey!-this-cut-was-a-director's-idea!") draws the tension properly. Convincing acting, without embarrassing moments (especially the kid earns respect) and very good dark music harmonized with cinematography in few mood-building panoramas (don't know why I remembered this) complete the work - WE HAVE A GOOD MOVIE HERE (and we can't sleep).

A bunch of guys desperate for money kidnap an 8-year old boy and ask a large ransom. They take the boy to a remote location, and soon things start going very wrong.

Man, this was a creepy tale of pure evil! There were so many interesting twists and reveals. Each character had a back story contributing to their fate. Blake Woodruff is well cast as the boy, David (clever choice of name in the context of the film).

While Sidney (Michael Rooker) and especially Vince (Joel Edgerton) prove to be bad guys, Max (Josh Holloway) and his fiancée, Roxanne (Sarah Wayne Callies) are in the dire situation for very different reasons, and we root for them. Being pregnant, her motherly instincts are evident when she starts caring about David.

The film dishes up a number of very effective jump scares, and the wolves are terrifying in their own right. This is a diabolical film that will resonate with you even after the credits.

Would I watch it again? Yes.