Reviews: The Silence (2019) Movie Review / Ending Explained / FAQs
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Drama, Sci-Fi
Subgenres: Mystery, Psychological, Survival, Thriller, Apocalypse, Desolate, Urban Decay
HellHorror’s review of The Silence (2019) breaks down the plot, scares, cast performances, and its lasting impact on the horror genre.
The Silence (2019) — A Flawed Post-Apocalyptic Horror With Untapped Potential
The Silence (2019) is a sci-fi horror film set in a world invaded by creatures that hunt via sound. Anchored by a deaf teenager at its core, the movie attempts to combine family drama, survival stakes, and supernatural threat. Its ambitions are clear, but uneven execution and derivative elements hold it back from reaching its full potential.
Plot, Themes & Character Arc
The story centers on Ally Andrews, a teenage girl who lost her hearing in a car accident. When creatures known as “vesps” emerge—blind but with heightened hearing—the world is plunged into chaos. Ally’s family must flee their home in search of safety while avoiding noise that attracts these predators.
The film explores themes of silence, vulnerability, and the fragility of communication under duress. Ally’s deafness is positioned as both a weakness and a unique strength in this new world. Her journey is not just about survival but about finding her voice and place in a world where sound means death.
Acting, Atmosphere & Visual Style
Kiernan Shipka portrays Ally with earnestness, navigating fear, resistance, and resilience. Stanley Tucci and Miranda Otto play her parents, bringing credibility and emotional weight to their family’s turmoil. While the cast is strong, their material often forces them to carry the film beyond its narrative limitations.
Visually, the film makes use of desaturated color tones, tight framing, and muted lighting to reflect the quiet tension of its world. The creatures themselves are designed with translucence and insectile wings, blending horror with creature design. While the creature effects have moments of impact, the CGI sometimes feels inconsistent with the mood.
Directing Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths:
A compelling concept where sound becomes existential danger.
The emotional tension of a family pushed beyond normal boundaries.
Strong cast performances that elevate uneven material.
Weaknesses:
Large portions feel derivative, drawing clear comparisons to other sound-based horror films.
The pacing struggles in middle acts, losing momentum before the climax.
Some plot threads—like cult involvement and the creatures’ origin—feel underdeveloped or rushed.
Final Verdict & Score
The Silence is a mixed bag: a film that captures your attention through mood and concept, but doesn’t always fulfill the promise of its premise. Its strengths lie in emotional beats and occasional scares, but it falters with narrative ambition bigger than its execution.
Final Score: 5/10
Who Will Enjoy It
Viewers who favor horror with emotional and familial elements.
Fans of concept-driven horror interested in silence as a mechanic of fear.
Audiences intrigued by stories centered on differently-abled protagonists under threat.
Who Might Be Disappointed
Horror fans expecting relentless tension or perfect creature logic.
Viewers seeking fully realized worldbuilding and lore.
Those averse to derivative elements or pacing lulls.
The Silence (2019) – Most Searched FAQs Answered
Here are the most searched questions about The Silence (2019), answered with SEO-focused clarity and ad-safe phrasing. Minor spoilers are included to satisfy search intent.
1. What is The Silence (2019) about?
The film follows Ally Andrews, a deaf teenager, and her family as they struggle to survive when deadly creatures known as vesps are unleashed. These bat-like predators hunt entirely through sound, forcing humans to live in silence or face attack.
2. Who stars in The Silence?
Kiernan Shipka plays Ally, supported by Stanley Tucci as her father and Miranda Otto as her mother. Their performances ground the story in a family dynamic amid the chaos.
3. What are vesps in The Silence?
Vesps are blind, flying creatures that escaped from a cave system. They hunt exclusively by sound, swarming to even the faintest noise. Their overwhelming numbers and sensitivity to sound make them nearly impossible to fight directly.
4. How does Ally’s deafness help the family survive?
Because Ally has already adapted to a world without sound, she and her family use sign language to communicate. This skill gives them an advantage in avoiding the attention of the vesps.
5. Is The Silence similar to A Quiet Place?
While both films explore sound-based survival, The Silence is based on a novel published before A Quiet Place was released. The similarities come from their shared theme of silence as survival, but the two stories develop their ideas in different ways.
6. What happens when the family encounters the cult?
During their journey, the family encounters a fanatical religious group that sees Ally as special because of her deafness. The cult attempts to capture her, adding a human threat to the already dangerous world filled with vesps.
7. What role does the eclipse play in The Silence?
The eclipse serves as a symbolic backdrop for the world’s collapse into darkness. It coincides with the vesps’ release, reinforcing the sense that nature and humanity are caught in an unstoppable shift.
8. Does Ally survive in The Silence?
Yes. Despite the constant danger, Ally survives alongside her family. Her resilience, resourcefulness, and ability to adapt to a soundless world give her the edge to endure.
9. Are the vesps defeated by the end of The Silence?
No. The vesps remain a global threat, continuing to spread and hunt humans. The ending makes it clear that survival is ongoing rather than resolved, leaving humanity to adapt permanently to silence.
The Silence (2019) – Ending Explained
The film’s conclusion finds Ally and her family taking refuge in the countryside, far away from cities where noise attracts larger swarms of vesps. In the final scenes, Ally hunts with her crossbow, narrating how humans are beginning to fight back by adapting to a life of silence.
The vesps are not destroyed, and the world remains under siege. However, Ally’s survival and growing resilience suggest hope—that humanity can endure by evolving alongside the threat. The ending emphasizes adaptation over victory, highlighting the film’s central theme: survival comes not from dominance, but from learning to live differently.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- The Silence Rating Scores
- Our Score: 5/10
- Overall Score: 4.11/10
- IMDB: 5.4/10
- MetaCritic: 2.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 3.0/10
Look here for more movies starting with T and here you can find 2019 movies to watch on your favorite streaming service.