The Unspoken (film)

The Unspoken
Promotional release poster
Directed bySheldon Wilson
Written bySheldon Wilson
Produced byJamie Goehring
Starring
CinematographyEric J. Goldstein
Edited byTony Dean Smith
Music byMatthew Rogers
Production
companies
  • Lighthouse Pictures
  • Sapphire Fire Limited
Distributed byPaladin
Release dates
  • October 24, 2015 (2015-10-24) (FrightFest)
  • October 28, 2016 (2016-10-28) (United States)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The Unspoken (also known as The Haunting of Briar House) is a 2015 Canadian horror thriller film written and directed by Sheldon Wilson. It stars Jodelle Ferland, Neal McDonough, Pascale Hutton, Sunny Suljic, and Michael Rogers.

The Unspoken premiered at the Film4 FrightFest on October 24, 2015, and was released theatrically in the United States on October 28, 2016. The film received generally negative reviews.

Cast

Release

The Unspoken had its world premiere at the Film4 FrightFest film festival at the Prince Charles Cinema in London, England, on October 24, 2015.[4][5] The film received a theatrical release in the United States on October 28, 2016.[3]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 9% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10.[6]

Variety's Owen Gleiberman described The Unspoken as a blending of "standard glossy horror tropes executed with scary ineptitude."[7] Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times similarly characterized the film as derivative, writing, "some of the frights work reasonably well; and Ms. Ferland is convincing. But there aren't enough surprises or innovations to make this one stand out in the sea of horror fare that comes along this time of year."[2] Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com gave the film a score of one out of four stars, writing: "The Unspoken makes apparent that it is possible to have an eye for a genre, but no vision."[8]

Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter described the film as being hampered by an "uneven script, which vacillates between horror and thriller, although it's not particularly exemplary of either genre", and wrote that the film "[falls] back on jump scares, assaultive music cues and poltergeist-driven SFX".[3] The Los Angeles Times' Noel Murray wrote that the film "has so much plot that it really shouldn't need to rely as much as it does on big, loud sounds", concluding, "This movie's about as scary as a jackhammer."[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c Watson, Keith (October 23, 2016). "Review: The Unspoken". Slant Magazine. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Genzlinger, Neil (October 27, 2016). "Review: 'The Unspoken': If You Move Here, Find a Realtor Fast". The New York Times. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Lowe, Justin (October 28, 2016). "'The Unspoken': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  4. ^ Unsworth, Martin (October 2, 2015). "Film4 FrightFest Offer Nightmares for Halloween". Starburst. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  5. ^ Sandwell, Ian (October 2, 2015). "Halloween FrightFest to shift from night to day". Screen Daily. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  6. ^ "The Unspoken". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  7. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (October 26, 2016). "Film Review: 'The Unspoken'". Variety. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  8. ^ Allen, Nick (October 28, 2016). "The Unspoken movie review & film summary (2016)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  9. ^ Murray, Noel (October 27, 2016). "Review: For a film called 'The Unspoken,' it sure is loud (and not very scary)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 21, 2023.