I was so excited to review Of Silence because I’m a huge fan of Muse Watson and “George Lopez,” featuring Masiela Lusha, which was one of my late night college staples. With the two of them supporting the cast, only one thing was needed – a good movie! Did Of Silence deliver? Read on to find out.
Of Silence is written, directed, and stars Jeremiah Sayys as Colby. Other cast members include Masiela Lusha (Kill Katie Malone, “George Lopez”), Ashlee Gillespie (“Heroes,” “7th Heaven”), Najarra Townsend (Contracted), Suzanne Ford (The Apparition), Paul Cuneo (“From G’s to Gents”), Matthew Lawrence (“Boy Meets World,” “Melisa & Joey”), Muse Watson (I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Last Exorcism II), and Jeff Gum (“American Family”).
“After returning home, a former scuba diver tries to cope with his wife’s untimely death, while experiencing otherworldly incidents.”
By now I’ve seen dozens of horror films where the main character is suffered through some sort of hardship – in this case the passing of his wife – and strange things begin to happen where the audience has to decide whether the threat is palpable or all in the protagonists imagination. Shape-shifting shadows and strange animalistic clicking noises. Those are kind of hard to rationalize in the brain, but the alternative – that something is really lurking in the shadows – is much more terrifying than mental disorders…at least I think so. From the beginning viewers will realize that Colby is devastated and out of his mind due to the loss of his wife, and as it should be. Of Silence has a very realistic take and portrayal of the emotion of loss. There’s not a lot of smiles here, not a lot of hearty conversation, not a lot of healing. It makes Colby’s situation look pretty bleak and it does effect you as a viewer. You feel bad for him. And you wonder, is it better if the supposed monsters just get him?
The movie is well shot and I appreciate the dark effects that are used throughout. They really keep up with the overall mood and theme of the movie. I’ve never seen any work from Jeremiah Sayys before Of Silence, and I’m impressed with his work so far. The film is clean, cohesive, and has no technical problems that I can see. I think focusing on the main character’s inner and outer struggles was the right way to go instead of getting out of control with effects and shock value. This was not the movie to try to pull off some serious CGI movie magic and I give Jeremiah Sayys a lot of credit for his decision making skills with this production. Of Silence appears to be the final product of one director who really knows his vision and translated it onto paper and then onto film well.
In the same token that Of Silence is not a balls-to-the-walls type of film, it’s also not one for a lot of action and interesting plot twists. Had I not made it clear by now, Of Silence is a movie for real cinematic viewers. You’re not going to find nudity and gallons upon gallons of fake blood here. You’re not going to find a movie that’s going to scare your pants off either. What you will find here is a movie that will make you think and pay attention to the journey the character takes on his way to mental and emotional recovery. Yes, you’re going to hope for the best and want to follow him along on his psychological journey. For these reasons you have to be a deep cinematic viewer. You have to be invested in the story, in the character, and in the outcome. I would probably only recommend this to older horror fans, fans of slow churn psychological thrillers from the 90s, and people who like realistic portrayals of human struggles.
Overall, Of Silence was pretty good, but definitely not what I was expecting with a poster like the one above. I still enjoyed it, although I’ll be honest, I did fast forward a bit at some points. It’s still a high quality production and one of the better “you decide: inner turmoil or real demon” stories I’ve seen. I’ll give it a 7 out of 10.
