The Silence Review : A tolerable apocalyptic movie with great visuals but less thrills

☆☆☆☆☆ 2.5/5

Genre : Apocalyptic survival

Director : John R. Leonetti

Platform : Netflix

Based on a 2015 novel of the same name written by Tim Lebbon, The Silence is the story of a 16 year old Ally (played by Kiernan Shipka from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), who lost her hearing a few years ago. She and her family move out of their house and try find a way to survive when the world is threatened by deadly creatures who hunt their prey with sound.

You can’t resist but see how similar the characters and scenarios are similar to the Quite Place. While this movie is being hated for copying the plot of Quite Place, we need to know that the novel was written way before the script of Quite place.

Despite of common themes The Silence also offers some different circumstances. The screenplay gives you moments of suspense. In one scene we see Alley and her father are looking up in sky, seeing the electricity polls filled with the Vesps (the creatures). In another scene, the protagonists see a person standing alone on an empty street in black coat starring back at them, which is equally horrifying.

 However, the script fails to keep the suspense going on. The suspenseful moments soon dilutes into mediocrity. You really don’t feel any emotions for people who die surviving. You fail to figure out when will the creatures attack the characters. In some of the scenes the noise is loud enough to attract the creatures, still they survive. These factors make the creatures less daunting.

Unlike the Quite Place, this movie tells you how the society is adjusting to the situation, how people are using Social media as a means of survival and how the social structures of the society is changing. The movie reminds us that in such situations, it is the humans we need to be scared off, the creatures are secondary.

Watch it if you are looking for a decent apocalyptic movie with less horror and thrills but a satisfactory story.