The Quiet Ones review (SPOILERS)

Last night I was able to catch "The Quiet Ones" (a little late, since it came out April 2014, but whatever). For those who don't know, "The Quiet Ones" is a horror/psychological horror film about a small team experimenting on a young girl, presumably possessed, in an attempt to prove that ghosts and the supernatural do not exist and rather such phenomena are merely intense expressions of disturbed people's negative energy. It's a very intriguing concept, one that instantly sparked an interest for me and got me to see it out all the way. It's (extremely loosely) based on the theory of a real professor. The movie was definitely good. Not a timeless classic or masterpiece or anything, but definitely pretty damn good and worth a watch.

Many aspects of this film are hard for me to figure how I feel about them. I know I enjoyed the film, but I can't help but feel there were some uneasy aspects (which may be pros rather than cons, even contribute to the sort of unnerving and despicable attitude of the characters the directors were going for). One example of a strange topic is the characters. This movie is very heavily character driven, but only two of the characters in the movie are memorable. The professor who founded the project and team, Joseph, played by Jared Harris, is portrayed brilliantly. He can play the enthusiastic and passionate genius just as amazingly as the psychotic creep he turns out to be. Harris did such an outstanding job with his performance, I really was tossing back and forth in my mind the whole film "he's doing the wrong thing....he's actually right in the end....no he's bad...but maybe he's good...". The other phenomenal character is Jane Harper, the patient in the experiment supposedly possessed by the spirit "Evey", played by Olivia Cooke. Just like Joseph, it is hard to tell where Jane stands in the scheme of things. Is she a poor, innocent victim, or is there a dark and sinister malice there? You really can't decide for most of the movie. Her performance is so convincing and disorienting that you really can't tell. Somehow, through being so mysterious and the victim of so much inhumane abuse, the movie is able to make the viewer almost fall for Jane as the main character, Brian, does. You really start to worry for her and care about seeing if there is any way to save her - either from her own demons, her supposed possession, or possibly from the manipulative and abusive grasp of Joseph. The viewer connects with the main character through his passion towards Jane so much that when the crushing finally happens, you feel the pain he feels. But that brings us to our other, not so impressionable characters. Brian is the main protagonist, but he's little else. He's skeptical, and over time goes from agreeing with Joseph's theory, to believing Joseph's staging it all, to actually feeling Jane is possessed by a spirit. Aside from this and his growing affection towards Jane, there's nothing else to say. He's very plain and void of personality. Honestly, though, I excuse this a bit, as he's clearly the character the audience is meant to connect with. Sure, some more character would have been welcome, but I feel leaving him generally average and blank allows him to work better as the spectator character, as he essentially is the "outsider" or "normal guy" thrown in with this bizarre situation. Joseph's two assistants, though, are the truly bland characters. There's a girl, who's the token pretty girl who sleeps around, and her boyfriend who, well, is just another guy in the film. There's nothing to him. These characters are essential as it gives us more reactions towards the goings on, and it gives us more conflicting theories among characters, but they are awfully bland. Again, I don't think it matters too much, as the lack of development for them opens the door for lots more great development for Joseph and Jane, but I could see it being a valid issue with some viewers.

The effects, setting, visuals and music are all good. The dreary, secluded house sets the mood right, but the realistic change in lighting and weather help keep it from being one of those usual overly set mood movies, which many new haunting movies are, where all colors are drowned out with grey or green to force a dreary mood in a trashy way (among many other types of films). The effects are nothing over the top. Some special effects are crazier than others, but most are practical and not digital. If you want a crazy, super surreal horror flick, this isn't for you. This film's scare approach is more gradual, subtle, and based more on mystery and the rush to figure out what's happening rather than traditional haunting films.

The story is strong, and the mystery of it all keeps you glued to it until the end. There was a brief moment around the late middle where I thought the theory of what was happening to Jane was changed too many times and it just felt like the developers were stalling to draw it out more, but looking back, I like that more. They went down the path many movies don't, where the characters portray the audience and literally consider every possibility. In a situation like the one in the film, there would be no way to be certain about the happenings, and realistically everyone involved would be drastically changing their theories every day, unsure of what exactly is going on and how they're meant to react to it. So, for that, I say hats off to "The Quiet Ones". Sure it's not the first movie to do this approach, but it's nice that they did. Too many horror movies attempt something like this just by making a cheap twist in the middle or end, but this film is constantly twisting, because the explanation was never said to be concrete in the first place. As for the ending, I thought it was generally effective, and decent, but a bit weak. It's all powerful at first, but then it cuts to a final scene where Brian is being interviewed by authorities and is now believed to be responsible for the cast's deaths. It is revealed that at some point the spirit of Evey jumped into his body, but it's pretty random and unexplained. I honestly believe it would have been better if it just ended after the fire scene. I know they wanted to show that the same thing happened again as with the first fire, but having Brian become Evey just seemed like a generic "it still lives" ending you'd expect from a slasher movie or something. Not bad for some movies, but it ruined the style for this one in my opinion. Anyway, ending scene aside, it's still a pretty good story.

Like I said before, this film is nothing groundbreaking or amazing, but it's certainly entertaining and gripping, and it deserves more attention than it received. It was certainly a better horror film than the more well known ones from 2014, and a pretty good picture all around. I'd recommend it to most horror fans (those who appreciate all types of horror) or any fan of mysterious thrillers or psychological thrillers.