The Silenced

2015 "The lost girls, suspicious school, and abnormal changes..."
The Silenced
5.7| 1h39m| en| More Info
Released: 18 June 2015 Released
Producted By: Lotte Entertainment
Country: South Korea
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A sickly girl Ju-ran transfers to a new sanitorium boarding school to regain health. But she discovers that students are disappearing and notices abnormal changes happening to her body. She suspects the school for what's happening and tries to discover what secret is hidden.

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Reviews

kimmotte I didn't quite know what to expect when I watched this film. I tried to find out about it without revealing keep key plot points and had the feeling it was something along horror baseline but nothing supernatural, so I decided to give it a go. It was on Netflix but it did not advise until I looked on here that it was in Japanese with English subtitles but I'm happy to give that a go as long as the film is good. Within 5–10 minutes of the film starting, I'd forgotten I was watching it with subtitles so please don't let that rubbish you from watching this film.The story line was good, the acting was good and it had me gripped right up until the last 20 minutes or so. At that point I realized where the story was going I was a little disappointed with the ending as I thought it was going to be something different. It felt a bit like they weren't quite sure where they were going with the story and it felt like a lot of things weren't cleared up which for me, is something I like in a film. I like a definite ending without the ambiguity that leaves you wondering what went on and leaves you scouring Google to work out what happened. So for me the ending of this film wasn't great.That being said everything up until the last 20 minutes was really good and very captivating, I really enjoyed structure, the scenery, the setting and backdrop of the film and the skill of the actors. It's just a shame that towards the end, all of the suspense and story they had built in the film seemed to be crammed into messy, unbelievable ending that crescendoed as quickly as it started.I would say it's worth a go but maybe go into this with an open mind about the ending because to me, it's not the sort of ending I would look for in a well structured horror film.
amiemica The purpose of my review is to explain this movie to those who don't understand it, so, yes, there are definitely spoilers in my review. This movie comes across as a mystery, thriller, horror, etc, depending on what point of the movie you're at. It even has what appears to be supernatural elements. They are not supernatural. This takes place in the 1930's during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The boarding school is one of several boarding schools that are near a Japanese military base. They are basically science labs with active experiments. The girls at the schools are the experiments. The goal of the Japanese empire is to create a drug or set of drugs that can create super- soldiers. It is never truly said where the girls in the boarding schools came from, only the stories that they all believe. Every time a girl disappears, they are either doing additional experiments or she has died. If she hasn't died, they brainwash her and erase her memory and return her to the school as a new student. The remaining girls are either knocked out to "end the semester" or they are told that the girl's family came in the night and took her home. They are all given drugs that are called vitamins before every meal and before bed. They are convinced that the girl coming to the school is a new girl, even if she looks familiar. If they were knocked out, they awaken with no memory of anything that happened.each semester is a separate experiment and is labeled as a test group. If girls survive that semester, they continue on into the next semester, or test group. Later in the movie, Ju-ran (Shizuko) and Yeon-deok (Kazue) discover the science notes and film. They watch movies of themselves and Yuka and see film of how they have been in the other groups and have no memory. Kenji tells the headmistress that two have gotten out of her sight. Those two were Eguchi and Yuka. Eguchi has apparently escaped from horrific experiment and cannot find her way out of the school due to injury or whatever, but she is trying to get help or show the girls what is happening. That's why Shizuko saw her under the bed and later Kihira and Shizuko saw her under the stairwell. Apparently, Kihira's reactions to the drugs seem to be instability and what could be triggered programming to kill herself if she sees certain things. Yuka throws herself out of a tree and the headmistress says if she survives a little longer, they will break a record. The girls have been desensitized to pain, so Yuka is left broken to see how long she survives. Shizuko, Yuka and Kazue were in the original test group and kept surviving. They were friends from the beginning, so even though they have been brainwashed, some deep unconscious memories cause them to gravitate to each other, especially Shizuko and Kazue. Eventually, they both start to experience flashes of memory triggered by events happening around them. Shikuzo even has dreams. She thinks she is hallucinating due to her injections. After the whole movie has passed, the last scene is of Shizuko and Kazue in the basement. If you look closely, you'll see that they are much younger and the basement is not decayed. The record player even works. That is when they actually, really met each other for the first time. This scene shows us that the girls have been in the experiment for many years. Likely, all of the girls have disappeared at some point and been returned as "new" arrivals. Only when one dies is she truly replaced with a new girl. Shizuko doesn't exhibit supernatural strength. She is the result of years of drugs and experimentation to create super-soldiers. She has super-human strength and speed.
melindaleonie It has a very predictable plot. I was expecting a twist but there is none. The story line was not congruent.#SPOILER ALERT# DON'T READ BEYOND THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE SPOILERBasically this movie is about a drug trial that is conducted to some of these girls without them knowing. So there is no ICF nor assent form signed. Those that experienced the side effect (aka Serious Adverse Event) would disappear. The drug would give them a super-human power, but might cause some adverse event such as seizure? death? well, they only show the first subject as suddenly having a seizure and then she was taken away by the school. If that was not cliché enough, at the end of the movie, the heroin used her super power to annihilate the school. The rest of the girls was being sedated with their gas drugs and they suddenly awaken and kill the principal in the most gruesome way.
Aria Ariana The Silenced or it's Korean title translated Gyeongseong High School : The Disappearance of the Girls made me dive into the story right from the start. The story, i believe took place sometime during the Japan colonization in Korea. And the mysterious disappearance of the girls happened in this boarding school.Joo Ran (Park Bo Young) as the centre point in this whole story shoulders her own weight. I couldn't help but sympathize her for the treatment she received.A mysterious incident took place one by one and it makes me wonder what's the deal with this shady boarding school who only has a very few students and was built way too deep into the forest. It's easy to lay suspicion as to whom is the one behind the disappearance but the real question is why this has to happened.I'm just a little bit disappointing near the ends because i was expecting some historical reference to be the reason of the disappearance but surely the story take it's own twist. I've watched too many movies, I started developing an expectation on a certain pattern that a movie with this genre should have.Not really the ending that I want but it's worthwhile for anyone who loves mystery/thriller/crime movies. Happy watching.Sorry for this kinda crappy review. I haven't written in a while.