The Silence (2019)

Four months after the release of Bird Box, the disappointing horror starring Sandra Bullock, comes another horror from Netflix where the characters can no longer do something. That film is The Silence and stars another big name, Stanley Tucci, the reason I decided to check this out.

The story follows Ally (Kiernan Shipka), a 16-year-old who has lost her hearing at the age of 13, and her family as they try to survive after a team of explorers accidentally released an unknown, primaeval species who start killing everything and everyone in their paths as long as they make noise.

Although it's based on Tim Lebbon's 2015 horror novel of the same name, and therefore it's just a coincidence, the plot is basically that of A Quiet Place, as they both have creatures hunting sounds and a deaf daughter, only The Silence is set as the apocalypse happens rather than in the aftermath, it's all super-weird, has many inconsistencies and plot holes —cities have collapsed and yet the internet works; the way the characters interact with Ally change every time; and how have the Veps (that's how they call the monsters) survived all those years in the cave?— and also involves an utterly pointless subplot with human antagonists, some sort of religious cult, who want to capture Ally so that they can exploit her heightened senses. What's worse though is that the story is pretty straightforward, it lacks real twists and suspense, and it's dull.

Another issue with The Silence is its inability to decently develop both its human characters and its creatures. As a result, the humans fail to be likeable and evoke sympathy, and the creatures fail to be menacing. The human characters behave in a quite logical manner though, I'll give the film that.

Fortunately, the cast does a decent job and makes the film a bit more tolerable. While I was not a fan of Kiernan Shipka as she looks like she is on the verge of crying right from the beginning, even before the apocalypse happened, Stanley Tucci and Miranda Otto do a good job as Ally's parents, despite the fact that the script doesn't give them much to work with.

Netflix

As for the visual aspect, The Silence is quite a mess. The effects are dull, the editing is terrible, and the monsters, while are very prehistoric-looking, which fits the story very well, lack creativity as they look like a bat and Alien had a baby or a baby of the A Quiet Place monsters. The biggest disappointment, however, comes from the horror. Just like Bird Box, The Silence lacks horror elements. It's just not scary and has no tension whatsoever.