The Quiet Ones (2014)

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The Quiet Ones is a low budget but routine supernatural horror film but it lacks scares despite giving out noisy jolts on a regular basis.Three students from Oxford University help Professor Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris) in an experiment in abnormal psychology. A young disturbed woman Jane is seemingly possessed by another entity called Evey. Once the university funding is cut, they move to a house in London, where Jane is effectively tortured.Jane is deprived of sleep, played loud music so evil Evey can manifest itself. Coupland seems to be unconcerned of Jane's wellbeing or the ethics of his experiments. He believes that nothing is supernatural but explained by the power of the mind which can be cured rationally. However things go bump in the night, visions and symbols are seen and a flaming long tongue shoots out at one point but Coupland seems to put a rationale explanation for it all.Brian (Sam Claflin) is the cameraman who records everything but becomes uneasy about lecherous Coupland's approach and is concerned about Jane who he believes is possessed.The film has a nice retro look about it as it is based in 1974 but it is cliched and generic. It is empty when it should had been eerie.

After seeing the trailer, I had a lot of expectations from this movie.The trailer gave away the mood of the film, but without spoiling the whole movie, this gave me good hope. (To admit, not only the trailer gave me this expectations, so did the fact that Sam Claflin played in it.) Like all horror movies it took a while before there was any action, but even after like an hour our so, there still wasn't any kind of real horror, it didn't gave me any chills. It was just slow, and for me they didn't really went deep enough. It was just shallow.The trailer and the story behind the movie intrigued me. I was curious how they would bring the real story come alive in the movie. In my opinion they really didn't succeed in that. They didn't bring the story alive like they should've done. The story behind the movie is more intriguing than the movie itself.I can't say where it went wrong, it just did in my opinion. They couldn't keep up the tension. The only remarkable thing about this movie is how they made the trailer so good, and the movie so bad, credits for that.I wouldn't waste my time looking at the movie, if the story is interesting to you, I would recommend to just look on the internet for more background information.

so in my humble reviews i try to focus more on who would like the movie, not why it is "objectively" good or bad. its not the most thrilling or creepy movie but it definitely has its moments. the antagonist isn't quite usual and your view on the characters changes a lot while watching. what makes this movie really interesting is the whole set(ting). the 70's optics are fresh and lively and you instantly dive into the whole thing. even for me as a late 90's kid it feels totally natural and not boring or bland at all. about the plot: it is quite mysterious till the end, you can make up many theories up until things get explained. sadly, the explanation is a little too flat and easy. that would be my only big criticism. coming to a conclusion id say: this movie is good for some decent thrill, and major 70's atmosphere. it even has some found footage elements without completely relying on that, which shakes things up a little every now and then. overall a nice experience.

Another new addition to the revitalized Hammer horror production line up, John Pogue's The Quiet Ones failed to reach the heights of Hammer's far more accomplished and well received reimaging of The Woman in Black from 2012 and completely flopped on release both critically and commercially. With many deriding The Quiet Ones on release and with a lowly feedback score from audiences you would expect this horror venture to be scarily bad, but in a surprising turn the film is a lot more effective than one would suspect even though it's potential was still far from reached.Another horror story inspired by actual events, the greatest strength of The Quiet Ones is in the telling of it's at times believable story, you're never absolutely sure on what exactly is occurring in the sense that there is either a rational explanation behind events or something far more sinister. Going the route of some old school found footage format in major places of the film also works well, unlike most modern day set found footage films where footage seems to be shot at the most inappropriate of times, the home movie filming here ads to the tension of the experiments taking place and never gets in the way of the actors who are led well by the ever good Jared Harris.Harris is another reason The Quiet Ones works to the level it does. Oft given tame supporting turns (Pompeii anyone?) Harris shares leading man duties with Sam Claflin's (who all girls would no doubt know as Finnick Odair from the Hunger Games) cameraman Brian, as dogged professor Coupland who is hell bent on finding a cure for the troubled/possessed young lady Jane Harper. Harris is a nice anchoring presence in a pretty fiery role while Claflin to has good moments as Brian. Director Pogue may fail to fully capitalize on the scares available to him with this story but there are enough jolts and jumps throughout to suggest that you'll think twice about sleeping with the lights off.The Quiet Ones is a small, effective little horror that never achieves any major heights to do anything that hasn't been seen before but there is enough within its intriguing story and enough power in its cast to overcome most major hurdles that occur with many such modern day horrors, that mainly being that they just aren't that scary. With a nice lead turn from Harris and some unpredictable turns, you could do far worse for your newest horror fix.3 untypical baby dolls out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check out - www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com