Since we’re fast
approaching Halloween, I figured it was time I reviewed a horror film. I chose The
Quiet Ones, a British supernatural horror movie directed by John
Pogue. The film stars Jared Harris as
Joseph Coupland, a university professor from Oxford who conducts an experiment to
try and prove that demonic possession isn’t real and can in fact be cured as if
it were any other affliction. He
recruits a student named Brian (played by Sam Clafin, Hunger Games: Catching Fire) as a cameraman to document the process
and along with his two assistants, the four retreat to a secluded house in the
country where they can perform the experiment uninterrupted. The subject is a girl named Jane Harper who
was abandoned as a child and has long been passed from home to home. She continues to go along with the experiment
believing Professor Coupland can cure her.
However, it becomes clear that the forces involved in Jane’s life are
far more complex and evil than the Professor and his students imagined. Still, in an attempt to prove his hypothesis,
Coupland goes to extreme and inhuman lengths to get results.
The film received largely
negative reviews and for the most part felt repetitive and unoriginal. That being said, I still found it
entertaining for several reasons. For
one, there are many “stomach clenching” moments which leave you waiting anxiously
for something horrific to happen. This
to me is the mark of a truly great horror film.
It’s one of the things that made The
Blair Witch Project so successful.
Sometimes, the thought of something frightening happening is more
horrifying than something actually happening and in this way the movie uses
your own mind against you. In addition,
the film is “loosely based on true events” in that it mimics the Philip
Experiment in which a group of researchers attempted to prove that ghosts and
possession are merely manifestations of our own subconscious. I found this very intriguing and the The Quiet Ones adapts this story lightly
enough to allow for elaboration while still maintaining the core concept.
All in all, the
film was creepy and worth the 92 minute run time just like most horror
movies. Horror is one of those genres
where you almost always go in to it knowing that from a film standpoint it will
probably be less than spectacular. But
that isn’t the point. With the exception
of the few horror films which transcend the genre and become classics, most
scary movies are intended to do just that, scare you. This film did that on some level and so I
would recommend it for that reason. But
don’t expect to be wowed, just expect to be startled.
