Apr 23, 2019
Hi everyone!
So, yesterday I promised you I would stay silent today. Turns out that doesn’t work well for a podcast, so instead I did the next best thing and reviewed a film about silence. It’s even right there in the title. For two other films in the same vein, check out my review for one of my favorite films from last year, “A Quiet Place” (Episode #127), and another Netflix Original film, “Bird Box” (Episode #362).
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Here we go!
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Today’s movie is “The Silence”, the Netflix Original science-fiction horror film directed by John R. Leonetti, and written for the screen based on a script from Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke, based on the 2015 novel “The Silence” by Tim Lebbon. The film follows the outset of a plague of sightless bat-like creatures called vesps, which attack any creature they can hear. Now the suburban Andrews family must make their way out of the infected zone before they succumb to the creatures, and even worse monsters.
No spoilers.
Sensory adaptation movies seem to be having a renaissance, which is no surprise given last year’s runaway hit “A Quiet Place”, and the social media success of “Bird Box”. Each film represents a different primary sensory adaptation involving sight and sound, the only two senses that translate effectively to an audiovisual medium like the movies. Perhaps the advancements in the 4D experience will one day touch the other senses. Neither film was the first to play sensory adaptation, and neither film will be the last. However, if you’re looking for content that brings something new to the genre, or elevates the genre to a new level, then you’ll be sorely disappointed by today’s film.
“The Silence” has already been plagued with comparisons to “A Quiet Place”, what with both monsters being blind and with acute hearing, and both involving families trying to survive, and both families having someone who is hearing impaired as part of their group, which gives them an immediate advantage living in silence. It may be easy to call it a cheap knock-off, but Tim Lebbon’s novel “The Silence” predates production and development of “A Quiet Place”, at least the public parts, and initial production began in September 2017 for the film, well before there was ever “A Quiet Place”. Parallel thought happens a lot more than we think, especially thanks to the way that social media has a way of rediscovering classic films or concepts, and with more creators than ever throwing their ideas into the ring. I can’t even imagine what the producers of this film thought when “A Quiet Place” hit so big, and what it would do to their prospects.
Which is why ideas are not enough to judge a film, and there’s certainly a lot more to judge about this one. “The Silence” never really seems to come together, struggling from the start with dialogue and pacing. It’s a standard invasion escape story, complete with initial disbelief, a sudden reliance of ideas and methods previously considered too brutal for society, and a distrust of other humans, even in the face of a common enemy. John Corbett as militant uncle turns in as bad of a performance as Stanley Tucci as fearful father is disappointing. Kiernan Shipka and Miranda Otto fight uphill against “A Quiet Place” comparisons as a hearing mother / deaf daughter relationship, along with echoes of their screen time together on “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”. The second act of the film, focusing on surviving against ancient monsters and human monsters, is spent at a seemingly safe survivalist location, and has a few interesting moments, especially the woodchipper. Just not enough to distinguish itself from more recent films. “The Silence” seems to bank on the ideas carrying an otherwise rough story, and as such, has the legs cut out from under it by the aforementioned films. A few years later and this film might have had legs, but coming so close to two other sensory adaptation films makes it definitely feel like a cheap knock-off, and that’s unfortunate.
“The Silence” is not a cheap knock-off of “A Quiet Place”, but that comparison is understandable and unavoidable. What the film lacks in original ideas (based on first to market), it never seems to make up for with its execution, and perhaps never could this close to two other similar movies. Survival horror and alien/ancient invasion film fans should definitely check out this film, but maybe wait until the “A Quiet Place” franchise dies down a little bit.
Rotten Tomatoes: 27%
Metacritic: NR
One Movie Punch: 5.2/10
“The Silence” (2019) is rated PG-13and is currently playing on Netflix.