THE UNSPOKEN

THE UNSPOKEN

Just in time for Halloween is a nifty scare flick that is more clever than it is spooky, though it is spooky enough. It offers itself as a parallel component of the "Insidious" series of films without actually it's related. With no doubt a shoe string budget, director Sidney Wilson steals some of Blumhouse's thunder using simply creeks, squeaks and an eerie kid who doesn't speak.

The eerie Omen-like kid is in the person of Sunny Sulic who is accompanied by his mother Jeanie (Pascale Hutton) when they move into a creepy old house on the outskirts of a creepy little town. The house has the dubious honor of being vacant after an entire family disappeared without a trace.

The mom needs a baby-sitter and pegs small town do-gooder Angela (Jodelle Ferland) to take charge of the the aloof boy who like to play hide and seek. Angela is in a financial bind and needs the extra dough to help out at home; her dad doesn't want her hanging out at the house because of its history.

No spook flick would be worth its salt if there weren't the obvious expendable characters who come fully loaded in the persons of Luther (Anthouny Konecky), Logan (Jonathan Whitesell), Rodney (Jake Croker) and the dumb girl Pandy (Chanelle Peloso). You know their fate almost immediately, it's just a matter of how and when it will happen. In this age of thrill kills, you expect their demise to be gruesome and yet fun.

As usual, things start happening almost immediately when the creepy boy - named Adrian - engages Angela in a game of marbles in which the main agate becomes the recurring disappearing/appearing item - rolling in and out of scenes.

The misfit gang invades the house looking for a stash of "merchandise" they've wisely hidden in the basement somewhere and this is when the fun begins in earnest. Wilson does a decent enough job developing a sense that the house is possessed even when you gut says it's Adrian, the creepy boy.

Everyone gives decent performances - though not stellar - with the bulk of the films charm coming from the story itself and amusing explanation at the very end.

"The Unspoken" is a creepy enough flick for those who crave a Halloween flick that isn't a sequel! It has just enough bumps and jumps to tantalize even the most hardened fright night movie watchers and an amusing finale that makes it compatible with a number of fright franchises. -- GEOFF BURTON

GEOFF BURTON

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