"The Quiet Ones" was interesting enough while I was watching it, but there was nothing in it compelling enough to create a lasting impression.
The film follows a professor and his assistants as they treat a young woman seemingly possessed by another entity. The professor seeks to prove that her condition and all of the supernatural phenomena related to it have a psychological cause, and that she can be cured through psychiatry. It should come as no surprise, this being a horror film, that he's wrong, yet he clings to his belief even as the supernatural events become more and more perilous.
There was enough "discovery" in the storyline to keep me interested, as one of the assistants gradually uncovers knowledge of the girl's past. This results in a few cases where the "real" reason for her troubles is explained, only to be nullified by the next bit of information he discovered. It was a nice way to keep the plot moving forward, but it doesn't quite build to enough of a crescendo. Typically, the film alternates between each new discovery and a sequence where the entity possessing the girl acts out, often endangering both her and the researchers. While these episodes do become more extreme as the film goes on, they do not quite feel like they're building towards an ending. There's no sense of inevitability going into the final sequence--no feeling that the end is nigh. The only reason it's the final sequence is that the "spirit" decides not to break off its attack, while on previous occasions it did. There's no real reason given as to why.
The very end of the film is okay, but not the truly unsettling climax the filmmakers likely intended. It wasn't unsatisfying per se, but I was much closer to shrugging my shoulders than feeling any sense of dread.
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