The Quiet Ones (2014)

A university professor and a team of students conduct an experiment on a young woman, uncovering terrifyingly dark, unexpected forces in the process.

Director:

John Pogue

Writers:

Craig Rosenberg (screenplay by), Oren Moverman (screenplay by)

Stars:

Jared Harris, Sam Claflin, Olivia Cooke

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jared Harris	...	Professor Joseph Coupland
Sam Claflin	...	Brian McNeil
Erin Richards	...	Krissi Dalton
Rory Fleck Byrne	...	Harry Abrams (as Rory Fleck-Byrne)
Olivia Cooke	...	Jane Harper
Laurie Calvert	...	Phillip
Aldo Maland	...	David Q
Max Pirkis	...	David Q (older)
Tracy Ray	...	David Q's Mother
Richard Cunningham	...	Provost
Eileen Nicholas	...	Angry Neighbor
Rebecca Scott	...	Student #1
Aretha Ayeh	...	Student #2
Max Macintosh	...	Student #3 (as Max Mackintosh)
Harman Singh	...	Student #4

Storyline

In 1974, Oxford professor Joseph Coupland invites introspective lad Brian McNeil to film his experimental treatment of subject Jane Harper, aided by student assistants Krissi Dalton and Harry Abrams. Jane, a young woman with no memory of the past and repeatedly abandoned by foster families, believes herself possessed by a doll named Evey that gives her telekinetic power. Keeping her awake in an isolated house, Prof. Coupland intends that she puts her evil energy into an actual doll, thereafter destroying it to heal Jane. Amidst strange things happening in the house, Brian feels sorry for Jane and, researching her tattoo, learns an evil secret about Jane's past, and of Prof. Coupland's motivation.

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Plot Keywords:

experiment | 1970s | poltergeist | student | doll | 

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Taglines:

Something unspeakable is happening to Jane Harper.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and terror, sexual content, thematic material, language, and smoking throughout

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Quiet Ones

Filming Locations:

Bodleian Library, Broad Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,880,053, 27 April 2014

Gross USA:

$8,509,867

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$17,834,867

Company Credits

Production Co:

Caffeination, Exclusive Media Group, Hammer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film takes place in 1974.

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Goofs

"Cum on Feel the Noize" by 'Slade' was released in 1973 and is appropriate for the 1974 timeline. The track played in the movie is not the cover of the song recorded by Quiet Riot in 1983.

The version of Silver Machine played over the closing credits, however, is by Steven Roth and was recorded in about 2012. Although Rob Calvert and Steve MacManus are credited as writers, the 1972 Hawkwind original recording, featuring the late Lemmy, is not used.

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Quotes

Professor Joseph Coupland: Take your hands out of his trousers now, please.

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Connections

References The Exorcist (1973)

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Soundtracks

Silver Machine
Written by Robert Calvert and Dave Brock (as Steve MacManus)
Performed by Steven Roth
Courtesy of Cutting Edge Music Holdings
Published by EMI United Partnership ltd.

User Reviews

Intriguing, enjoyable, supernatural horror that lacks sufficient bite to really scare.

The Quiet Ones is the latest offering from resurrected horror studios Hammer Films. After the mixed fortunes of The Resident, Wake Wood, Let Me In and The Woman in Black, the studio that was once the spearhead of Great British horror lets rip with a chilling tale, purportedly based on truth, about a psychiatric patient's apparent supernatural abilities.

University professor Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris) and his research students, Krissi (Erin Richards) and Harry (Rory Fleck-Byrne), study Jane Harper (Olivia Cooke) through a slot in a locked door as, alone in her room, she appears able to summon the dead. While Jane torments herself and suffers at the hands of an apparent poltergeist, Coupland and his team endeavour to explain every occurrence with reason and logic. He recruits a young filmmaker, Brian (Sam Claflin), to document the experiment but Brian falls for Jane and her behavior becomes ever more extreme. But everything can be explained with science. Can't it?

We've been here before. The Quiet Ones is not an entirely original idea, but then neither was The Borderlands, and look how unnerving that was! It's a fine idea with great settings (Oxford University, an abandoned mansion) and good performances. The trouble is, for a horror it isn't terribly scary. I sat down for the screening expecting to grip the arms of my seat, scrunch up my toes and wonder again what the hell I was doing putting myself through this. Alas, the hair on the back of my neck remained largely prostrate. Maybe three horror films in a week deadens the impact.

There are plenty good 'jumps' but most are introduced with a rousing score or an obvious lull in activity. There are a few red herrings to build the tension and leave the viewer taut with expectation but at no point could I say I was scared or needed to look away from the screen to remind myself I was safe and in a cinema and not right there and about to be evil's next victim. Being on edge is good, but not good enough.

The special effects work well and there are one or two particularly enjoyable moments where DoP Mátyás Erdély has let rip with the lighting and camera work. Likewise, the props and set dressing set the scene beautifully but, were it not for the cast, John Pogue's film would be merely dull instead of at least managing to be enjoyable.

The last time I saw Jared Harris, he was swinging at the end of a rope in Mad Men and it's great to see him back on the big screen in a role that is less constricting than that of Lane Pryce. His Coupland is a combination of obsessive sleazebag and kindly mentor and the blend is perfect, never veering into the realms of pastiche. Likewise, Richards, most recently seen in Open Grave, draws us in with her determined temptress, the kind of girl you'd want to know but never cross.

It is Olivia Cooke, though, who makes The Quiet Ones worthwhile. It is difficult not to focus on her when she appears, even fleetingly, upon the screen. The other actors are her guests as she commands our attention. Always convincing as Jane the vulnerable waif, acolyte of evil and desperate victim, she manages to be sexy and enticing despite her sunken eyes and bruised skin; a black widow that Brian, unsurprisingly, struggles to resist. Let's hope Cooke isn't merely a saving grace in her next project: screenwriter Stiles White's directorial debut, Ouija.

The morning after, The Quiet Ones remains an intriguing story, true or not, that is well performed. But it lacks guts or real bite and, perhaps, could do with being a lot louder.

Or at least whispering in a very sinister way…

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