"The Quiet Ones" (2014) Quiet and Boring

The Trailer:

Director: John Pogue
Cast: Jared Harris, Sam Claflin, Olivia Cooke, Erin Richards, & Rory Fleck-Byrne
Plot Summary: Professor Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris) along with two of his students— Krissi Dalton (Erin Richards), and Harry Abrams (Rory Fleck-Byrne)— conduct experiments on Jane Harper (Olivia Cooke) at a remote house all while another student, Brian McNeil (Sam Claflin) films it.

If you're looking for a less than decent horror film then The Quiet Ones is the movie for you. There is little horror and a somewhat interesting story that might keep you watching until the end, but maybe not. The premise is kind of cool, though and the actors give solid performances. The cinematography is fairly good as well.

To add to the plot summary, Professor Joseph Coupland believes Jane to be possessed with an evil spirit, named Evey. He hypothesizes that he can convince Jane, through various experiments, to channel Evey's evil energy and place it into an inanimate object. When the entity is in the inanimate object, they can then destroy said object thus eradicating the entity entirely. Sounds cool, right? Like a kind of evil scientist mixed with paranormal elements, but they just didn't pull it off in an original way. And that's disappointing, man, because this movie could've been awesome and totally new territory for the horror genre, but, instead, it fell flat with a generic, whatever, blah, backstory. Another disappointment of The Quiet Ones is the fact that literally every "scary" occurrence is shown in the trailers, so there's never a surprise with any of them. Lame!

The acting is great, which makes it a waste on such a average movie. Professor Joseph Coupland is charming, cocky, and completely indifferent about Jane's condition. Jared Harris is perfect for this role as he's got that perpetual raised eyebrow and a face that dares others to challenge him. Sam Claflin as Brian McNeil is endearing and sympathetic to Jane's predicament: it is written all over his face every time he doesn't agree with what Professor Coupland is doing or when he is genuinely terrified of Jane. Olivia Cooke as Jane Harper is sincere and small, like a frightened child, yet can also be manipulative and terrifying. Krissi Dalton played by Erin Richards is the pretty, brainy girl with too much adoration for her professor: She wants to impress him in order to get closer to him, though he doesn't seem to be interested. Harry Abrams, played by Rory Fleck-Byrne, has the most gorgeous blond curls I have ever seen, but that's beside the point. His interest in the experiments seems to stem from his desire to be a apart of something groundbreaking rather than a desire to actually help Jane, but even still he doesn't seem all that interested in them. Both Harry and Krissi are like eager children wanting to please teacher, but both seem like they don't really know what they're doing and how any of these experiments will affect Jane. Overall, the acting is good and credible.

The cinematography is phenomenal. Since the film is set in the 1970's, the cinematographer really tried to capture that fuzzy warmth of seventies films and photographs. Especially when we are seeing through Brian's camera as he's recording the experiments, it's reminiscent of old home movies but not a replica. And the clothes worn are realistic to the time frame, but not costume-y. Which is nice, as with some movies set in earlier decades we see kitschy, over-the-top costumes. Then of course we have the big, dilapidated house where the majority of the movie is filmed; it's got this creepy abandonment, isolated aura about it that sets the tone for what is to come after they move into it.

The Quiet Ones' biggest flaw is it's lack of innovation. It had a lot of good going for it. There's a lot of build-up without too many in-your-face scares, it has a static creepiness throughout, and the story is fairly new, but then the end comes and tries to tie up the film in this convoluted explanation that doesn't work. I mean, after all that build up and interesting story, we get some run of the mill, b-horror movie ending. And, initially, I was a bit annoyed by it. I couldn't believe that I'd invested my time and interest in this movie only for it to utterly fail me in the end. Actually, I'm still a little annoyed, even months after my initial viewing. It's just disappointing because there was such potential, you know? Also, the weird, sexual tension between Jane and Brian seems kind of gross and weird. Like he's attracted to a mentally unstable, sometimes childlike girl. It seems weird and never comes to fruition, which is kind of another annoyance. Why place it in the story when it doesn't make a difference one way or another?

The Quiet Ones is a decent horror film for those who don't particularly like to be scared. But for those of who want more creativity and depth to a horror film with real terror, this is not the movie for us. I don't regret watching it but I wouldn't watch it again. Side note: what was with the incessant playing of Cum on Feel The Noize? They couldn't afford rights to any other song? Not that it's a bad song, but hearing small snippets of it over and over again is a bit annoying.