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Horror Netflix Originals, are of the most valuable horror movies on Netflix. Always welcome, since you can’t get them anywhere else. I’m hoping that Netflix gets it right. “The Silence” is an apocalyptic movie with elements of evil cult and horror. IMDb classifies it as drama, horror, and sci-fi.
For me, it was something like Hitchcock’s The Birds meets Netflix’s Cargo and Bird Box. First things first, I think one of the weak moving pieces of this film is when it begins, and you get to know the family. The apocalypse is going on in the street, and from the outset, seeing each member of the family, you’ll easily figure who will die first.
It is a tale about a species of prehistoric predators. They are freed, by accident, from the bowels of the earth. The creatures start to spread around the world. An extended family leaves their city before the monsters have an opportunity to attack them. It begins in a highly entertaining note of mayhem. You see the inciting incident and how it affects the multi-protagonist team. Soon after, when the family escapes the city the movie becomes a bit more tranquil.
I felt sorry for Kiernan Shipka having to act a part this challenging. Anyway, I felt like that only until more of the character was revealed only. I have interacted with deaf people. They aren’t anything like the lead character in this movie. When I knew Ally, the protagonist, I thought that it’s a very difficult condition to portray. Still, there’s a catch to the character’s condition. Ally wasn’t always deaf, and she’s certainly not mute.
I liked the contemporary take on the Hitchcock subject. I enjoyed that a great percentage of the movie happens during daylight hours, you don’t get many horror movies like that. It has several scenes that are very shocking and anxiety-inducing.
Not counting that at first, it is kind of predictable, I didn’t like that this movie is strictly 90 minutes long. A movie about a catastrophic event like this could have been longer. The subplot of the cult could have been developed further, so maybe this movie is 20+ minutes shorter than it should have been. Netflix could create an extended cut of it if they wanted. I’d definitely watch that.
The evil cult is introduced way too late. Even adding ten minutes to the movie, with a more substantial subplot and at least a basic fleshing out of the evil cult’s characters, could have made me rate this movie a point higher. As it stands, the cult members are just one-dimensional cardboard silhouettes, and that hurts the movie. If I wanted to point at defects, I could expand this review by five more paragraphs. The cult takes the cake.
The moral of this movie, as I interpreted it, is this: Christ consciousness, for some people, means sacrificing yourself for those that you love can go on living. I won’t say which scene shows this, but it’s pretty obvious.
If you have lost a pet recently, don’t watch this movie. Also, if you are one of those persons, I included, that when they see an animal, generally a mammal, dying, you suffer more than seeing a human character dying, then seriously, don’t watch it. I sometimes enjoy seeing celluloid persons suffer and when they’re mauled and slaughtered to death on screen. Still, mammal abuse in movies is a faraway ballpark that I never want to go to.
If you like cataclysm movies, Hitchcock’s similar movies, and survival horror movies in general, you might like it. This is not The Birds, or Where Have all The People Gone even, but at least I didn’t fall asleep watching it.
Do You Know Other Horror Movies on Netflix Like This one?
If you have watched, and liked, any other horror movies on Netflix that give a new twist to an old horror movie idea, like The Silence does, please let us know in the comments below.
© Bholenath Valsan 2020-2021 — THE SILENCE – Best Horror Movies on Netflix
