![]() Jared Harris as psychology professor Joseph Coupland. Their number is bolstered by amateur cameraman Brian (Sam Hunger Games: Catching Fire Claflin), whose handheld recordings don’t just enable Coupland to document his work, but director John Pogue to mix the inevitable – and inconsistent - found-footage shaky-cam aesthetic into his. Maybe everyone else at Oxford was into prog rock instead. “Cure one patient,” he boasts, “you cure all mankind.” Coupland’s messianic mission is so daft, he’s managed to harvest just two disciples - eager, eye-candy students Krissi (Erin Richards) and Harry (Rory Fleck-Byrne). Maverick Oxford University psychology professor Joseph Coupland (Mad Men’s Jared Harris) is determined to prove that Jane’s affliction is literally all in her head by harnessing and “harvesting” this negative mental energy – like removing a cancer sufferer’s tumour. So here our patient, teenager Jane Harper (Olivia Cooke from TV’s Bates Motel), a mentally disturbed orphan, is supposedly possessed by a malevolent spirit named Evey. This isn't bad, this is lazy.which in many ways is worse than if the film was just bad.Play Using the convenient ‘Based on Actual Events’ alibi to strengthen its credentials, The Quiet Ones repurposes 1972’s ‘Philip Experiment’ in Toronto, Canada, in which academic researchers tried to “create” a ghost and so prove such spirits aren’t actually from a spiritual realm but in fact constructed by the human psyche (2012’s The Apparition dabbled in the same premise). I don't wanna say that this film is terrible, because I didn't think it was, it's just one that, considering the pedigree of those involved, should've been so much better than it actually was. But, to be honest, outside of the climax, the experiment isn't really THAT extreme, so it's hard to buy into these themes about the ethics of science. Of course, the film deals with the ethics of science and the experiments that are performed on Jane. But it's funny to me seeing how the most reasonable explanation is tossed aside in favor of something supernatural. I realize horror films aren't supposed to make sense, the impossible is made possible and all that jazz. Same thing happens here, you see Joseph trying to explain what is happening in the most logical of ways, only for him to be dismissed by Brian by using hocus pocus theories. This isn't exclusive to this film, but only in horror movies do you see the most logical explanation tossed aside in favor of something supernatural. I was gonna say that it's like going from homeless to poor, but I'm sure most homeless people would LOVE to be poor, so it's not a fair comparison. It's not like that's much of an improvement when you think about it. And even if you DID think it had a narrative, you probably thought it was uninspired as hell. The narrative is practically nonexistent. But, outside of the atmosphere, I can't really think of much else I found to be enjoyable about this movie. I think the film benefits from a good performance from Jared Harris. Now, I'm not suggesting that this film is like a screamer, because it isn't, as it has a certain level of atmosphere that screamers simply don't care to have, but the fact of the matter is that the jump scares in this film are really poorly done. Look at internet screamers, those are jump scares of the lowest quality. It doesn't, I could probably pull it off fairly easily to be quite honest. But it also shows a level of ignorance to suggest that jump scares take any REAL talent to pull off. While there is a point to the fact that anyone can make a brainless gorefest, it also takes talent to make sure that it is not JUST a gorefest, as Proxy, in spite of all its flaws, attempted. There's a review here that craps on gorefests like Proxy, which wasn't really that gory, or American Mary and how anyone can create disgust, but slow-building disquiet takes real talent. All they consist of is, literally, not even joking, really loud noises going off at random points. There's a certain moody atmosphere to the proceedings, but the scares themselves are really poorly constructed. #The quiet ones movieThis movie didn't really do a lot for me. ![]()
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