Hilary Thomas (Victoria Tennant) is an author living in Manhattan. One night she is attacked in her home by Bruno Clavel (Jean LeClerc). He calls her Katherine and tells her he is going to kill her. Hilary manages to hold him off at gunpoint. He leaves but promises to return to kill her. She contacts the police. Hilary is interviewed by Sergeant Tony Clemenza (Chris Sarandon) and his chauvinistic and jaded partner, Sergeant Frank Howard (Peter MacNeill).
Hilary tells the cops that she knows who attacked her. She tells them that Bruno was a man she interviewed for a book she is writing and that he was the owner of an apple orchard in Lee Valley, Massachusetts. Frank checks and finds out from the police chief of Lee Valley, Sheriff Laurenski (Vlasta Vrana), that he just talked to Bruno on the phone and that the man is at home. Frank thinks Hilary’s crazy, but Tony is attracted to her.
The police leave. Tony begins dating Hilary. Hilary is again assaulted by Bruno but this time she manages to stab him with a knife. Later Bruno’s body is found dead a few blocks from Hilary’s home. Hilary is taken to the morgue to identify his body. Not long after that, Frank is shot by a suspect in a different case. Tony’s and Hilary’s romance heats up. One night, after having sex, Tony goes out to get some burgers. While he is gone, Hilary is again attacked by Bruno. Tony interrupts Bruno’s murder attempt. Bruno flees.
Tony and Hilary begin to suspect that either Bruno came back from the dead or that he wasn’t actually dead in the first place. The two decide to visit Lee Valley to get some answers. They learn that Bruno was never embalmed. When the casket is dug up, they find that it is empty. They also learn that Bruno was seen at a bank a couple days after his alleged death. The investigation into Bruno reveals some horrific and diabolical family secrets involving lies, incest, torture and the occult.
“Whispers” was released in 1990 and was directed by Douglas Jackson. It is a Canadian horror thriller. The film was based on the 1980 novel by Dean Koontz.
There have been quite a few reviews that harshly compare the book to the movie. I haven’t seen any work by Dean Koontz that was transformed adequately onto film. His books are phenomenal and fascinating. That being said, I don’t think anyone can do a good job at making any of his stories into a good film. Stephen King has similar problems. Despite this, if you look at the movie as a separate entity from the book, then you might be able to be a little more objective about the film.
I’ve also seen reviews that trash the film as being standard, boring or dull. Did we not watch the same movie? There is a scene that shows homosexual incestuous necrophilia. What makes that standard, boring or dull? Performances, on the other hand, were, for the most part, standard, except for LeClerc who was masterful and scary as hell.
The story is actually quite involved. The back story was a little wordy, but necessary to get the full picture of the reason for the killer’s insanity. The pacing was a little draggy, but there were enough tense moments to keep me entertained. I found the movie to be interesting. Yes, I read the book and yes, the book is better, but I still liked the movie on its own merit.