SILVER TONGUED SILVER SCREEN: THE QUIET ONES

Last April a horror movie came out in theaters that sadly I missed. THE QUIET ONES is hard to describe. The first thing that attracted me to it was the obvious, it's a horror movie. Next I noticed it was from the same people who brought us THE WOMAN IN BLACK. That right there was enough to get me on board. But the film was only in theaters around my area for two weeks and then it was gone. I missed it as a result.

The Quiet Ones is a supernatural poltergeist possession film. It takes place in 1974 England at a Oxford University. Based on a true story as well. So far everything points to this being a solid horror film. The movie shifts between two perspectives, your typical omnipresent camera and through the camera of one of the characters making the movie essentially half found footage (Blair Witch style).

Professor Coupland is in the process of conducting a rather strange and potentially revolutionary experiment. A young woman name Jane Harper is exhibiting rather strange symptoms that appear to be signs of demonic possession. Coupland doesn't believe in the supernatural. He is convinced the phenomena is a product of Jane's mind, perhaps a latent telekinetic ability. Three students accompany him with the experiment, two to run the machines and record the data, and one to film the entire process.

Jane carries a doll with her, an idol representing the "evil spirit" inside her, a girl named Evey Dwyer. As the experiment proceeds the terrifying manifestations increase in intensity. Visual documentation of ectoplasm and violent telekinetic activity. Coupland is still convinced there's a scientific explanation but the students are beginning to doubt. One of the students researches the name Evey Dwyer and discovers that a young girl by the same name burned to death along with several others in an occult ritual intended to invoke a demonic Sumerian entity. They believe it is Evey who is possessing Jane until Jane reveals that she is Evey Dwyer. The room erupts in flames killing everyone except the camera man.

I'm torn with this one. I want to like it but there are several aspects of the film that fall short. The acting is good and the plot is quite unique considering it's such an overused genre. The film does a good job creating tension but then it quickly diffuses the scares with a lame payoff. It also suffers from a common problem with many of Rob Zombie's films, there are very few likable characters in it. To sum it up the film only halfway delivers. If only it hadn't held back on the scares and shock value it probably would have been a great movie. This is the problem with playing it safe and low budgets. Oh well. It wasn't time wasted.

Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 2 out of 10