On Air Now
The Capital Evening Show with Jimmy Hill 7pm - 10pm
11 April 2019, 11:38
Did Netflix's new horror film The Silence copy A Quiet Place?
The Silence is being called out by Netflix viewers for copying A Quiet Place.
It's no secret that Netflix viewers love a good horror film. From Hush to Bird Box, the video streaming service has blessed us with some of the most popular scary movies in recent memory. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that people were excited to watch Netflix's latest addition to the horror genre: The Silence starring Kiernan Shipka, Stanley Tucci and Miranda Otto. However, viewers are accusing it of copying A Quiet Place.
The concept of The Silence is not too dissimilar from A Quiet Place. In the film, a prehistoric species of bat known as 'vesps' are found in a cave and unleashed on the world. The vesps quickly begin to kill humankind but there's a huge catch; vesps are blind and only kill people if they make a sound. So, just like in A Quiet Place, people have to be as silent as possible to avoid being attacked and try to stay alive.
That's not all though. The film centres on Ally Andrews (Kiernan Shipka) and her family as they try to survive. Ally is deaf just like the daughter, Regan, in A Quiet Place and it's her family's ability to use sign language that helps them outwit the vesps. Taking all of this into consideration, it's no wonder that people think The Silence is a copy of A Quiet Place. However, the reality is that The Silence came first.
The Silence is based on a 2015 novel of the same name, which was released before writing on A Quiet Place actually began. A Quite Place was initially written in January 2016 and filming took place between May and November 2017. Production on The Silence then began in September 2017 but, given the source material, it's obvious that the concept wasn't stolen; A Quiet Place just came out first.
So this new movie on Netflix The Silence is about,,, creatures that hunt by sound,,, and this girl is deaf,,,, hmmmm sounds like a lil similar to sumn sumn
— ✰ 𝔤𝔦𝔞 ✰ (@giainterrompue) April 10, 2019
I mean #THESILENCE is A Quiet Place, right? pic.twitter.com/Fci7CHm7hS
— Cameron McGrath (@McGrath_MI) April 10, 2019
#TheSilence really does come across a Blatant rip of A Quiet Place. I can’t help but find some comparison between them and also, now that I think of it “Bird Box”.
— Ebhin (@TheRealEbhin) April 10, 2019
Drop the stupid religious crap and focus on the horror-aspects of the creatures you introduced at the start.
“Hey, can I copy your homework?”
— Jessica Grant (@claranoelle) April 11, 2019
“Sure, just change it up so it’s not obvious you copied”
“Okay”#AQuietPlace #TheSilence @Netflix_CA @johnkrasinski pic.twitter.com/YV0j6lKeWn
#TheSilence (the novel) was published in 2015.
— 🏁🏁 (@heyDeeJai) April 10, 2019
They started writing the script for A Quiet Place in 2016. (Never was a novel)
They started casting for The Silence and A Quiet Place in 2017.
Google is still free. Yet y'all just refuse... pic.twitter.com/dq2zntrw41
#THESILENCE Was a book in 2015 way before A Quiet Place
— Dai Trembath (@defiantmode) April 10, 2019
So, yes. The two films are similar, and could have easily influenced each other, but it seems like the copying controversy is just down to unfortunate timing.