The Silence (2019) Review!!

Synopsis – When the world is under attack from terrifying creatures who hunt their human prey by sound, 16-year old Ally Andrews, who lost her hearing at 13, and her family seek refuge in a remote haven.

My Take – Honestly the only reason I went into this film was due to the extensive negative reception the film has been receiving online, due to the comparisons it is facing with last year’s very successful A Quiet Place. The same thing was the case with the Netflix‘s very own Bird Box. A pointless debate nonetheless.

But then again, just in case you are curious, this John R. Leonetti directed film is based on the 2015 horror novel of the same name by British author Tim Lebbon, which started casting back in 2017, and had been lying on Global Road Entertainment’s shelf until the Netflix acquired it, so no, it is just a coincidence.

True, the film does feel like a whole lot of other films, like Alfred Hithcock‘s The Birds, The Mist and there’s even some subtle Hunger Games action towards the very end. And yet, while the presence of varying past projects can be felt throughout, this new Netflix thriller manages to forge a fresh, weird world that is both engaging and unnerving.

Sure, the film is relatively predictable but is also entertaining in its 90-minute running time. While it also lacks the scare-factor, very much like Bird Box, as the plot device is propped up for general entertainment rather than specifically for horror audiences.

The story follows Ally Andrews (Kiernan Shipka), a regular teenager whose life changed drastically after she lost her hearing in a car accident a few years ago. While she seems to be settling into her new form of life, somewhere else a cave research team mistakenly end up unearthing a flock of hearing-sensitive flying bat-like creatures called Vesps from the deep underground, who at once begin terrorizing major cities hereby plunging the world into chaos.

However, Ally and her family, consisting of her father, Hugh (Stanley Tucci), her mother Kelly (Miranda Otto), her younger brother Jude (Kyle Harrison Breitkopf), her maternal grandmother Lynn (Kate Trotter) and Hugh’s best friend Glenn (John Corbett), have an inherent advantage as they know the sign language to assist their communication as they seek. Improvising along their way, all they need to do is find a less noisy place to survive from this vicious beasts who are threatening to take over the planet.

Yes, the premise sounds suspiciously like A Quiet Place. But here the film de-mystifies the monsters quite early on, unlike A Quiet Place’s more ethereal beings but in practice the storytelling mechanics are largely the same: shut up and survive. Personally, my attention was gripped immediately, as the unveiling of the cave-dwelling, ancient Vesps brought back the same feeling ignited within me upon viewing The Descent over a decade ago. Furthering my nostalgia, the chaos unfolding felt very much attuned to that in Cloverfield.

The film is nowhere near a post-apocalyptic disaster people have made it ought to be, in fact, once the film actually gets around to telling the story it wants to tell, it does so rather capably, especially the second half which includes some legitimately inventive applications of its silent horror concept. Wish Upon and Annabelle director John R. Leonetti is no stranger to horror, and here he manages to put together a few tense set pieces and, whilst the resultant tension is nowhere near the level of that other silent film, there’s enough here to make for a fairly taut 90 minute outing.

Rather than settling for following a successful formula, the film pushes the tried-and-true premise from its upsetting origins to its unthinkable limits. Monsters are dispatched in creative ways and the characters show real competency and mettle when it comes to silent problem-solving. The post-apocalyptic story of perseverance will have you holding your breath scene-to-scene, just like A Quiet Place and Bird Box. The jump scares are shocking. And that extreme sensory manipulation gimmick? As effective as ever. Indeed the film squeezes in a reasonably tense climax, with even a little ingenuity that finally offers some innovation on the premise.

However, the biggest flaw in this creature feature are the creatures themselves. They’re revealed to us less than five minutes into the feature and aren’t at all intimidating looking. Obviously CGI, the bat-pterodactyl hybrids just don’t make an impression despite their near constant screen presence. If they can’t scare us, what will?

Also their life cycle doesn’t make sense. They got from seeming to have maybe a thousand in the first scene to huge flocks in a matter of a few scenes. We learn that they lay eggs in the bodies of their prey – are they reproducing asexually? What did they eat in the cave, without turning to cannibalism?

Another weird move was the introduction of the cult who got thrown into the mix for the last half hour. Earlier hints are sprinkled about Vesps worshiping group of survivors led by a creepy Reverend, who have cut out their tongues to ensure they remain silent, but their sudden inclusion without zero motivation or backstory just felt, you know, tropey. Considering the creativity in the monsters, that’s a bit of a disappointment, yet the climactic fight between the Anderson family and the cult members somehow felt satisfactory.

However, what the film has going for it most is its solid cast, with Stanley Tucci as always on hand as the pragmatic dad who holds the whole family together, and Kiernan Shipka, an enigmatic young actress, who recently catapulted to fame thanks to Netflix‘s surprisingly excellent Sabrina the Teenage Witch series, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Her fellow Sabrina star Miranda Otto is also great here, while John Corbett plays his every man role perfectly. Kate Trotter and Kyle Harrison Breitkopf also gets moments to shine. On the whole, ‘The Silence’ is a fun and compelling apocalyptic flick which despite its obvious flaws manages to be wholly watchable.