The Quiet Ones

Aside from The Exorcist, possession films always seem so lacking. They never have enough real, human tension. They focus on predictable jump scares and an even more predictable plot. It's safe to say that, in general, possession films don't have much to offer. Thankfully, The Quiet Ones does not suffer from the same faults of many other similar films.

Rather than simply focus on the dark progression of a possessed being, The Quiet Ones presents the frustrating fears that torment the young, inexperienced scientists, as they struggle with their desire to help a suffering being through the means of science and logic, the underlying threat of possible demonic possession,and the obsessive nature of Professor Coupland.

The performance of the cast is top notch, the effects are subtle, the only disappointing aspect was the very, very end, and the fact that as a whole, the film just wasn't that scary. Still, if the concept of possession interests you, but you've been disappointed with past projects, you might want to give this a shot.

A psychiatrist takes a team of people to a retreat with a mental health patient in order to help her. Part of the process is the conducting of a series of experiments which go terribly awry.

An initial struggle for me was how can a doctor be allowed to take a vulnerable patient away and use as a guinea pig; the ease with which it occurred, caused certain moral thrash. As the story moves on, certain inexplicable incidents occur with seem to trouble the entire team.

Of course these "incidents" have had to take place since this is after all a horror film. The events cause a certain split as the doctor in charge believes there is a naturalistic explanation behind it whilst some of the team hold the view that there is a transcendent reality beyond what we see, feel and understand.

On the whole, it is an effective horror film as the story progresses with good pace, upping the intensity with the passing of time. It is held back by a rather sense of predictability due to a highly worked story/theme (night/dark/silence interrupted by a sudden noisy intervention) and a not very believable initiating incident (the taking of a patient away for experimentation).

"The Quiet Ones" focuses on a three students at the University of Oxford who join a research group led by Dr. Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris). The group is working to document parapsychological phenomenon in a young woman whom they believe has created and manifests a presence which she calls Evie. Isolated in the back country outside of Oxford, the group begins to unravel and secrets come to light.

I first off have to say that the primary reason I saw this film was because the poster was breathtaking— Gothic, beautiful, and unconventional. I wasn't even that impressed with the trailer, but the poster had some promise for me. Now, after seeing the film, I have mixed feelings.

It starts off well enough, and maintains a sense of ambiguity in its early stages, keeping the audience at arm's length; this is wonderful during the first act, but the problem is that it never seems to break free of this, even as the plot unravels and the truth comes out in the end— there is little surprise in the film because it never lets its audience in close enough to be affected by it. Clunky pacing and editing is largely the culprit here, which seems to prevent the film from ever really gaining steam. Instead, we are presented with a series of repetitious happenings that fail to build on one another, and the film edges on becoming an unmemorable blur as a consequence. The script feasts heavily on the staples of 21st century American horror films to its own detriment— we have possessed girls in white dresses, Satanic symbols, demons, religious cults, blah, blah, blah. You know the story.

That said, the film does have some strengths. The script is purportedly based on an actual experiment done in Toronto in the 1970s, so the film does have that working in its favor, no matter how ludicrous it is to take the events depicted at face value— the fact that there is at least a shred of truth to this is compelling in a world where every horror film released makes false claims of being based on reality. It is also remarkably well photographed; the interplay between the standard camera and the 8mm footage being filmed by the characters lends the picture a unique mood and sense of voyeurism, and the depictions of the experiments at times recall John Hough's British classic, "The Legend of Hell House." The performances in the film are also solid, with Jared Harris reeling everything in.

I think the overall problem I had with this film was, despite the fact that it roots itself in history as a period piece, the majority of it is just frankly underwhelming because it too often takes the route of 90% of the horror films we see released here in America every month. The premise is intriguing, but the execution leaves us with a relatively well-made film whose main problem is that is just isn't that darned compelling. 6/10.

I cut it off at 25 min...constantly having to adjust the volume. Loud as hell, characters whispering, loud as hell, characters whispering...SO ANNOYING

So, The Quiet Ones. I gave this film an 8 out of 10. I would however give it a rating of 7.8 if I could.

The Positives: The Quiet Ones is very successful in building up tension. It builds it up and then a jump scene comes at you and throws you out of your seat!

It is also a great concept. As the story progresses you begin to see more to the story than what we first thought.

Also TQO manages to go into different stories based on real legends (e.g. The theories they come up with and the covens they slightly touch upon.)

It is also quite creepy and intense with many scenes that make you say to yourself: WTF?!

The Negatives: TQO does not go deep enough into the story. They could have made the run time longer resulting in the movie being a lot more frightening. At the end of the movie, clearly not destined for a sequel we are left with many un-answered questions.

It is easily forgettable! After watching the film I simply left the screening. I did not take a minute to think about what I watched, literally the second I left the cinema I forgot about it.

The ending is also very disappointing. After all the build up I bet you were expecting a dramatic, jaw dropping climax?.... Well this movie does not offer that. Up until the end all the other negatives could have easily been forgiven. All it would have needed was a better ending.

And finally I'm going to tell you the problem with this film that occurs all of the time. 'Based on a true story'. If you are a director reading this STOP ADDING THOSE 5 WORDS! It makes the film feel scarier obviously but it also makes the director have to keep it realistic and that is usually a big downfall!

So 7.8 is what I give this film. It is creepy, jumpy and an interesting mix of found footage genre cinematography and regular cinematography. However; TQO simply isn't very believable and it is not good enough to get out of the 7 rating.