WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I’m sure everyone has seen the little monkey statues covering their eyes, mouth and ears. Well, this isn’t about them. Without realising it, in places I have played on the original, Buddhist idea of the proverb, to avoid evil thoughts and deeds whereas some of these characters below lean into their evil side…
Oddity
Interestingly enough, this is actually the film that gave me the inspiration for this article. This film plays on the idea that losing a sense – in this case Darcey’s vision, heightens our other senses which leads to her extra sensory perception. She uses this power that has developed from her lack of sight in order to solve the murder of her twin sister but, I’ll be honest, you don’t need extra sensory perception to have worked out Dani’s husband must have been involved in her death somewhere along the line. The fact that he had discharged the man that killed her and already has a girlfriend – even though his late wife has barely been gone a year! Now, Darcey’s blindness isn’t the main point of this film as I mentioned, it is more of a tool – especially as it leads both Yana and Ted to underestimate her and assume she is making things up. The terrifying focus is on the wooden creature she has gifted them which I gradually came to believe was a Gollum. In the end is clear who the real monster is. Outside of the genius plot, the best thing about this film for me is Carolyn Bracken; the way she plays Dani and Darcey Odello is just wonderful!
The Silence
This is the type of film similar to that of Birdbox and A Quiet Place. Be prepared to feel pretty angry from the outset but also have your heart broken in one scene! I weirdly excepted, and I guess deep-down hoped, that this would have been filmed completely in ASL (American Sign Language) as our lead character, Ally, is deaf but I guess as the incident doesn’t happen straight away, it didn’t need to take precedence. Having said that, for people that have heard these creatures react to sound, why wouldn’t you use the main asset at your disposal to communicate without sound once it does all begin. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t feel like they rely on the fact that Ally is deaf enough for it to have mattered in the first place. Honestly, would these creatures not hear them whispering? Just to clarify, I feel this way about A Quiet Place as well! Of course, this isn’t me saying this is a bad film because it really isn’t – I just think making ASL more prominent in the film would have given it the edge over the others. Even though it hurt my ears a little bit, I did like that we as the viewer were almost put in Ally’s position, hearing what she partially hears – it’s similar to that moment in an action or war film when a bomb has just gone off.
The Quiet
I don’t think I’ve felt this sorry for a lead character since watching the bullying of Carrie White, both in the book and original film adaption of Stephen King’s story. Yes, I feel Carrie is completely justified in what she does! Anyway, Dot is a deaf-mute high school student and orphan who has moved in with her godparents leading her to discover a secret, that no one really wants to know, as well as being emotionally tortured by her surrogate sister Nina. You wonder as the viewer, if Dot is mute due to the loss of her father until we realise she isn’t mute or deaf at all, as we quite audibly hear her swear when the piano string snaps. I wonder if that means she chose to be mute. Speaking of fathers though, the relationship between Nina and hers is unbelievably disturbing! What’s clever however is watching how people behave around her, believing she has no idea what they’re saying. The fact that she doesn’t speak again for the rest of the film until right at the very end actually made it all a little confusing for me. However, this does all seem to bring Dot and Nina closer together as it makes Nina vulnerable around her. So close in fact that Dot does the inevitable to protect her!
Mute Witness
From a ‘fake’ mute to a real one, this film is quite clearly a case of wrong place wrong time for Billy. Becoming trapped on-set and unable to call for help, she becomes a witness to murder! The moment of the murder is amazing for nothing other than Marina Zudina’s (Billy’s) portrayal of silent terror! Only her footsteps as she departs the scene give away her presence and that’s when the game of cat and mouse begins. In a weird way, Billy being mute works in her favour as she is able to hide without risking making a noise. With the film being centred around Billy trying to escape, it leads to many of the scenes being completely silent, except for simple incidental music which I think adds to the suspense of the film as a whole – these men are out to kill her after all. I feel really bad for Billy in this as no one other than her sister believes what she has seen and she’s unable to vocalise any of the trauma she has experienced at the hands of the two men. I’ll say this much, and I’m not saying it just because Fay Ripley’s American accent is irritating, but I don’t see the need for her character and the boyfriend lasting so long into the film.
Don’t Breathe
The main question I always ask myself when I watch this film is is Stephen Lang’s character of The Blind Man (yes, that is truly his character name) the villain or the victim in this story? I guess it all depends on the perspective but the twist in the film, which I won’t reveal, doesn’t exactly make him look good. The one thing you can say for sure about this film however is that these kids decided to mess with the wrong blind man! Lang plays a good balance between good and bad, as he plays the feeble blind man to start with before unleashing the cold killer that takes the robbers out one by one. Yeah, the guy’s a soldier but there’s darkness to this character that on the first watching you don’t expect in the slightest. This is a home invasion thriller turned cat and mouse and it did make me wonder on this viewing if he knew all along that Rocky and Alex were still in the house when he locked it back up again. I also didn’t remember that Alex lives as long as he does. For some reason I had remembered the majority of the film being focused on The Blind Man and Rocky in the basement, maybe because it’s a pretty dark scene. I think the reason it’s hard to say if The Blind Man is a good or bad man is because, even though his actions are drastic, the viewer in some way can actually relate to him.
The Tingler
I don’t know what it is about the slow-burner nature of older horror films but it seems to just add something more to these films! Don’t get me wrong, we may make slow burners now but it’s just not the same. Much like Marina Zudina in Mute Witness, Judith Evelyn who plays Martha is neither deaf or mute but her portrayal of a character who is – is amazing! OK, the way she faints first at the sight of blood feels little bit silent-movie-esque but her rigidity is rather key to the film in the end. The idea that Warren Chapin, played by Vincent Price, consciously chooses to use Martha to prove his hypothesis about The Tingler parasite and its use of fear in the human body makes me feel rather sorry for her and unbelievably disturbed by him. Especially as he’s only met this poor woman once before he chooses to experiment on her! At least that’s what we think is happening. Some of you may wonder if I feel sorry for his wife as well as he also uses her on purpose to get a scan of the parasite but no, I don’t! Two reasons, she can scream so is able to save herself and she deserves it! Even though, the viewer knows everything Martha is seeing isn’t real – it doesn’t make her final scene any less disturbing because it’s 4 minutes of simple instrumental music and disturbing images.
