The Silence

This hybrid clone of A Quiet Place and Bird Box is such a B-movie that those of us accustomed mainly to “cinema production” might have trouble choking it down. I am of course referring mainly to the screenplay and direction here, as the well-funded Netflix is able to keep an eye on the production values. (05.05.2019)

While watching this movie, I realized that Netflix shamelessly rips off other movies to make their own B-flicks. POMO already mentioned that this film takes a lot from A Quiet Place and Bird Box; I will add that the musical aspect is a brutal rip-off of Han Zimmer’s organ music from Interstellar. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story and there was enough suspense to keep my attention. If I am to rate this movie apart from its lack of originality, it is good enough for three stars. (13.04.2020)

John R. Leonetti, director of Annabelle, has a shot with Netflix and delivers a little sibling to A Quiet Place and Bird Box about killer bats and it's sadly just average. Leonetti is a solid cinematographer, but he hasn't been very successful as a director so far. The main family is quite likeable but the post-apocalyptic road-movie movie line doesn't surprise with anything; pretty much everything has been handled better in previous films and the bats look decent but for my taste they didn't have that much room to show off (the gore is almost non-existent). Luckily it doesn't get boring, there is the occasional suspenseful scene, but A Quiet Place and Bird Box were both much better. 55% (11.04.2019)

After Bird Box, Netflix found and adapted another book whose subject matter is somewhat reminiscent of A Quiet Place, and once again it makes for a good (and by today's standards, likeably short) film that's different enough from the two mentioned above to not be talked about as just some copy. Kiernan Shipka and Stanley Tucci are very good, the carnivorous vesps look exactly as they should, and when they're roosting on the high tension wires by the hundreds it's impossible not to think of Hitchcock's The Birds. The most thrilling scene, however, comes when the mobile phones ring. (14.04.2019)

The Silence won’t squeeze out your last drop of fear and it’s not very stimulating or even original horror, either, but it does manage to generate a captivating atmosphere and to draw a realistic portrait of societal collapse. The ending arrives too suddenly, perhaps, but the short runtime justifies it and the viewer not only won’t get bored, but also will find a way to relate to the characters and their situation. (22.04.2019)

The German horror film The Silence is very much spoiled by the fact that it is a film that essentially acted as a funeral for A Quiet Place. It's definitely not that good, and not just in its originality. The problem is also that the film lacks a truly oppressive atmosphere and incredible tension, often caused not by the scenes themselves, but simply by the screenwriter who didn't know what to do with it. (24.07.2019)