The Silence Dvd

The Silence is a 2019 horror film directed by John R. Leonetti and starring Kiernan Shipka, Stanley Tucci, Miranda Otto, and John Corbett. The screenplay by Carey and Shane Van Dyke adapts the 2015 horror novel of the same name by Tim Lebbon. The film depicts a world under attack by creatures who hunt by sound. Shipka plays a late-deafened teenager who seeks shelter with her family, and a cult seeks to take advantage of her fertility.

Netflix released The Silence on April 10, 2019. It was also released in theaters in seven markets in the rest of 2019, grossing $2.3 million.

Plot

A cave research team unearths an unknown species of pterosaur-like creature, referred to as “vesps”, from a mine. The vesps violently kill the researchers, fly out of the mine, and seek the noisiest areas.

Ally, a teenage girl who lost her hearing in a car accident, lives with her parents Hugh and Kelly Andrews; her maternal grandmother Lynn, who has terminal lung cancer; her brother Jude; and a pet dog. As the news of the vesp outbreak spreads, the US government declares a state of emergency and asks people to stay indoors and quiet. Ally suggests they head to the countryside, which is likely to be quieter. Glenn, Hugh’s best friend, joins them and brings his guns. They set out in two cars, but a man tries to hijack Hugh’s car while refueling. Glenn shoots the man in the leg, and they drive away.

The group hits a massive traffic jam, blocking all the interstates, and Glenn goes off-road. Speeding through the countryside, Glenn’s car hits a herd of fleeing deer and tumbles down the embankment. He survives but is trapped in the car. Hugh and Kelly fail to free him, and Glenn asks Hugh to leave with his family. As the Andrews family returns to their car, their dog barks, attracting the vesps, who attack the car. Glenn fires his gun, leading them away from the Andrews’ car, sacrificing himself. To keep his family safe, Hugh is forced to let their dog out of the car; Kelly consoles Ally and Jude. Ally says they all have the skill to survive in silence, due to her deafness.

Hugh leads his family on foot after setting Glenn’s car on fire as a decoy. Lynn struggles to keep up, and her coughing puts the whole family at risk. Jude spots a house in the countryside. The family heads towards it and finds a high fence with a locked gate. Their arrival alerts the homeowner, who, unaware of the situation, speaks. Vesps attack and kill her. The family uses a storm drain to enter the house. A rattlesnake in the drain scares Jude, and he yells. Attracted vesps bite Kelly’s leg. Hugh distracts them by turning on a woodchipper, crushing the vesps flying into it, and the family enters the house.

While the others rest, Ally contacts her boyfriend, Rob, who tells her that his parents are dead. She also learns that religious cults have sprung up in the wake of the disaster. By morning, Kelly’s wound is infected, so Hugh and Ally leave to find antibiotics. While at the store, Ally discovers vesp eggs growing inside corpses. Returning home, the tongueless reverend of a cult tries to recruit them, but Hugh and Ally walk away. They return with the antibiotics, and Kelly recovers. Ally learns from the internet that vesps can not survive in the cold.

The reverend finds the family’s hide-out and shows up with a group of his followers, asking for Hugh’s family to join them. Hugh politely asks them to leave, at which point the reverend reveals that he intends to recruit Ally. Hugh brings out his gun, forcing the cultists to leave. Rob briefly contacts Ally, letting her know he is headed north to “the refuge”.

Hugh and Kelly wake up in the night and find a little girl at the door. After letting her in, they find she is a member of the tongueless cult. Phones strapped to her and placed around the house go off, attracting vesps. The cult members abduct Ally, but Grandma Lynn runs outside to help her. Lynn holds Ally’s captors down and screams; vesps attack and kill her and the captors while Ally escapes. Other cult members take Ally at knife-point, but Hugh, Kelly and Jude fight back and kill most of the cult.

Several weeks later, the remaining Andrews family treks across America and eventually arrives at the refuge. Ally finds Rob, and together they hunt the vesps with arrows. Ally wonders whether the vesps will adapt to the cold, and whether humans will adapt to a soundless lifestyle, like she did when she lost her hearing.

Cast

Stanley Tucci as Hugh Andrews
Kiernan Shipka as Ally Andrews
Miranda Otto as Kelly Andrews
Kate Trotter as Lynn
John Corbett as Glenn
Kyle Harrison Breitkopf as Jude Andrews
Dempsey Bryk as Rob
Billy MacLellan as The Reverend