The Quiet Ones (2014)

(On Cable TV, October 2020) I dislike horror films that attempt to pass themselves off as “inspired by actual events” for at least two reasons. First, obviously, because it’s bunk—the supernatural always ends up being a bunch of hooey blown out of proportion by hucksters selling to the credulous. But also because inspired by actual events usually means limited by actual events—the supernatural phenomena and scares portrayed in the film usually turn out to be smaller in scale, and less impressive than in a film that has the creative freedom to go big. So it is in The Quiet Ones, which purports to be inspired by actual events of ghostly possession, but turns out to be a snooze fest of low-octane spookiness. While the idea of a 1970s-set film starring Jared Harris had some potential, the execution is so by-the-numbers that it only reminds me of other films I can’t remember the name because they were so immediately forgettable. While there’s some better material very near the end of the film, it’s far too late at that point to make up for the way director John Pogues barely gives the film any specific identity of its own. It’s all a big mush of undistinguished blandness, and it ends just as it maybe could have become interesting. But, hey: inspired by actual events.