This supernaturally enhanced variant on THE BAD SEED offers a nice twist on the traditional kidnap scenario : here, the kidnappers need to be scared of the kid rather than vice versa. It also generates an eerie ambience of brooding dread in the early going, helped in no small part by the evocative work of cinematographer Dean Cundey. Returning to modestly budgeted horror after a period of lensing blockbusters, Cundey shot all of John Carpenter’s best movies, and here extracts considerable spookiness from a wintry wilderness backdrop, just as he did with 1982’s THE THING. WHISPER, then, has a lot going for it…but sadly the promise isn’t fulfilled.
Turned down for a bank loan he needed for a business venture, down-on-his-luck Josh (LOST) Holloway resorts to kidnapping the young son (Blake Woodruff) of a well-off family. With his cronies (among them a short-lived Michael Rooker), he heads to an abandoned summer camp in snowy Maine. What none of them know is that the unsmiling eight year old – beyond some prodigious artistic talents and an affinity with wolves – has a remarkable gift for getting inside the heads of others. He’s capable of inciting violent acts, inducing heart attacks and generally manipulating bad folks to their doom.
WHISPER takes its title from Woodruff’s ability to invade the minds of ordinary folk with whispered thoughts. These are invariably nasty-minded thoughts rather than helpful ones like “Don’t forget to pick your kids up” or “Remember to wash your soiled bed sheets before that girl comes over”. There’s no explanation given for the kid’s supernatural powers – he’s just an evil kid in the Damien mould whose only working facial expressions are Dead Eyed Stare and Malicious Smirk. Woodruff is competent enough in the role, but his character – who can appear and disappear at will – doesn’t rank among the higher echelons of creepy movie kids. He doesn’t even instigate any elaborate plate-glass decapitations. Sheesh, what’s with evil movie kids these days? Slackers!
Although atmospheric, WHISPER proves disappointingly lacking in the scare department. Far too much emphasis is placed on cheapjack fake shocks which turn out to be nightmares or “You startled me!” – type moments involving other characters stupidly sneaking round the house at tense moments. The movie is, ultimately, all build-up and no pay-off : the wrap-up is especially feeble and only one death scene is worth staying awake for – an icy lake fatality providing a strong visual echo of the best scene in DAMIEN OMEN II.
Although rated R, this bloodless and (figuratively) gutless flick was all-too clearly aiming for the ever unwelcome PG-13 rating. For all its promise and technical efficiency, it’s no scarier than any of those interchangeable teen-oriented Asian remakes.
-Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
