The Quiet Ones is a period film set in 1970s Britain involving a professor, a couple of students and a filmmaker who are trying to prove that telekinesis and supernatural phenomenon are only a physical symptom of psychological problems that can be eliminated once completely externalized. I was really excited to see The Quiet Ones. First, The Quiet Ones is a Hammer Film Productions’ film. Second, I thought The Quiet Ones was a found footage film. Third, The Quiet Ones involves a psychological study gone wrong because of supernatural themes.
I was bored with The Quiet Ones after 50 minutes, and it is 98 minutes long. The Quiet Ones felt like a combination of The Stanford Experiment, Carrie and Wicker Man except not in a satisfying way. The Quiet Ones needed more Wicker Man and less tropey possessed girl as temptress/girl in need of rescue from all the men around her. I actually like Olivia Cook, but if I see her in one more movie or TV show where she plays the sick yet hot girl, I’m going to start asking for doctors to intervene on her behalf in real life. This is getting ridiculous. I think that if I did not see Cooke in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Bates Motel, and The Signal, I would have a higher tolerance level for this element of The Quiet Ones, but I have so I don’t. Instead I just rolled my eyes, thought, “Not this chick again. They are going to try and save her.”
Her presence made The Quiet Ones completely predictable and ruined the whole film for me. I really don’t get why people love her more than themselves and not just peace out. You just met her, and you are going to die. Run! I love my mom, but I have warned her that if she hears a commotion and goes outside to investigate, she will not only be going outside alone, but I am locking the door behind her. I can love you and not die because death by stupidity is embarrassing and entirely avoidable.
The Quiet Ones was trying to evoke the thick atmosphere of sexual tension that earlier Hammer Films Productions successfully evoked, but ultimately it fell flat. The Quiet Ones had a distinctive and beautiful visual feel, but not as lush as older films from Hammer Films Productions.
I was disappointed that The Quiet Ones was actually not a found footage film, but had all the awful, shaky cam elements of found footage. I wanted to go back in time and buy them a tripod. Every time something weird would happen, they would pick up the camera and move it from the point of focus. Argh, I thought that you wanted to capture the phenomenon.
The Quiet Ones should have further explored the tension between psychology and supernatural.
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The Quiet Ones original creates the polemic that the supernatural does not exist, but concludes that you actually cannot uncover the supernatural without embracing the psychological. The psychological experiment did uncover repressed memories and worked although the results are not what the studiers expected. Jane would have never discovered her real identity: that she is a conduit for a Sumerian demon that likes to barbeque. So hurrah…..? I actually liked the twist, and the destruction of the polemic. Poor Jane got trapped in two cults: a Sumerian demon cult and a university study cult led by a university professor with hidden motives. On the other hand, it indicates that The Quiet Ones also makes a dangerous false equivalency of suspecting the motives of a demon cult and zealous, unscrupulous psychological experimenters. They are both bad for the human subject, but one actually wants to manifest a demon on Earth so…..
Despite its promising elements, The Quiet Ones was ultimately a let down. All the ingredients were there, but it just wasn’t a delicious meal. Skip it!
Side note: who knew that Sumerian demons did not like hot blonde coeds so much. Damn. Who hurt you? I only feel bad for Krissi. She tried to run and had common sense.