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Whisper [2007]


RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £2.74 (subject to change)

Editorial
Synopsis

LOST's Josh Holloway goes from playing the island's bad boy Sawyer to being a true villain in this creepy horror film. But even though he stars as a kidnapper, he's not the scariest thing in WHISPER. That honour goes to the young 'victim'--an eight-year-old boy who displays frightening powers that threaten the group of criminals holding him hostage. Suddenly Max, his fiancee (Sarah Wayne Callies, PRISON BREAK), and the other kidnappers aren't sure what's real and whom they can trust, and it's not only the boy who is fearing for his safety. With the young boy providing the scares, WHISPER resides firmly in the chilled vein of classics such as CHILDREN OF THE CORN and VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. Dulé Hill (THE WEST WING, PSYCH) co-stars.


A poor imitation???
Review date: 2008-04-05 Rating: 6 out of 10

I bought this film after reading a positive review on this site, thinking it might be the elusive creepy modern horror - unfortunately, no. The characters are well cast, Josh Holloway does a good job, and the small boy is well directed, HOWEVER... The film is a mismatch of at least three other films,(The Omen, The Shining, Wilderness) and this is distracting and causes the watcher to spend more time thinking of where they have seen the various scenes before. This is not to say that the film is not watchable, cause it is, the problem is that it is neither creepy or suspenseful,it is more of a made for TV version of a serious horror. I would rate this as a good buy if you pay £4 or under, but pay any more than that and you will be left with an empty feeling - not just in your wallet!!

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Reviews


Useless Whisper
Review date: 2008-03-27 Rating: 4 out of 10

The basis of this story is about a couple who want to raise cash to by a property, so they hatch a plan to kidnap a child and demand a ransom. How likely is that????? The kid turns out to be some kind of devil incarnate and knocks off the kidnappers one by one. It's obvious that the ideas have come directly from "The Omen", but the boy is called David, not Damien. It even has the vicious dog "protectors" as well - it's all a bit lame really. Accompanied by a naff storyline, this film really isn't worth watching. I know that we've all seen "The Omen" films a million times over, but trust me, you'd be better off just renting them again rather than watching this, simply because they were done so much better.

The new Damien...well, close
Review date: 2008-03-23 Rating: 8 out of 10

Whisper was a great little chiller that I came across in Blockbuster, hidden away on the back shelf. Having not seen much about it I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasently surprised. I was gripped from start to finish.
The story begins with convicted felon Max (Sawyer from Lost) who is hired to execute a kidnapping of David, the son of a wealthy woman. Along with his wife and two other strangers, they take refuge in a secluded lodge and wait for ransom instructions. But little do they know that David is not like a normal child, and that he is far from innocent, causing trouble among the kidnappers.
The acting is great from all of the cast, especially Max, who is played by Josh Holloway, known for his great performance as Sawyer in Lost. But it is Blake Woodruff who plays the young David who stands out, giving a truly splendid performance as the demonic child. Although this is at times similar to The Omen, it is still a great horror, proving that those unknown DVDs on the back of Blockbusters wall can actually turn out to be rather good (with the exception of Lake Placid 2, where calling it dreadful would be polite).

Spooky Stuff
Review date: 2007-10-15 Rating: 6 out of 10

This little chiller seemed to completely disappear off the radar after production wrapped. It bypassed cinemas with no pre-release hype, no mention at all of the film anywhere besides Internet cult circles. Is it coincidence the film is called "Whisper," and no one has heard of it? This film probably would have been completely gone like a ghost in the mist were it not for the big screen debut of Josh Holloway (from TV's hit show Lost) leading the charge.

Holloway makes a charismatic leading man, and while this isn't the meatiest role for him to sink his teeth into, it certainly is one he was born to play. Another television show remnant takes the role of leading lady, Sarah Wayne Callies (more familiar from Prison Break fame). Both TV stars are extremely impressive in this movie, while the chemistry between them doesn't quite spark, their performances leave you confident that they can handle more big screen material. The story is more or less a combination of horror classics, predominantly "The Omen." The little boy (Blake Woodruff) is a terrifying creation. In any other type of film his performance would come off as wooden, but in this he is positively a chilling presence.

I came to this film with a certain amount of cynicism due to its troubled release history, expecting a B-movie deserving the sentence of straight to DVD hell. My expectations were pleasantly surprised. The film draws you in almost immediately with an arresting opening chase sequence. Although I would have to say that this is one case where more set-up for the characters wouldn't have gone amiss as we shoot straight into the artery of the plot before getting a clear sense of the back story and history between the four kidnappers. That does drain some of the interest away from the events that unfold in the cabin because we know little about who these people were before they begin turning on one another.

The most refreshing aspect of this chilly horror was that it avoided the use of orchestral underscoring for the jump moments and left it more to the sound effects and camera movement to create foreboding and fear. There are some genuinely frightening spooks and scares that pop up at regular intervals. Nothing is too overplayed by the cast, nor the filmmakers. There is one particularly silly death scene and a few laughable moments that were never fully realised, and Dule Hill's cop could have been excised completely, but on the whole "Whisper," builds up enough tension and frights to keep the one-trick idea moving along briskly. The climax owes much to "The Shining," proving quite an obvious homage, but still tastefully appropriate to the movie's end game, capped off by a final end coda that is agreeably subtle and well played.

Holloway and Callies keep the viewer pulled into the human aspect of this supernatural tale while director Stewart Hendler makes beautiful visual use of his wintry locations. This is no classic, and still too derivative of other horror movies to be considered a 'cult' classic, but it's still good, spooky stuff for a late night viewing in the dark.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Blake Woodruff
John Kapelos
Joel Edgerton
Sarah Wayne Callies
Josh Holloway

Creators:
Josh Holloway (Primary Contributor)
Sarah Wayne Callies (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Entertainment in Video
Manufacturer: Entertainment in Video
EAN: 5017239195488
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2008-03-24
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 91 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2007

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