Short Film Review: The Quiet Zone

Short, sharp and brutally effective, writer/director Andrew Ionides’ The Quiet Zone is a lesson in taking a simple concept and maxing it out to its full potential.

After all, it riffs on a scenario most of us have probably come across at some point – that faint (and seemingly ridiculous) whiff of unease you feel when you realise you are the only person in a public place late at night.

Ionides elects for the late-night train and a virtually deserted station as the base for his antics, throwing us into the panic of Ella (Jessica Bayly), a businesswoman on her way home from work who finds herself alone in the quiet carriage (hence the short’s title).

Or is she alone – for Ella seems to find herself being watched by a villainous, creepy looking figure, who elects to throw in a haunting whistle for good effect.

Getting off the train and finding herself in a dimly-lit, staffless station with dark corridors and unhelpful ticket barriers for company, the question remains – is she being followed? And if she is, what do they want from her?

Admittedly, there is nothing particularly original about The Quiet Zone, and there are a couple of twists that aren’t actually that surprising.

But the whole package is so well done, from a great performance from Bayly to spot-on direction from Ionides to a memorably-haunting ‘whistle’ motif from the villain that it really doesn’t matter.

Gripping like a vice from the first second to last, you even get some gore thrown in for good measure and the eight minutes or so positively fly by.

The Quiet Zone is a great slice of genre cinema, one which will thrill and chill in equal measure.