In 1997 the Anderson family vanished from their home without a trace. No bodies were ever found. For 17 years the house has remained undisturbed, until Rudy Harris (Chilton Crane) and her silent son Adrian (Sunny Suljic) move in and immediately very spooky events start taking place. She hires a nanny called Angela (Jodelle Ferland) to look after her introspective son, who reluctantly agreed to take up the post despite knowing the house’s harrowing past.
The Unspoken exhaustively uses the most conventional horror devices such as plenty of blood, spectres, flying objects, very gruesome deaths and cattle prod scares, sometimes to effective results. There are the usual acting bad and being severely punished for their irresponsible and selfish behaviour. There is a vulnerable and fragile woman (Angela) whose mother-like instincts to protect Adrian are superior to everything else. This is your typical dichotomy of Marianismo incorporated into American mainstream: the male virility versus the female passivity and purity.
The first problem with the movie is that the plot is sometimes disjointed and ragged, and often bursting at the seams. The acting is average, but perhaps none of the characters will leave a lingering horror sensation. Except perhaps for the ending, which partly redeems the film from the ordinary and tiresome horror tricks throughout. The outcome is an interesting subversion of the horror genre.
The movie was produced by the acclaimed Steven Schneider, who already counts Insidious and the Paranormal Activity films under his belt. The Unspoken is a ultimately an enjoyable horror experience, but it lacks the subtlety and the visual poignancy of the Paranormal Activity films, or the fluid elegance and more well-structured script of Insidious.
The Unspoken will be released on UK Digital on 22nd August 2016 and on UK DVD on 5th September 2016 by Arrow Films at the RRP of £12.99. You can pre-order it now on Amazon – just click here.
