Haunters of Silence tells a very traditional story in an untraditional way. At just over an hour in length, it's packed with just enough atmosphere and visual flair to sustain itself, even when the threadbare story threatens to stretch past the breaking point.
It's a feature made on a shoestring budget, if the shoe were a slip-on loafer. Which means the crew is often nothing more than our pair of leading actors, who also co-write and direct.
They, Tatu Heikkinen, Veleda Thorsson-Heikkinen, and John Haughm, wring out every last drop of their limited production. At its best, Haunters of Silence is a celebration of imaginative indie filmmaking that would make the likes of Peter Jackson, David Lynch, and Sam Raimi proud.
Haunters begins on a beach, where a grieving man scatters ashes into the surf. He drives home in torrential rain and wanders the now-empty house that once held promise of a better future. As night falls, sleep paralysis takes hold of him as ghosts of the past visit him in a mix of A Christmas Carol and an Edgar Allan Poe novel.
From there, the film follows a dreamlike logic that, true to its genre, makes little sense on anything beyond an emotional level. It asks the audience to drop traditional expectations of narrative to get the most out of the story. Most of the time, it succeeds. Not least because of its expert craftsmanship, which stands out when you'd least expect it. Every time I felt my mind wander, Haunters of Silence found a new way to pull me back in.
One such scene cleverly uses stop-motion animation to evoke the flimsy grasp of reality we have while asleep. If you've ever tried to read anything in a dream, you'll remember the nauseating sensation of letters and images slipping through your fingers. Haunters captures the geography of nightmares with great eloquence that brings to mind the haunting dreamscapes of Czech maestro Jan Švankmajer.
There are caveats, however, which come with any film as niche as this. Haunters paces itself with great dedication to the tone and genre conventions. Which means it's far too long for what it offers. At well under an hour, it would be a far more effective film. Although it bears repeating, to treat this as a traditional feature does everyone a disservice. Go into it as an experimental picture and respond to it on its own terms, and you'll have a much better time.
Likewise, it's not a film you'll watch for the performances, though they are serviceable. But Tatu Heikkinen is a better filmmaker than he is an actor, and there are moments where a stronger presence would sell the fantasy more convincingly. It's never a dealbreaker, but it is there.
Haunters of Silence is a strong debut. The Heikkinens, Tatu and Veleda, have an innate understanding of atmosphere, which doesn't come naturally to even the most gifted filmmakers. You can tell where their vision collides with budgetary constraints, but, to me, that only indicates there is much more where this came from.
It's not a film for everyone, and some will bristle at the glacial pacing and deliberate choices to swerve past anything that even vaguely resembles the traditional. But those invested in alternative cinema will find a lot to love, especially in its poignant observations of our collective dreams.
