And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. II Corinthians 11:14

This is the quote that opens Whisper, one of the latest entries in the creepy kids horror subgenre. In this go-round, the 8-year-old boy who is prominently featured on the movie's DVD cover is of the Satanic variety a la The Omen rather than the alien variety a la Children of the Damned - The opening passage above, of course, heralds this, in case there's any confusion.

In the movie, Max and Roxanne, an engaged couple with shaky pasts, want to buy a run-down corner diner and start a new life together. Denied loans, they boneheadedly agree to participate in an elaborate kidnapping scheme to get the money they need. So, Max dresses up like Santa, crashes rich kid David's party, and abducts him. Apparently, Roxanne is along for the ride because as a woman, she's good with children, or so the kidnapping gang reason. Superficial logic is a specialty with these thugs, and I guess they would have to be pretty dumb for this movie to work. Anyway, they obviously picked the wrong kid to abduct because he's one of those fallen-angel-Satanic-kid types who slowly manipulates and kills his kidnappers, all the while commanding black dogs that appear out of nowhere and scribbling the future on the walls with crayons.

Whisper is actually better than that synopsis might suggest. There are some reasonably entertaining moments of suspense throughout, and the plot moves from point to point with little that's dull or uninvolving. The cast is uniformly competent if unimpressive - most of them are television veterans so they're professionals. Max and Roxanne are played by Josh Holloway and Sarah Wayne Callies, of the popular TV fare Lost and Prison Break respectively. In addition, Dulé Hill, the likeable sidekick on Psych, is a cop hot on the kidnappers' trail. I've also got to give kudos to the filmmakers for including Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" in the soundtrack, and for making the Christmas standard "Carol of the Bells" sound surprisingly sinister and portentous.

Whisper is good enough to have received a run on the big screen - Lord knows it's better than some of the horror flicks that have been released theatrically in the last couple years. If you haven't seen classics like the original Omen and Rosemary's Baby, check those out first. But if you have enjoyed those movies, Whisper is worth a look.

The DVD

Video:

Universal did a commendable job with its presentation of this second tier B-movie. The anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 is rich in detail, and I liked the color scheme of the film - dark when needed but bright to highlight outdoors scenes.

Sound:

As with the good video presentation, I was fairly surprised at how nicely mixed the audio presentation was. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track surrounds the listener and makes good use of the rear speakers, especially in action / horror sequences. The score accentuates scenes without being overbearing; in addition, while not an original concept, the creepy kid whispering audio effects make effective usage of all speakers.

Whisper has an English and a Spanish language track and options for English and Spanish subtitles.

Extras:

When the disc is played, trailers for White Noise 2, The Strangers, Law & Order TV season sets, and the HD-DVD format precede the menu. There isn't a link for the trailers in the menu system itself, however.

Whisper includes many deleted and extended scenes as well as an alternate ending; all are presented as separate bonus features - though there's no explanation as to why the cuts were made to the final product. A commentary track would have been nice with these scenes [and with the film itself, for that matter]. I found the alternate ending preferable, albeit more traditional, than the joke tag ending the film wound up with, and it would have been nice to hear why the filmmakers decided to go with the ending they went with.

The last of the special features on the disc is "The Making of Whisper," one of those fluffy, rapid-edit featurettes where everyone talks about how wonderful each other is to work with and the challenges that went behind the making of the film, especially the special effects. At 9 minutes, it's relatively insubstantial.

Final Thoughts:

Though no classic, Whisper is a competently made horror film in The Omen tradition. Fright flick fans should want to check it out.

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