Review for The Unspoken

(Originally posted on fight-evil.com)

*This is my first-time viewing of the film*

What an interesting film. The Unspoken, a Canadian film, plays out much like an average haunted house horror movie. A mother and her mute son move to a small town, living in a house that has a reputation for being haunted. Angela (played by the cute Jodelle Ferland) takes the job of babysitting the son, charmed by him despite her nervous disposition and the creepy house. However, three chauvinistic rednecks in town have hidden a stash of drugs in the basement of the house, not expecting anyone to ever move there, and attempt to get it back, causing problems for Angela.

The Unspoken isn't your normal ghost movie, however much it seems to be. Near the end, some twists occur that shine a whole new light on the strange ongoings at the house. To say that this threw me for a loop would be understating it - never in a thousand years did I see it coming. In fact, it's reminiscence of another new-ish horror film, though I'll not mention it to be safe. As for this movie, ignoring the ending sequence for now, it's decently high quality.

Save for a few special effects issues, The Unspoken is decently solid in the production department. Insofar as actors are concerned, there's more good news: Jodelle Ferland is a deeply attractive young actress with the looks of Navi Rawat (best known for both Feast and Numb3rs), and really sold herself as a nervous babysitter with her own personal problems. Her father was played by Lochlyn Munro (Freddy vs. Jason fame), and while he didn't have a hell of a lot of screen time, his face was a friendly sight. Lastly, Anthony Konechny played a very well-done Southern bad boy, with fingers in drugs and guns. His figure was a threatening one, and his dickish behaviour was on par with what you might expect.

But as decent as some of these actors and actresses are, that won't be the main talk of the movie - that honor goes to the ending. While I obviously won't divulge any twist, I will say that I think it has the potential to be controversial. Whether or not that's a positive thing isn't my call, but as for myself, I thought it was moderately welcomed. Certainly mind blowing to an extent. Though I will say I cringed as the very last scene of the film went down a predictable path.

Also worth mentioning, this film has a bit more gore in it than you might initially expect. The blood's not flowing by any means, but you see a skeleton of a dog rip off a man's jaw, along with a man impaled in multiple places by nails sticking out from the floor and the aftermath of more than a few knives flying into one unlucky fellow. Overall, The Unspoken is a surprisingly decent movie. Certainly went a unique route, and I applaud it for that (though there were also some unanswered questions throughout). Would I recommend it? Without much hesitation. An above-average movie, and if you're into haunted house movies, give this one a go. 8/10.