Quiet Room

I’ve always loved the movies. As a film fan, my attention would instantly snap to the TV when I caught a commercial for an upcoming movie. Most of the mindless, overproduced garbage Hollywood churns out is pretty forgettable, so whenever I discovered an indie film with a relatively fresh concept, I was excited to see something different.

Recently, I caught a commercial for an upcoming limited release thriller called “Quiet Room”, which I found pretty intriguing. The story features a serial killer with a twisted sense of morality, who picks his victims based on what he feels they add or detract from society and his killing methods reflect how they’ve hurt others around them. I’ve only seen two different TV spots for this movie; both were pretty similar with just slightly different narration and video.

However, one night while watching SportsCenter I saw a new TV spot for “Quiet Room” that I’d never seen before and I found it to be absolutely chilling. It opened with the title in white text on a black background, which it displayed for about five seconds. That led to second screen of similar text, which simply said “I’m coming” centered on the screen. The text was accompanied by the sound of several people quietly sobbing. Upon looking closer, I could make out about six dark silhouettes of people in the background. There were no film clips in this spot, nor was there a ‘coming soon to theaters’ message. I found this to be pretty unsettling, but probably a viral marketing tactic, so I watched some cartoons to settle my mind so I could get to sleep.

The next day I ran into my friend Jeff and we decided to have lunch together. Our conversation eventually led to this bizarre and creepy commercial I saw during SportsCenter. I was shocked to hear that Jeff had also been watching SportsCenter last night, but didn’t see the same commercial. Instead, he saw one of the original TV spots. I protested and described it in detail, but he had no clue what I was talking about. Naturally, this left me a little rattled regarding what I saw, but a few days elapsed and I found myself settling back into my normal routine, which included my daily SportsCenter fix.

The disturbing commercial had nearly escaped my mind, before I saw it again. It seemed the same as before, however everything seemed to be intensified. The wailing was louder and the dark figures were easily recognizable this time. After collecting my thoughts for a few moments, I quickly called Jeff to ask if he had seen it this time, but again he replied no and hung up, probably thinking this is just a prank.

My mind started to lose focus and I began to doubt what I saw and heard. I went to the kitchen and made myself a snack, watched some more cartoons in the living room to help ease my mind (which didn’t really help this time) and decided it was time to try to get some sleep. I made my way to my bedroom and I was strangely able to find sleep quite easily.

In the middle of the night I woke from my sleep. I swore I could hear something odd, but couldn’t make it out. The unsettling thoughts of “Quiet Room” came rushing back into my brain, instantly putting me on edge. I settled down and tried pinpoint this noise, thinking it was all in my head. It seemed to be the sound of intense wailing, exactly as I had heard it through the TV.

Intense panic set in as I pulled the blanket over my head in an attempt to muffle the noise, but it only grew louder. The sadness of these beings saturated my mind. As I tried to block out these horrible voices, I noticed a shadow pass across my blanket, but I was too afraid to pull back the sheets to see if it was just a bird flying by my window or something sinister lurking inside my room. Suddenly, I felt something cold touch my toes from beneath the blanket and I curled up into the fetal position in my bed, trembling with fear. A few moments pass before the blanket is ripped out of my grasp and I can see what has entered my room. The image of a thick black figure stood at the side of my bed. There were no ears, nose or eyes on it’s head; a wide, grinning mouth was it’s only defining feature. The urge to scream filled my mind, but nothing escaped my mouth. The creature seemed to soak up the terror I’ve become saturated with before it cocks it’s head gently to the side and thrusts a sharp, piercing claw into my chest.

I managed to catch one last glimpse of the creature standing over me as if utterly satisfied before everything went silent and black.

I woke up lying on the floor. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was still obviously pitch black outside. I grasped my chest where I was attacked by the creature and found no wound and no blood. Normally, I would give a sigh of relief since I realized it was simply a nightmare and I fell out of bed, but all I could feel was dread and intense sadness; the type of heartache you feel the moment you discover a loved one has died. I picked myself up and stumbled to the light switch, but I couldn’t find it. The only light coming in was the window. As I examined it, it was far larger than normal and looked otherwise abnormal. As I approached it, I could see words written on it in reverse. It said “gnimoc m’I”.

Terror filled my mind as I realized what had happened. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I turned around to see six dark figures circled around me, crying intensely. The sense of sadness I initially felt increased exponentially and I too began to cry uncontrollably.

The light from the window was the only comfort in this horrible place, so I made my way towards the window so I could look out. The only thing I could see was my friend Jeff, sitting on his couch, watching us.