During the years it was idling on my watchlist, I hadn't at all looked further than the poster, rating and synopsis, being under impression it's an indie film, so it was surprising to hear the fanfare of Universal studios, and see Michael Rooker and Joel Edgerton popping up. "Whisper" is, at core, a tired old story of an antichrist ("fallen angel", in the words of this film) child that doesn't get told or updated as much lately, but back in 2007 "Whisper" had fun realizing the old tale with minor changes and effort for entertainment.
Max (Josh Holloway) is denied a loan for a food shop he wants to own and operate, cornered and feeling down he gets persuaded to realize a kidnapping & extortion scheme by his friends. Together with his wife Roxanne (Sarah Wayne Callies), friends Sidney (Michael Rooker) and Vince (Joel Edgerton), they do the deed and soon start to understand that David is no typical child... He's a Damien from "The Omen" with an attitude of a Kevin McCallister. Well casted as well, I've always thought it's especially hard to create a good antagonistic child character in horror, and anchor it with befitting performance. Thankfully, Blake Woodruff delivers enough, and it's a shame this was his last before last ("Victor Crowley") movie. Against Blake stands the band of criminals, from which Michael Rooker disappears way too fast for my satisfaction, Joel Edgerton is good as the mischievous and problematic adult, Sarah Wayne Callies gives a solid performance, just her character doesn't stand out with anything, and Josh Holloway, the main protagonist, is also okay. Sit back and enjoy the little malice slowly manipulating and, of course, eventually killing people. Other than that, participate in the struggles and melodrama of the kidnappers, none of which will come off as new or more exciting than usually. Pacing's just quick enough to not lower itself into tediousness. As for the technical and aesthetical choices behind "Whisper", it smells of the according cinematic traditions of the 2000's, and I don't mean it all that badly, production design, special effects and such are fine. A Hollywood straight-to-dvd horror, is what it feels like.
"Whisper" is a good choice when you have run out of those mischievous children horror flicks that you like, and a decent choice for a random evening horror movie. It'd even better in younger audiences, despite the R rating it's not overtly explicit. My rating: 6/10.
