HORROR YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: THE QUIET ONES (2014)

THE QUIET ONES (2014)

What horror fan isn’t happy that Hammer is back in business making horror flicks and they seem to, so far, be trying to deliver them in that old fashioned gothic horror style they are famous for. The latest flick from the legendary studio is The Quiet Ones a supernatural chiller about a young woman named Jane Harper (Olivia Cooke) who, upon appearance, is possessed by an angry spirit named Evey. But, her doctor, a Professor Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris) believes the supernatural is simply manifestations of an unbalanced mind and intends to use Jane in experiments to prove that Evey is a manifestation of Jane’s own psychosis… or so he thinks. He brings along students Brian (Sam Claflin), Harry (Rory Fleck-Byren) and Kristina (Erin Richards) to assist and document his experiments in a secluded old house after being thrown off campus for his unconventional methods. As the experiments probe deeper and Brian documents with his camera, Professor Coupland may have to face some horrifying facts about the real truth of what is psychological and what is supernatural.

The Quiet Ones is an interesting supernatural thriller to a degree and has some spooky moments but, doesn’t really get scary and seems to get a little too theatrical in it’s final act for it’s own good. The film is set in the mid 70s and supposedly based on real experiments but, the film, directed with some atmosphere by John Pogue, never really pulls us into Jane’s torment or really makes good use of it’s story. Four writers are credited and maybe that’s why it seems to be a supernatural soup that someone keeps throwing ingredients into in the form of plot twists that aren’t all too surprising and sudden jolts of horror elements we’ve all seen before such as CGI vomited entities, popping light bulbs and boiling baths.Then, there is various human melodrama such as, is Brian falling for Jane, is Coupland shagging a student and what is his obsession with Jane anyway? None of the answers to these questions is either all too unexpected and some ultimately don’t really have much baring on the plot. It’s no surprise that we start to see Coupland as more Frankenstein than Freud and his motivations are quite cliche’ as these flicks go. It’s not quite as bad as it sounds. It can be entertaining at times and it’s never dull. It also has some spooky moments but, it’s never innovational or rises about the traditional cliche’s to tell it’s tale. Even the use of Brian’s film footage to give us a camera POV throughout seems convoluted and doesn’t really serve much purpose other than to try to add a little found footage element to the film. And that’s what brings this fairly well-acted and atmospheric chiller down, is that we’ve seen it all before and it comes to a predictable and familiar conclusion which is sad that none of the four writers could add a little innovation or originality even with it’s fact-based premise.

Pogue’s cast all are fine and do good work. Cooke makes a very sympathetic Jane but, can also be creepy when she needs to be. We like Jane and feel sorry for her as we’re not sure if Coupland’s experiments are doing more harm than good. As Coupland, Harris is effective as a man on the border between dedicated professor and mad scientist. Obviously he has personal reasons for his obsession and Harris convey’s to us that something is behind the man’s experiments before the plot reveals it. Sam Claflin makes a noble and likable hero in Brian and Richards and Fleck-Byren are adequate in their roles, though they don’t seem to add up to much when all is said and done.

So, in conclusion, The Quiet Ones is a moderately entertaining tale that doesn’t really make interesting enough use of it’s story and chooses to stay familiar and cliche’ despite the efforts of four writers working on it’s supposedly fact-based script. It has some effective atmosphere and performances and achieves some spooky moments but, never goes anywhere all that interesting with it’s story elements. I was never bored by watching it, but, also found very little of it memorable except for a couple of poor CGI effects that stuck out very badly in a film that seemed to use in-camera effects otherwise. Not a total loss but, very disappointing considering the directions it chose to go with it’s premise are ones already well traveled in the genre.

2 and 1/2 haunted heroines.

HORROR YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: OPEN GRAVE (2013)

OPEN GRAVE (2013)

Open Grave begins with a man (Sharlto Copley), who has lost his memory, waking up in a massive open grave filled with corpses and a gun. He’s rescued by a mute Asian woman (Josie Ho) and finds his way to a nearby house occupied by a group of people who also have no idea who they are and how they got there. The house is filled with weapons and there are gruesomely displayed corpses strewn about the woods and property… as well as some ominous cages. Now this group must try to trust each other and figure out who they are and why they are here in this secluded house surrounded by death… and something else. More importantly, who has done all this and is that person among them?

Written by Chris and Eddie Borey and directed by Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego (Apollo 18), Open Grave is quite an effective horror/mystery that is best enjoyed by knowing as little as possible going in so, I won’t spoil any important details… though I always try not to. The film starts us out with some gruesome imagery of Copley’s character awakening among a pile of corpses which is enough to set a forbidding tone and then places him among likewise people who have no idea why they are there amidst some very disturbing carnage. Lopez-Gallego builds some very strong tension and paranoia as the group tries to figure out who they are and why they are here and who has committed such atrocities and why. Is that person among them?… or watching them from somewhere else? The answers are fed to us slowly and we learned bits and pieces along with the characters with some solid horror movie moments added in so, we never relax and it fuels our curiosity even further as to what is going on and how this all came about. And when we find out, is when the characters do and it’s all a very effective ride and a refreshing twist on whatever kind of horror movie it turns out to be. The film does have a more moderate pace then most horror films today but, also has a nice visual style by the director and cinematographer Jose’ David Montero and we have a movie that looks as unsettling as it is.

As for the players…the cast are all very good at playing the fear and paranoia of being stuck in a nightmarish situation with little or no knowledge of what is happening. Copley is a strong lead who is trying to figure out who he is and what part he has played in all of this. Josie Ho is very effective acting only with her eyes as the mute woman who seems to be somehow key in this nightmare. We also have Thomas Kretschmann who ads to the tension, as a very paranoid member of the group who does not  trust Copley’s “John” in the slightest and Erin Richards who acts as a stabilizing element and seems to be the levelest head in the group. Rounding out are an equally effective Joseph Morgan and Max Wrottesley as the other group members. A good cast whose performances help make this flick work.

So, overall, Open Grave is a very effective and suspenseful horror/mystery that is not without some strong action and some very gruesome moments. Sure it’s a bit more moderately paced but, it reels you in with it’s opening scene imagery and then slowly feeds you a trail of blood soaked bread crumbs till all is revealed in the final act. Director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego crafts a very strong thriller that shows the potential he displayed in the sadly disappointing Apollo 18 was not a fluke when the man has a better script in his hands. Recommended!

3 and 1/2 stars… as I don’t want to give away any details with a more movie-centric rating!