The Quiet Ones 2014

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Veteran screenwriter John Pogue, in his second directorial outing, tries repeatedly and mostly unsuccessfully to jolt his audience by amping up the abundant sound effects to ear-shattering levels. Read more

Charles Gant, Variety: There's little that's exactly new or fresh in Hammer Films' latest exercise in retro horror. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: The Quiet Ones is a pretty ironic title for a horror film whose primary scare tactic is to periodically crank up the volume, sending the needle to the red with a sudden spike in the decibel levels. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: A retro possession story that will wind up being best remembered for its groovy '70s setting (lots of mutton-chop sideburns and T. Rex and Slade songs on the soundtrack) and a deliciously sinister performance from Jared Harris. Read more

James Rocchi, Film.com: "The Quiet Ones" is rated PG-13, but it's scarier than R-rated gorefests, like "Proxy," "Nurse 3D," and "American Mary." Anyone can create disgust; creating slowly-building disquiet is entirely another proposition. Read more

Stephen Dalton, Hollywood Reporter: As an exercise in retro pastiche, it impresses. But as a postmodern genre reinvention, it fails to deliver. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: Pogue jacks up the decibels so often to manufacture frights that you fear a punctured eardrum more than anything else. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The story doesn't make much sense, starting with a professor blithely being awarded custody of a dangerous mental patient, and just going downhill from there. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: It's the latest reminder that when a strange doctor invites you to work on an experiment in a secluded house, the answer should always be "No, thank you." Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Many of the movie's more nominally horrific elements are too familiar ... Read more

Kiva Reardon, Globe and Mail: Hammer might be back, but the studio sure isn't hammering out anything that's remotely horrifying. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: There are a couple of decent jumps and a few giggles, but nothing armrest-clenchingly scary here. Read more

Ernest Hardy, Village Voice: Unfortunately, it's all very familiar and somewhat tediously played out. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: The Quiet Ones is uninspired even by contemporary horror standards - which comes as a bit of a shock, given its pedigree. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: "The Quiet Ones" simply has nothing to say. Read more