Don't Listen (2020) User Reviews

Good traditional ghost story

[richardwworkman · 7/10 · 9 January 2021]

Spanish horror doesn't really do the slow build up thing does it. From the very beginning this film kicks off with the creep and tragedy and just keeps going.

There's are lots of elements to the tale that include witchcraft, possession and folklore woven around a dark story and a sense of foreboding.

If there are lessons to be learned from this film its to make sure you always empty the pool and look at your children's drawings very carefully.

Went in blind and enjoyed it

[rouselleisla · 6/10 · 2 December 2020]

I watched it without expectations. And then it turned out to be really scary and good. I love when that happens. Loved the twist at the end, too. There's a post credit scene that hints at a sequel.

One of the good ones

[ansirahka · 7/10 · 10 May 2021]

Pretty basic loud horror but done right. No overly obnoxious jumpscare, some smart atmospheric spoopyness, and a decent interesting story.

Pretty good

[pigsrings · 7/10 · 27 November 2020]

Pretty good with lots of jumps. Storyline was a bit basic with a few holes. But aside that it does make you jump. Plus the ending not traditional and I thought was really good.

7

[Edvis-1997 · 7/10 · 21 December 2020]

First of all, I liked the introduction. It was not so long and action started in first 10 minutes of the movie. The next aspect I loved was the style of the house. I liked that child and mother was killed, because it brings a little bit more action. I wasn't expected that child is going to die. The idea seemed a little bit bland. There are plenty of movies with flies in the wall and childs who can hear voices so it didn't surprise me. The ending was rushed. I get the idea of drawings and etc. but it doesn't make a lot of sense then. No one saw drawings in the entire movie just at the end of it. In backflash, where guy killed his son, also didn't see a lot of logic. How mom didn't heard when child was calling for help, but she heards when gates are not closed, that's just ridiculous. The whole movie wasn't bad. I would say a little bit above average, like 6/10, but it's 2020 and there are not many movies so I'm raising it to 7. However, I wouldn't recommend to watch it because it's not really that interesting.

It is true, the format/plot has been done before, but even so Don't Listen (2020) isn't a terrible film

[James_Denton · 6/10 · 30 November 2020]

As horrors go Don't Listen (2020) isn't a terrible film, its only let down is it's a well known story (i.e. An old house with death and evil).

So the good and the bad:

• It does what it should do, it's scary.

• Personally, I thought the setting and the way it was filmed (i.e. Colour and hue) were ideal for the movie.

• The film is predictable in that it is set in an old house etc. But even then I was still caught out at the 'jump' moments
• There is always a twist at the end of a movie like this, and sure enough Don't Listen (2020) doesn't avoid this. Again, personally I thought it was ok
• I can't speak for the other languages, but for dubbing, the English version was good

Overall, it's engaging, at times scary and a good movie.

Recommended for people who enjoy the 'old house' horror.

Don't Listen

[krachtm · 6/10 · 28 November 2020]

The plot: after a family moves in to an old house, the parents become concerned that their son is hearing voices.

Haunted house movies tend to be pretty cliched. You have to really like the formula to sit through most of them. It helps if you shake things up by watching the occasional non-English film. But, even so, you frequently end up feeling like you've already seen that movie a few times already.

"Don't Listen" doesn't stray from the template used by so many other haunted house movies. There's the standard bit of exposition about why the family can't leave the house. And, of course, someone finds a book that explains the movie's plot in detail.

However, quite a few of the scenes were well-acted, and the characters were all pretty likable. Each of the characters got to have their own spooky moment, where they sloooowly reach toward something they probably shouldn't be reaching toward. Then there's a sudden, loud noise, and the character sloooowly backs up, not realizing that there's something spooky behind them. If you can handle such cliched scenes, it's actually done pretty well.

Near the end of the movie, everything is explicitly and tidily resolved. There is absolutely no metaphor here, and there is literally no chance that you walk away from this movie scratching your head. It left me wondering if maybe this was meant for a younger, less jaded demographic than me.

Maybe Next Time

[yusufpiskin · 5/10 · 30 November 2020]

Well... If your child is hearing voices there are three probable reasons for this:

1) He has a very strong imagination. 2) A traumatic life experience or mental health problems such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. 3) The house you are in is haunted.

As Don't Listen is a horror movie the third option is clearly the obvious one. This is a fine Spanish horror flick that is full of creepy moments - we get many of those wonderful shots of shadowy figures in the background - and the atmosphere of dread and horror as the malevolent spirit preys on the residents with a series of brutal mind games is great, that all said, it's unfortunate that the last act relied heavily on our cast of characters acting like complete idiots, which to be is fair standard horror stuff. This movie also answers the question, "What is worse than building your house on an ancient burial ground?"

Note: If flies are swarming around a crack in the wall it might be a good idea to find out what's inside that particular wall..

"Don't listen" is a suspenseful yet predictable horror movie

[giorgosstefanidis · 7/10 · 28 November 2020]

I was pretty excited about this one because of the really good reviews it got . I must say I wasn't disappointed but wasn't surprised either . THE GOOD -The acting is great -The atmosphere is really creepy and so is the special effects and makeup . -The first 20 minutes of the movie are shocking and scary THE AVERAGE -The jumpscares . At the beginning the jumpscares were great but as the movie progressed they got cheaper. THE BAD -The twist was really predictable for me .

Overall you should watch "Don't listen" because it's definitely worth checking out but you shouldn't have high expectations . I am going to give "Don't listen" a 6.5/10

Jumpscare, the movie

[rudygerst · 3/10 · 29 November 2020]

We've seen this story a thousand times. It's also stupid and unoriginal.

Movie relies heavily (and by heavily I mean "only") on cheap jumpscares.

Of course, no one ever bothered to check the kids drawings. Of course, the protagonists decide to split up many times

I can't believe we're still doing this kind of movies in 2020. Nothing to see here.

Worth a watch....!

[Affshar · 8/10 · 11 December 2020]

Pros: The story and the screenplay was good, never let me skip any scene. Jump scares are decent and were plotted where its needed. Unpredictable climax and the twist. Cast performances were good. Sound and cinematography was good, enjoyable with home theatre.

Cons: Not much but I felt some slowness in-between the movie.

Surprisingly good

[janhvipatil-59881 · 7/10 · 9 August 2021]

I won't disagree that this movie does have the horror clichés but it was pretty good ngl. Went in for it blind and enjoyed it.

How many clichés' can I fit into a horror movie?

[Otte1 · 3/10 · 17 January 2021]

1. Kid see something others do not? Check.

2. Parents misunderstand each other when a single sentence of explanation could clear things up? Check.

3. Something clearly wrong with house and people don't leave? Check.

4. People have died and people don't leave house? Check.

5. Perfectly new flashlights that flicker. Check.

6. Let's separate for no absolutely reason whatsoever. Check.

7. Ending that makes no sense and you feel you lost two hours of your life. Check.

And on and on....

This is a Spanish version of Insidious, with less budget, less directing, less story and less sense.

Dont Listen

[marmar-69780 · 6/10 · 5 December 2020]

Dont Listen was a fine horror film about a haunted house and how its residence its starting to realize that and how to stop it.This kind of films are very common this years in Hollywood and rest of the world and it lookes like Spain isnt imune to them also but at least Spanish atmosfere and some chilling use of shadows and voices were decent enough for me to give this film a positive score still.Actors did a fine jobs and they sold their characters in a fine way even if i didnt cared for them.Voces was a fine horror film for one time watch

Suspensful stuff

[KeriJoe · 7/10 · 27 November 2020]

It's a conjuring ripoff but one of the better ones! The plot itself doesn't give you any surprising moments but the scary scenes will compensate you from start to finish. Creepy enough, the tension is palpable throughout the movie, the atmopshere is also quite effective. it's absolutely worth checking it out.

Decent for the genre, some good ideas and execution

[devinwatson-66383 · 6/10 · 28 November 2020]

Could have been an 8+ if not for some silly audience manipulation, which is a shame because they did a lot of things well with this haunting tale. Great setting, solid acting, and yes a few good creeps (despite what the internet tough guys might say) that weren't all Jump Scare based.

---

1 Moody creepy quiet kid trope - Check (sorry, he's "highly intelligent") 2 Characters finding themselves alone and having scary encounters/croaking - Check 3 Characters not learning from previous near-death experiences and going it alone again - Check Check Check 4 Cheap audience tricks - Check Check 5 Shoehorned ending twist - Check (he pulls pictures off the wall and then goes through them, a few key ones weren't even on the wall but this causes him to /// Big Spoiler ///



/// Blow his own brains out in a combination of points 2-4.

Pretty good otherwise!

Not Bad.

[Foutainoflife · 6/10 · 24 February 2021]

This wasn't an awful watch. The storyline flows at a decent pace and the acting was good. I think it could have benefited from a bit more depth or detailing but aside from that it did a nice job of creating a creepy atmosphere.

Missed opportunity for a great movie!

[TreeFiddy53 · 5/10 · 8 December 2020]

I really liked the first 20-30 mins of the movie: The build up was good. The visuals give you the creeps (and depending on your level of scare, they might even seem scary) and you can tell that it's about to go down, the movie does a good job of building the anticipation. Watch this movie for the first half if you'd like to. Would recommend that! The acting was good too!

But halfway through, I lost interest. The movie had so much potential but it was a let down then on, especially in the final 30 mins. A couple blatant things were missed to move the plot on that made a character seem dumb, only made me care less for him. The narrative around the "paranormal/witch/ghost" in the final third felt weak and rushed. The lore could have used more time and stretched bit.

The final twist - Interesting. I'm torn with this one though but I'll take it. I guess the first 20-30 mins and the this final twist are the two things that I'll take away from the movie. That's about it. Turns out, there was a post-credit scene, that I missed, about a new story. I don't think it's worth the time to go back watch it, it's not gonna salvage the story in this movie for me.

Formulaic if watchable genre effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 21 December 2020]

Having trouble sleeping in their house, the parents of a young boy become distraught when he accidentally dies around the house, but when he stays behind to grieve a series of paranormal incidents causes him to gather a specialist and his daughter to investigate bringing them in contact with a dark supernatural presence.

This was an above-average if slightly disappointing genre effort. One of the films' biggest positives is the atmospheric touch this adds to the material that feels rather creepy. The general vibe here is of a true haunted house effort, mainly coming from the constant static and noises occurring throughout the house on any device capable of producing such sound but the other attempts to introduce the technological enhancements into their ghost-hunting practices which reveal evidence of the paranormal. These manage enough to generate a rather dark and chilling atmosphere here that plays perfectly into the finale where the ghosts are much more active, much more frequent and actually manage to become somewhat chilling in their recreations of the past events but also interacting with the group left in the house which has a lot to like for the most part. There are a few issues to be had with this one. The biggest issue affecting this one is the completely cliched and predictable setup here that follows all the usual rules and ideas usually associated with this type of film. The idea of the parents trying to figure out what's going on with their kid who's clearly disturbed by someone or something else other than what he's been telling them is going to result in the same stereotypical scenes usually featured here, from the parents yelling at the kid to behave and not understanding what's going on to showing the kid being influenced even further by the spirits in the house and the resulting strain being forced onto the parents trying to cope with everything. This resultant tragedy serves the film nicely in creating the perfect backdrop to the unease within the film but also feels quite tropey and expected as if nothing new or unique is done with the material as a whole. The general series of subplots and revelations about the ghosts' past brings nothing new here either, making them feel so expected and generic that they don't register much in the long run. Moreover, the scenes in the second half where they bring in the paranormal researchers cause more problems. Their introduction and immediate entrance into the supernatural goings-on are unbelievably rushed as a few lines of dialogue at a book-signing is enough to enter into the fray which is wholly unrealistic, while this also ends up bringing about so many ghost-hunting cliches in their search of the house it can feel like outright plagiarism at times. The scanning sequences with their devices are nearly shot-for-shot from just about every other attempt to utilize this setup, while the expected jump-scares of something running by in the background or off in the distance are telegraphed by jarring musical stings and expectant camera cuts which render the shocks ineffectual. With a glaring twist ending that changes the entire scope of what had previously, rendering everything into a huge waste of time, these issues bring the film down considerably.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Violence and children-in-jeopardy.

Mediocre copy

[onurmansiz · 4/10 · 29 November 2020]

This film gives the impression of being carved by copying parts of many films and series that have achieved success in the industry. but unfortunately, I can say that this movie was unable to create its own originality. IMO the biggest betrayal of horror cinema is to create fear by making the audience to wait only for jump-scare scenes. Other than the jumpscare scenes, other scary(!) scenes, as I said before, were stripped away from other movies.

Of course it's not bad at all; to some of those who'll read this maybe it'll become the one of the best movies of the last couple of years. But for me it's just NOT! Watching productions such as haunting of hill house, the conjuring or insidious for the fiftieth time will satisfy you more, it is incomparable.

DO NOT OVERLOOK FOREIGN MOVIES

[lauralouappleby · 9/10 · 22 August 2021]

I am learning to make use of the Netflix function of dubbing foreign language films into English. I am so glad because this film is really pretty amazing. It is fabulously dark, moody and has enough jump scares to keep you going until the main event. Great quality horror.

Hidden Gem...Solid flick..

[bribear71 · 7/10 · 29 November 2020]

Really good flick out of Spain...dubbed english for Netflix...solid and scary in its own right with an ending I didn't see coming that wrapped it in a black bow of despair...highly recommend 👍

Dont Care!

[med-01081 · 5/10 · 28 November 2020]

This was disappointing. I was expecting a lot more from the Spanish. They usually make very good films especially horrors. This was mediocre at best. Standard Hollywood horror. Yes the ending is decent but it doesnt take away the fact that there was a missed opportunity here. From what started out as a promising horror with a good storyline just fell a bit flat in parts. The jump scares were predictable, the tension was good and could have been so much better if they focused a bit more on the payoff of built up suspension into a jump scare but it just didnt do it for me. I dont get the 10/10 reviews for this. The acting was good but i wasnt drawn into the characters as much as i wanted to be. Still worth a watch but dont go in expecting a horror classic that stands the test of time.

A Nightmare in Turquoise and Red

[propaganda21 · 6/10 · 29 November 2020]

An adequate Spanish horror movie but nothing special. Effects and jump scares are good. The story follows the usual lines of new family that have bought a new house and are renovating it only to find out that it is haunted. However the outcome differs from the usual and is somewhat unexpected. You will scream at the indulgence of the set designer who felt that the colours turquoise/teal and red/wine had to be present in every scene, but at brisk 97 minutes the horror eventually ends.

Spanish EVP Horror

[Pairic · 7/10 · 29 November 2020]

Don't Listen (Voces): An electronic voice phenomena (EVP) horror thriller. A couple and their young son move to an old home in the country intending to renovate The house Is fly-infested and soon strange noises and voices are heard over phones and walkie talkies. Tragically the son drowns but his voice is still heard over the phone. The father calls in an EVP psychic investigator. Things go crazy from there, suicides, attempts at self-harm, cats hanging from trees. There is a malign presence in the house causing the noises and manipulating people. Some really gruesome scenes, the cats bit is bad enough but there are also shootings, stabbings, hangings, throats slit and a tree branch impaling a head. So plenty of horror and shocks plus a few plot twists keeps things interesting. The rambling, sinister old house with shadowy, dark rooms and tunnels provides a fitting backdrop to the unfolding of this narrative. Directed by Ángel Gómez Hernández, written by Santiago Diaz. On Netflix. 7/10.