The Quiet Ones *Catching Up*

British horror films are creepy

So begins my trek to catch up with movies I missed this year, in order to round out my list in January. What better way to begin than with a horror movie that had a limited release (at least here in the United States)? Our story follows Professor Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris), who studies distraught children and teaches at Oxford University. His most recent experiment is a girl named Jane Harper (Olivia Cooke), whom he believes is harvesting her negative past in order to create telekinetic attacks that some believe to be evidence of possession. He hires on a team of students to help in his experiment, including a camera man named Brian McNeill (Sam Clafin). His experiment is eventually considered inhumane by the public, and his colleagues share the worry so they pull his funding. They all move to a small house in the country where they can continue their experiments on Jane, only there is a problem beginning to form. Brian is beginning to have feelings for Jane, and is starting to wonder if what they are doing is in her best interest. As the story unfolds we are torn between believing in the Professor or the camera man.

The story here is pretty solid as far as horror films go. We are introduced to the characters in a completely neutral way, and go through most of the film in the position of Brian, being let in on the experiment as early as he is. There is a lot of "ethics" talk that can be sparked from this movie, and even more debates formed on who was right. The ride to the ending can be a bit dull if you are looking for a quick paced horror romp, but if you are more interested in the path less taken than this movie is for you. The movie isn't comprised of necessarily new ideas, but the way in which we are introduced to them is fascinating. Unfortunately, this movie relies heavily on it's ending, and I get so annoyed with movies that have to make the entire movie less scary in order to have a more shocking ending. The first thing that jumped into my head was that this movie was pretty much a British version of "Paranormal Activity," but that is a bit unfair since this movie has more than a couple of redeeming qualities. This movie does remind me of a lot of other failed horror endeavors, fixing some major problems they fell into, while falling into a couple of the same traps. The story was good, the journey was interesting, but the build up just leaves you with a bit of a bland taste in your mouth.

The director here is a bit new to the chair, but he does the best with what he can. He gives the movie an eerie feel of menace like a small twitch in the back of your mind telling you that something is eventually going to happen. Unfortunately, it takes a long time for anything to actually happen, but his technique is pretty on point. If there was more to this movie, I dare say it would have been a brilliant achievement, sadly he had to work with the script he was given (he is given a screenplay writing credit, but I can't blame him entirely). This movie's short comings almost entirely spawn from it's lack of delivery, and by that I mean delivering on the eerie feeling. That eerie feeling is great to have, but it usually helps when there is a pay off. Something that happens giving our fear justification. Again, I feel that he could have done great work, but with a better script. So, the big answer to the big question here is: no, it is not scary. It is creepy as hell, but not scary.

The acting here was a bit half and half, which is weird since it seems we only get introduced to brilliant Brittish actors. The star of the show is obviously Jared Harris, proving to us that he can do any genre. He has a flair to him that I could easily identify as "horror film worthy," and he can still pull off Shakespeare if he wants. The two actors that drag the performance down are Erin Richards and Rory Fleck-Byrne, showing us all the true definition of "hamming it up." Sam Clafin is a promising talent, following his performance in the second Hunger Games with this was bold, and gave me a deeper look into his skill. So far so good, and I hope to see more from him. The real head-turner hear was Olivia Cooke. She is basically a pup to this industry and given what I have seen from her performances I don't know whether to call her good or not. In my recent review of Ouija she was god awful, giving the least convincing performance I have ever seen from a scream queen. Now, she gives me this. What do I do with this? She was brilliant as a possessed girl! She makes the audience believe she could be possessed while still leaving doubt that she might be just mentally ill. She struck a chord right in the middle perfectly. Maybe Ouija was just the wrong role for her, so please Hollywood give this girl more roles like this.

Final Verdict: Netflix it I had a lot of hope for this movie, but it showed most of the scary bits in the trailer. Luckily the director and most of the cast tried their hardest. Good for a topical movie, on a night you and your friends are looking for something to talk about.