By Danielle Cherry
A child who sees people who aren’t there. A father haunted by his mistakes. And a serial killer luring children with his whispers. With top tier acting and precise direction, the Russo Brothers’ new film, “The Whisper Man” is tastefully tense, yet speaks of a deeper longing.
Every great thriller starts with a creepy house, and “The Whisper Man” is no different. After the death of his wife, Tom (Adam Scott) and his son, Jake Kennedy (Acston Luca Porto) try to start over. Jake never really recovers from the death of his mother, is socially isolated and begins hearing voices and seeing people that aren’t there.
Naturally, in the area the family moves to, a serial killer is on the loose called the Whisper Man who lures children out to meet him. Before Tom understands what’s going on with his son, Jake is gone and Tom has to face reconnecting with his father, Pete Willis—the only man to ever catch the Whisper Man.
With a very chilling opening, the Russo’s waste no time in setting the psychologically tense backdrop for this story. Using specific framing, the audience catches glimpses of a girl only Jake can see, making the viewer squirm just seeing the outline of a human body.
From the start, viewers are scanning every part of the screen, wondering what they will see in the shadows. This initial fear carries throughout the whole movie, even though the film isn’t full of jumpscares or other scary features.
What makes this thriller stand out is how little actually scary things happened. It is scary because of the music and the shot work. Music sends every scene over the top, with screeching violins and pounding baselines that became the drum rhythm of my heartbeat.
While rated R, the rating is more for the tense atmosphere and language as opposed to graphic content and classic horror movie moments, though there are moments when these things occur. Actually there are moments in “The Whisper Man” that are genuinely sweet and those tones continue throughout the whole movie, making it mean so much more than just giving cheap thrills.
I found the violence and horrific aspects to be toned down. This doesn’t downplay the action in the movie, but rather elevates it—giving space for the actors’ dialogue and emotionality to really shine through.
The film follows Tom’s perspective, from his view of Jake’s “hallucinations” to when Jake is kidnapped and the resulting search. We see Jake’s perspective, but overall the view is fatherly, and that changes the tone of the movie completely.
Viewers get front row seats to not only the fear of Jake as a child, but also to the genuine horror of his father. Adam Scott is a well respected actor, and putting him in a horror film was maybe the best Hollywood casting choice known to mankind.
Scott has a way of expressing emotions that are so realistic. His face shows love and fear and horror all at once, making me really grasp the emotional toll this had on him. As the movie progresses, we get to see Tom deteriorate. The longer he was apart from his son, the more obvious his physical distress was portrayed.
The fatherly tones continue with the relationship between Tom and his father Pete. Their tense relationship is hashed out, making solving this crime all the more difficult as pieces of the puzzle start pointing to a closeness in Pete’s relationship with the Whisper Man.
Owen Teague’s portrayal of the psychopathic Whisper Man is, well, psychotic. Teague genuinely captures what drives a psychopath and he is able to portray those desires in his body language and facial expressions.
Something else that is really interwoven into this film is symbolism and foreshadowing. We see unrelated objects being tied together by camera angles, and those shots create a framework that a very Sherlock oriented viewer could use to figure out the identity of the killer.
The reveal of the Whisper Man’s identity is intentionally simple. All the pieces make sense, nothing is far fetched and you can track the discoveries from the very opening of the film. That’s what makes this thriller so great: the simplicity of it.
There are no scary moments thrown in that don’t serve a purpose. Everything from water droplets on a rooftop to a mysterious basement room only lead the audience and detectives closer to the Whisper Man.
The Russos masterfully show that their skillset isn’t just in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but that they can tell an engaging story of any genre set. While “The Whisper Man” isn’t classically scary, you better believe I will never ever buy a house with a mail slot… because there is no way I am risking the Whisper Man sneaking his gloved hand in my door.
“The Whisper Man” is currently streaming on Netflix
Danielle Cherry is a junior communication major and writer for Cedars Sports and Assistant Editor and writer for A&E. She is a Missionary Kid from Germany and was really scared that she wouldn’t be able to sleep after watching this movie.
Images courtesy of AGBO Film
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