Le origini del male

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).

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.

"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

The Quiet Ones is the latest offering from resurrected horror studios Hammer Films. After the mixed fortunes of The Resident, Wake Wood, Let Me In and The Woman in Black, the studio that was once the spearhead of Great British horror lets rip with a chilling tale, purportedly based on truth, about a psychiatric patient's apparent supernatural abilities.

University professor Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris) and his research students, Krissi (Erin Richards) and Harry (Rory Fleck-Byrne), study Jane Harper (Olivia Cooke) through a slot in a locked door as, alone in her room, she appears able to summon the dead. While Jane torments herself and suffers at the hands of an apparent poltergeist, Coupland and his team endeavour to explain every occurrence with reason and logic. He recruits a young filmmaker, Brian (Sam Claflin), to document the experiment but Brian falls for Jane and her behavior becomes ever more extreme. But everything can be explained with science. Can't it?

We've been here before. The Quiet Ones is not an entirely original idea, but then neither was The Borderlands, and look how unnerving that was! It's a fine idea with great settings (Oxford University, an abandoned mansion) and good performances. The trouble is, for a horror it isn't terribly scary. I sat down for the screening expecting to grip the arms of my seat, scrunch up my toes and wonder again what the hell I was doing putting myself through this. Alas, the hair on the back of my neck remained largely prostrate. Maybe three horror films in a week deadens the impact.

There are plenty good 'jumps' but most are introduced with a rousing score or an obvious lull in activity. There are a few red herrings to build the tension and leave the viewer taut with expectation but at no point could I say I was scared or needed to look away from the screen to remind myself I was safe and in a cinema and not right there and about to be evil's next victim. Being on edge is good, but not good enough.

The special effects work well and there are one or two particularly enjoyable moments where DoP Mátyás Erdély has let rip with the lighting and camera work. Likewise, the props and set dressing set the scene beautifully but, were it not for the cast, John Pogue's film would be merely dull instead of at least managing to be enjoyable.

The last time I saw Jared Harris, he was swinging at the end of a rope in Mad Men and it's great to see him back on the big screen in a role that is less constricting than that of Lane Pryce. His Coupland is a combination of obsessive sleazebag and kindly mentor and the blend is perfect, never veering into the realms of pastiche. Likewise, Richards, most recently seen in Open Grave, draws us in with her determined temptress, the kind of girl you'd want to know but never cross.

It is Olivia Cooke, though, who makes The Quiet Ones worthwhile. It is difficult not to focus on her when she appears, even fleetingly, upon the screen. The other actors are her guests as she commands our attention. Always convincing as Jane the vulnerable waif, acolyte of evil and desperate victim, she manages to be sexy and enticing despite her sunken eyes and bruised skin; a black widow that Brian, unsurprisingly, struggles to resist. Let's hope Cooke isn't merely a saving grace in her next project: screenwriter Stiles White's directorial debut, Ouija.

The morning after, The Quiet Ones remains an intriguing story, true or not, that is well performed. But it lacks guts or real bite and, perhaps, could do with being a lot louder.

Or at least whispering in a very sinister way…

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