User reviews

It was a scary movie. It's a good movie to watch on Friday night.

This is a thriller where happens very little. It's not a bad movie, but it is a boring one. Don't know what else to say.

Silence & Darkness One of the better movies this year, even if it's just a made with a £100 budget. Highly watchable for great acting performances from the actors so great I shouldn't even try naming them.

I'm an avid indie movie fan and had this on my list for a while, but what a waste of time. Minimal dialogue, minimal aesthetics, minimal storyline until the very last few minutes. It made me agitated at how slow it was.

It's nice to see once. I don't know twice or third times.

It was a better horror movie than it seemed. I recommend watching this movie.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Watching this work made me concentrate without realizing it.

I recommend watching it if you have a chance.

It's a piece of work that I think I can recommend.

If you just want to watch an action movie, watch it.

You'll want to destroy everything after watching the movie.

I'm sorry to have caused you more anger.

Couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Thrilling scenes and well-thought-out directing.

The sisters' performance was very good. As expected, family love seems to be the biggest way to overcome fear.

The trailer and poster were enough. The story is not bad.

As you can see, the story may be obvious, but the movie is very focused on directing.

"To keep it in your mind and not forget, that it is not he, or she, or them, or it that you belong to." "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"

So, begins one of the strangest thrillers you'll see this year-not that Silence & Darkness doesn't echo Dylan's criticism of the failed social environment of the '70's but rather that it shows how isolating from that imperfect world has consequences. Writer/director Barak Barkan has crafted an indie that scares the bejesus out of you because there are few scares, just the disappointment that a remote idyllic life may be fraught, and nobody may know it.

Deaf Anna (Mina Walker) and blind Beth (Joan Glackin) are two sisters living in a small rural town, presumably Vermont (that's where it was filmed), with attentive local GP father (Jordan Lage), in a modern lodge-like home overlooking much green grass and many trees. Idyllic, yes; safe, no.

The danger is the slow-burn, low-key horror as, after a neighbor's visit about her dog digging up bones, the girls begin to look more closely at the unusual attention father gives them. But, hey, he's an overly-caring doctor dad with two disabled daughters! How bad can that be?

Not that we'd ever know in the first hour of this spare 80 minutes. It's perhaps that things go so well with the sisters devoted to each other and dad doting that makes us suspect evil lurking underneath-it is after all a thriller-horror film. The contrast between the rural, familial sublimity and the lingering-reveal of dad's motives constitutes the growing fear that maybe things are too simple and good.

Because I lived for years in rural Vermont with six angelic children, I know the feeling that something could go terribly wrong if only an ignorance of the dangerous world just outside the trees and grass. I pulled us all out of there because I could not abide the cost of that simplicity, not the least of which was a naivete born of isolation and the chance for evil angels to thrive without competition from the better ones.

Silence & Darkness reminds me that the purest situations can be a sentence to danger, given the remoteness and rudeness that breeds disability, not just the physical kind. Here's a thriller whose thrills will hit home for those used to remoteness-COVID has taught us to beware of being alone.

Not bad acting and directing. But the story was quite simple.

What a hidden gem. This film is bigger than its britches. Wish I had more of Anna and Beth, but will settle for this. Well done team.

Really enjoyed this one - as an avid indie film fan, this was one of my favorites the year. Very solid filmmaking and super creative - absolutely loved it.

This isn't one where you can be scrolling through your social media while watching. It's the type of film which counts on the viewer to notice the detail in the quiet moments. It counts on the viewer to piece together the hints- things, actions, and reactions that don't quite belong - to form a picture of what is happening. When this does happen, though, the payoff is chilling, and the film lingers in your brain, disturbingly, like many well-written psychological thrillers. So pay close attention, enjoy the beautifully still moments between the two sisters, as a lot hinges on their deep and close connection.

This movie debut by newcomer director, Barak Barkan, got me hooked to the screen. Great acting by main lead actor Joan Glackin. The soundtrack is excellent, leading the scenes accurately, def worth a watch, I recommend even two.

Outstanding dark thriller. Beautifully filmed. Especially moving depiction of sisters' relationship.

Great movie. I loved the direction and the acting.