The Quiet Ones

The Quiet Ones is a new British horror movie from the makers of The Woman in Black. Produced by the classic crafters of horror, Hammer Productions, the film follows an Oxford professor (Jared Harris), his tutees and a student cameraman (Sam Claflin) as they attempt to both prove and document the theory that supernatural powers are simply a manifestation of psychological trauma. They begin studying a young girl who believes she is possessed by an evil entity, and a strange relationship begins to develop between her and cameraman Brian as the professor's attempts to create a poltergeist take their toll.

In an era where endless Paranormal Activity sequels, squeezing every buck out of the found-footage genre and reliance purely on cattle-prod jump scares, it's refreshing to see a horror film that seems to have been made by people who understand how suspense works. In the same way that Woman in Black tricked you into thinking that it's going to be a run-of-the-mill horror flick set in a creaky old house but did something interesting, The Quiet Ones uses the 'house in the middle of nowhere' setting in a way that doesn't just turn the lights off and throw furniture around when things go wrong.

While rare (but noticeable), there are still uses of very loud noises out of absolutely nowhere to accentuate the scares, but asides from that, they are achieved through realistic and unobtrusive special effects, a sparing but effective use of a rumbling, mechanical musical score (there is something to be said for music that can make a scene of occult research feel intense) and an unflinching refusal by the camera to shy away from the horror. The camera-work is an interesting mix of live-action and old celluloid stock filmed from the perspective of the cameraman as he observes the increasing number of bizarre and terrifying events unfolding before the investigators.

As far as performances go, Jared Harris is well cast as the physics professor slowly declining into madness in a knowing manner very reminiscent of classic Hammer-horror and Sam Claflin builds a lot on his brief performance in Catching Fire, creating a very believable character struggling with his own beliefs as the absolute horror of the experiment becomes increasingly harder to deal with. Olivia Cooke is also very good as Jane, the tortured subject of the experiment, taking a very over-used character (the silent, unblinking possessed girl) and doing something interesting with it, alternating between an almost comatose recluse and a young woman dealing with adolescence and emerging emotions.

The running time of just less than 100 minutes means that some of the character development feels a little rushed, but it means that the film has adequate time to set up scares, deliver on the suspense, and create an intriguing story without feeling repetitive. Taking unexpected turns, featuring good performances and inciting real fear in the audience, The Quiet Ones is a very welcome breath of fresh air in mainstream horror movies, proving once again that constant scenes of exorcisms and annoying families with camcorders have become tired old tropes and that the best thing to do is wipe that all away and focus on believable characters and more interesting methods to create a genuinely tense atmosphere.

THE QUIET ONES is another disappointing effort put out by the new and revamped Hammer Films. It's a generic science-team-researches-ghost type effort, obviously modelled on old-fashioned epics like THE STONE TAPE, yet the material is so sub-standard and predictable that it becomes very difficult to sit through, let alone enjoy.

The entire blame for the failure can be laid on the script, which took at least four people to write; four diverse folk who between them wrote everything from URBAN Gothic and RAMPART to THE UNINVITED and QUARANTINE 2: TERMINAL . Everything else is adequate APART from the script: Sam Claflin is an acceptable lead actor, and Jared Harris is pleasingly old-fashioned in his approach to his role. I liked the idea of the 1970s setting and the film-within-a-film type material is always fun.

Unfortunately, the story boils down to all the old possession clichés, and even a few ridiculous CGI scenes here and there (thankfully they're kept extremely brief). Attempts to build mystery are negated by having an exceptionally dull explanation at the end, plus one of those stupid last-reel twists It's hardly a wonder that Hammer have gone very quiet recently, as none of their new films are remotely like their classics of old.

This isnt a bad movie. It just really irritates me when they purposely make the dialog barely audible so that you turn your tv up so you can follow the story. Then have all manner of loud noises to get cheap jump scares out of the audience. To me thats the biggest signal of a weak ass plot line or some other difficency the director or writers are trying to make up for. This movie is full of cheap jump scares with some real creepiness every so often.

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

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.