The Quiet Ones (2014) - The Exchangeable Ones - 6/10 (09/05/14)

"The Quiet Ones" is another exchangeable modern horror flick that includes a whole lot of stereotypes.

Story based on so-called "actual events"? Check.

Shaky cameras and low budget production (This one looks like a 10,000 Pound sterling movie school production)? Check.

Scary noises and sound effects here and there but one never sees any real superficial manifestation until the very last scenes? Check.

Average actresses and actors almost nobody knew and most of us will never ever hear about again? Check.

Stereotypical characters like a crazy professor, a superficial young woman and a shy intellectual? Check.

A haunted or possessed young woman with a dark secret? Check.

An old and isolated mansion in the countryside as main location? Check.

The appearance of a strange occult sect out of nowhere? Check.

As you can see, this movie offers nothing really new. It basically jumps on a current bandwagon around horror movies with supernatural elements. There are so many of them from intriguing ones like "Insidious" over good average ones as "The Conjuring" or "The Possession" to rather bad stuff in the key of "Devil's Due", "Mama", "Oculus" or "The Devil Inside". "The Quiet Ones" is situated somewhere between the good average and rather bad categories.

These are the positive elements of the movie: The character of experiment subject Jane Harper is well played and has some potential, especially her relationship to the weird college professor and the main actor who is a shy student filming the experiment and who starts to fatally fall in love with the young woman. The ending of the movie has a fair pace and dramatic conclusion. Apart of a few weaker moments in the beginning, the movie's length is just right and keeps you addicted until the end.

The negative points are these: The movie takes too much time to become really gripping. The story line is too predictable ad offers no real surprises. The shaky cameras are annoying and the scenes involving supernatural elements remain superficial. The secondary characters could have had some more development as one doesn't really care about their fate.  

Why is this movie called "The Quiet Ones"? It's because there is a random guy at a library at Oxford University yelling something about this at the shy student with the camera. Well, this is not really convincing either.

In the end, horror movie fans may honestly enjoy watching this movie once. It's entertaining and a good choice if you simply feel like changing your mind after a hard day at work. I would not watch it again or purchase the DVD but I definitely didn't regret watching it and had a good time. Don't expect anything extraordinary, this is for genre fans only.