¡QUÉ HORROR! 2012
Candidate # 17
DAS LETZTE SCHWEIGEN
(THE SILENCE)
(July 2010)
There’s been quite a number of impressive serial killer thrillers that have clamoured for some ¡Qué Horror! love these past few months, and while the killer in Baran bo Odar’s Das letzte Schweigen doesn't have the same sort of body count as Hannibal the Cannibal, the film itself occupies pretty much the same cinematic space as most thrillers of this stripe, and, more importantly, occupies that space with authority.
Twenty-three years ago, an 11-year old girl was raped and murdered, and when another 11-year-old disappears, the tragic event not only impacts on the girl’s parents, but also those personally and intimately involved with the original crime.
As the UK quad below points out, if you’ve seen AMC’s The Killing, you’ll find echoes of that show here, though one must keep in mind that, A) Das letzte Schweigen was made before The Killing premiered on AMC, and B) Forbrydelsen, the original show upon which AMC based The Killing, was made before Das letzte Schweigen, and C) Forbrydelsen and Das Schweigen, the novel by Jan Costin Wagner that Das letzte Schweigen was adapted from, were both released in the same year, 2007.
Just so you know.
(Das letzte Schweigen OS and The Silence UK quad courtesy of impawards.com.)