By no means a "good movie" by regular standards, in that it is not original, not terribly suspenseful, not especially memorable or compelling.
However, for a TV movie, this was very well made. It is shot well, and acted well. So formulaic in its development that you can see coming every single step this movie takes, mostly because there are only breadcrumbs in this movie. This movie does not volunteer any information that does not pertain to the plot, so every sentence makes it evident to the viewer where this is going.
This ranks MUCH higher than other TV movies I have seen. Is it silly? Sure. But there are lots of movies I've seen before that I would turn off the TV for, if they came on again. With Radio Silence, if my choices were watch again or turn the TV off, I'd see it again. Make of that what you will, in terms of recommendations.
13 Reviews
The most predictable mystery ever made, but otherwise not bad
habakukofice30 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Radio Silence is about a woman called Dr Jill, who has the same job as Frasier in Frasier. I don't know if that's something that really exists in American cities in 2020, but in this film she is a big deal.
To talk about this film we first need to talk about what people want from a mystery in a movie. It can't be too obvious. People want to be surprised. But on the other hand, want a mystery to make sense. They want to look back after finding out what's really going on and think "I should have seen that coming". But they don't want so little foreshadowing that it comes as a complete surprise.
The problem with this movie is that the twist is obvious right from the start. Dr Jill, played by Georgina Haig, drove a woman to suicide with her phone in show. Now someone is coming to take revenge, and people close to her start dying. In the film, there's the main character, her boss, her love interest, her best friend, and then there's the older woman who works in the coffee shop and has no obvious reason to be there. So someone is obviously taking revenge for the dead girl, and I just immediately assumed it was her mother, who is the old woman in the coffee shop. Half way through the movie the old woman mentions that her daughter died last year, just in case you didn't get it.
They do try to throw in some red herrings. The boyfriend had access to the first murder scene, but then he gets killed. The boss is conspiring against her, but that's just to fake harrassment for publicity, not to commit murder. But I never thought it was anyone other than the old woman. And it was the older woman.
Now there is, in this film, an example of good foreshadowing. The boyfriend says she should have a gun and that he will give her one, and it isn't mentioned again, and it isn't shown. Until the end. Then the old woman walks in to murder Dr Jill on the air, and it cuts to black and there's a gun shot. Then it cuts to Dr Jill telling the police that she had a gun, so the old woman is dead. Good foreshadowing for Dr Jill having a gun. The cut to black is a bit of a cop out, but it's an okay ending. But that core mystery is so obvious it just ruins the movie.
To talk about this film we first need to talk about what people want from a mystery in a movie. It can't be too obvious. People want to be surprised. But on the other hand, want a mystery to make sense. They want to look back after finding out what's really going on and think "I should have seen that coming". But they don't want so little foreshadowing that it comes as a complete surprise.
The problem with this movie is that the twist is obvious right from the start. Dr Jill, played by Georgina Haig, drove a woman to suicide with her phone in show. Now someone is coming to take revenge, and people close to her start dying. In the film, there's the main character, her boss, her love interest, her best friend, and then there's the older woman who works in the coffee shop and has no obvious reason to be there. So someone is obviously taking revenge for the dead girl, and I just immediately assumed it was her mother, who is the old woman in the coffee shop. Half way through the movie the old woman mentions that her daughter died last year, just in case you didn't get it.
They do try to throw in some red herrings. The boyfriend had access to the first murder scene, but then he gets killed. The boss is conspiring against her, but that's just to fake harrassment for publicity, not to commit murder. But I never thought it was anyone other than the old woman. And it was the older woman.
Now there is, in this film, an example of good foreshadowing. The boyfriend says she should have a gun and that he will give her one, and it isn't mentioned again, and it isn't shown. Until the end. Then the old woman walks in to murder Dr Jill on the air, and it cuts to black and there's a gun shot. Then it cuts to Dr Jill telling the police that she had a gun, so the old woman is dead. Good foreshadowing for Dr Jill having a gun. The cut to black is a bit of a cop out, but it's an okay ending. But that core mystery is so obvious it just ruins the movie.
Boring
MaggieAndEszter13 September 2019
Yawn
rachelstuartwhite28 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The soft night time radio voice in the beginning ought to have told me how boring this would be if I continued. She scolds female callers for being in relationships until one regular says, "ok you're right- I'm done" (not a true quote but basically) and blows herself away on air. They don't leak out she contributed to the suicide because, well media does cover ups (a delay editing out the gunshot) and apparently the family and investigators don't sue when a civil suit is definitely appropriate. So the radio host lives life until a year later when she's plagued with "how do you sleep" being asked of her. Also, she seriously has the nerve to ask her friend if she should not touch stuff so they can dust for prints. She lives unscathed while she provoked the unstable and made a living off it. FYI: if you have an Alexa, she will go off because Alexis is the girl that is killed and also stalking her radio therapist. All around: annoying.
Very predictable
rynrox22 July 2019
time waste
milicapopovic8715 November 2019
stalker murder mystery
SnoopyStyle7 June 2021
Therapist Dr. Jill Peterman (Georgina Haig) is the host of a popular Minneapolis relationship radio show. She is hard on a caller named Alexis who apparently shoots herself on the air. One year later, she is distressed about the incident and refuses to return to radio. She reluctantly restarts her show in part to help her failing producer and in part to better help her callers. She starts doing the show completely differently. Someone claiming to be Alexis calls and Jill starts getting harassed by her.
I was waiting for this movie to go bad. Sure, the production value is not that high but I like the stalking. The first half is perfectly fine and Haig is a good actress. There has to be a reason for a rating below 5. Then comes the idiot police. It's always the idiot police. The movie does these hints but they are way too big. It's nice to have some red herrings but I don't like them shoved in my face. The biggest problem is that it runs out of suspects. Finally, there is only one left and the climax is flatter than it ought to be. Still, this is a better murder mystery than most TV murder mysteries.
I was waiting for this movie to go bad. Sure, the production value is not that high but I like the stalking. The first half is perfectly fine and Haig is a good actress. There has to be a reason for a rating below 5. Then comes the idiot police. It's always the idiot police. The movie does these hints but they are way too big. It's nice to have some red herrings but I don't like them shoved in my face. The biggest problem is that it runs out of suspects. Finally, there is only one left and the climax is flatter than it ought to be. Still, this is a better murder mystery than most TV murder mysteries.
Not every movie has to be an artistic masterpiece bulls*it
zeka7511 December 2019
Good for insomnia
jonasatmosfera2 July 2020
Original Premise
Kristamw16 October 2019
Dr. Jill, a psychologist radio personality, wrestles with guilt when one of her listeners, after receiving her advice to "end this pathetic life" of allowing a man to cheat on her, takes it as a message to end her life instead and proceeds to kill herself on air.
With suicide being a fashion trend or an issue that is glorified these days, I thought it timely for Lifetime to create a premise such as this one.
Writing Quality: Good original story line with incredible twisty turns. A year later and we are faced with these questions: Did the girl actually kill herself? Is she the one leaving threats? Or is someone else behind them? The pool of suspects is large and figuring out who the culprit is proves impossible because the plot is so intricately woven with plenty of red herrings and plausible reasons for everyone in Dr. Jill's circle.
Scare Factor: Not too scary, more of a psychological mystery. Threatening messages are the scariest part of the film as we know that they are all leading to a climactic moment.
Content (sex, language, & violence): No sex or language. One act of violence is shown on-screen and a bit frightening. Another act of violence zooms in on only a character's reaction to it, a look of shock, and then the body falls to the ground. Overall, mild violence.
Values & Themes: Regret over bad choices/the desire to better one's self. Taking responsibility for someone's suicide, even though the person is not at fault.
Ending: Very good, but too suddenly ends.
Acting: Superb. Georgina Haig as the MC is larger than life, deserving to be on the big silver screen.
The Conscience of Dr. Jill
lavatch17 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
"When Murder Calls" (a.k.a., "Radio Silence") is a well-produced film, and it is successful in sustaining suspense through scripting, acting, and production values.
The central character of Dr. Jill Peterman raises an ethical dilemma that the film explores in depth. That dilemma concerns that ethics that should exist in a popular radio broadcast where "Dr. Jill" dispenses advice in relationships. Her trademark admonition is to break off from a lover, breaking off a relationship when one's needs are not being met.
A defining moment in the film is when Dr. Jill is first interviewed by Lieutenant Briggs, a homicide investigator, who never researched an apparent death by suicide that occurred live on the air after Dr. Jill had advised a young woman to "get rid" of her present existence. The caller identifying herself as Alexis evidently took Dr. Jill seriously and shot herself.
After listening to Dr. Jill, the female police detective informs her that her own girlfriend dumped her after listening to one of Dr. Jill's spiels to break off a relationship. It is clear that Dr. Jill may have a wide array of enemies, one of whom is likely Lieutenant Briggs.
There is multi-dimensional quality to Dr. Jill's character, who feels remorse for not being more sensitive to Alexis. But when her bestie Claire Ashton is murdered, the assailant apparently mistaking Claire for Dr. Jill, our heroine is now on her own with no support from the police for an investigation.
The film keeps the viewer guessing with suspects ranging from Dr. Jill's spineless director of programming, Stu Wells; an ambitious sound editor, Li Chan; Brett, who was Dr. Jill's ex-beau and an incompetent security guard at the radio station; and even such characters on the periphery as the gossipy barista, Daisy Reid and the radio's studio's owner, Ron Taylor, who will stop at nothing to boost the ratings.
The film's director made use of interesting camera angles for the face of Dr. Jill during her broadcasts, and the actress adopted an intriguing sotto voce approach on the air. The scoring of the film was also creative and helped to solidify the tension that was felt in the snake pit of the studio, as well as the nightmare experienced by a well-meaning, but naive pop psychologist.
The central character of Dr. Jill Peterman raises an ethical dilemma that the film explores in depth. That dilemma concerns that ethics that should exist in a popular radio broadcast where "Dr. Jill" dispenses advice in relationships. Her trademark admonition is to break off from a lover, breaking off a relationship when one's needs are not being met.
A defining moment in the film is when Dr. Jill is first interviewed by Lieutenant Briggs, a homicide investigator, who never researched an apparent death by suicide that occurred live on the air after Dr. Jill had advised a young woman to "get rid" of her present existence. The caller identifying herself as Alexis evidently took Dr. Jill seriously and shot herself.
After listening to Dr. Jill, the female police detective informs her that her own girlfriend dumped her after listening to one of Dr. Jill's spiels to break off a relationship. It is clear that Dr. Jill may have a wide array of enemies, one of whom is likely Lieutenant Briggs.
There is multi-dimensional quality to Dr. Jill's character, who feels remorse for not being more sensitive to Alexis. But when her bestie Claire Ashton is murdered, the assailant apparently mistaking Claire for Dr. Jill, our heroine is now on her own with no support from the police for an investigation.
The film keeps the viewer guessing with suspects ranging from Dr. Jill's spineless director of programming, Stu Wells; an ambitious sound editor, Li Chan; Brett, who was Dr. Jill's ex-beau and an incompetent security guard at the radio station; and even such characters on the periphery as the gossipy barista, Daisy Reid and the radio's studio's owner, Ron Taylor, who will stop at nothing to boost the ratings.
The film's director made use of interesting camera angles for the face of Dr. Jill during her broadcasts, and the actress adopted an intriguing sotto voce approach on the air. The scoring of the film was also creative and helped to solidify the tension that was felt in the snake pit of the studio, as well as the nightmare experienced by a well-meaning, but naive pop psychologist.
See also
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