The Quiet ones – 2014
Whilst most would associate the word hammer with a D.I.Y tool, other’s would look elsewhere for a more famous and notorious type of Hammer.
No I don’t mean Mjolnir (Thor’s Hammer for those who are probably looking confused right about now), i’m talking about the notorious master’s of a genre, the production company Hammer Horror.
Whilst most of the younger generation only know the movie and not it’s production company, there are avid horror movie fans everywhere now fangirling harder than a Hiddlestoner.
This is the company who are responsible for many cult classics, including the likes of the 1957 success The Curse of Frankenstein and it’s 1958 follow up successful movie Dracula and no one could forget the Televisions series Hammer House of Horror.
However whilst the praise for the production company and it’s work continued, it seems it was rarely taken seriously in the industry.
After a long break, in the early 2000’s despite it’s hibernated state the company announced plans of future releases making the 21st century Hammer Horror’s revival period and what better way to do it than with a series of jump-fests or just this one in particular.
Ever fancied taking a trip to the 1970’s? Where student’ thirst for knowledge was far greater and superior than our own? Where the only real way to discover was to experiment? Well you don’t have to look to far as the Quiet Ones offers all this with a slow start. Whilst the most you will see in the first ten minutes is the unexplained event of a chandelier dropping from the ceiling caught on camera through one of the experiments conducted by the man teaching, Professor Coupland (Jarred Harris) will do just about anything to prove that the manifestation seen before his class is both explainable and easy to eradicate with simple psychology – and yet is it?. Brian McNeil (Sam Claflin – Hunger Games) is intrigued by this and the study in which his professor conducts to prove his theory, whilst he joins Coupland and his team; joker Harry Abrams (Rory Fleck-Byrne) and sultry Kristina Dalton (Erin Richards), it is short lived as the funding is stopped leaving a desperate Coupland to continue alone, whilst he uses the art of persuasion to have his camera man and his two sidekicks along for the ride. Seemingly nothing out of the ordinary has happened, whilst a confused and depressed Jane Harper played by the very talented Olivia Cooke leaves us all a little creeped out and scared knowing that she has a friend called ‘Evey’, and we can’t see her.
Isolated the team continue their experiments and explore who ‘Evey’ is through a distressed Jane, but the more they continue the more that Brian feels for her as throughout the movie he gradually begins to get emotionally attached and it seems emotions and tensions run high as with each minute new things, both paranormally and naturally, occur (like dare I mention an affair). But despite his team walking out on him Coupland continues alone, and his obsession becomes even more obvious towards the end, whilst it is discovered when Kris and Harry return that Coupland has been lying the entire time leaving Harry, Kristina, Brian and a very powerful Jane to turn on him leaving him with no choice.
The long build up pays off as events meet their climatic end and ultimately leave you shocked and a little scared, but in true Hammer Horror tradition – left with plenty more questions.
With twists and turns that will have your head reeling and your hairs standing on end, The Quiet Ones is not the movie to miss, but most certainly a slow starter. So if you expect action right off the bat, remember – sometimes it’s not always the amount of action, it’s the escalation that leads up to a real scream.
Little Pen 