In Netflix’s new horror movie The Silence, Reverend (Billy MacLellan), the leader of the cult known as The Hushed, wants to capture Ally Andrews (Kiernan Shipka) because she is “fertile.”
What does Reverend mean when he describes Ally as “fertile” and why does he want a fertile teenage girl?
Reverend and The Hushed cult members try to kidnap Ally
Ally and Hugh Andrews (Stanley Tucci) run into Reverend while out looking for supplies, including antibiotics to treat Kelly’s (Miranda Otto) Vesp bite wound. Reverend tells them about his cult and wants them to join the cult but they aren’t interested. They only want to be on their way after discovering that the Vesps have been laying eggs in corpses and multiplying rapidly.
But Reverend follows Ally and Hugh home and tries to convince them to join his cult of The Hushed. Hugh tells him to leave them alone. Reverend then reveals that it is Ally he really wants because she is “fertile.”
Your first thought might be that Reverend is a creepy old man who wants to sexually assault a teenage girl. But based on the fact that the focus of Reverend’s cult, The Hushed, is on adaptation and survival in a world now ruled by the predatory Vesps, it is also likely that he wants a “fertile” girl to turn into a baby-making machine.
Reverend and his cult members later stage an attack on the home of the Andrews by using a girl strapped with mobile phones. When the alarms go off, the Vesps swarm in. Amid the distraction The Hushed move in to capture Ally. Grandma Lynn sacrifices herself by holding on to the kidnappers and screaming. Her scream attracts the Vesps who devour Grandma Lynn and the kidnappers but Ally escapes.
Another group of cult members capture Ally but Kelly, Jude (Kyle Harrison Breitkopf) and Hugh fight them off.
Hugh rescues his daughter Ally and kills Reverend.
The family then embarks on a trek to a place in the Arctic Circle called The Refuge where they take shelter.
They choose to go north because the Vesps are unable to survive in a cold environment. Cold weather dries up and shrivels their skin. So Hugh takes his family north where the Vesps can’t reach them.
Meanwhile, Ally learns to hunt Vesps with a bow and arrow. Her boyfriend Rob (Dempsey Bryk) also survives the trek to The Refuge.
The Silence on Netflix: What the movie is about
The Silence premiered on Netflix on Wednesday, April 10. The film is based on The Silence by Tim Lebbon.
Netflix’s new horror-thriller movie The Silence follows Alley Andrews (Kiernan Shipka) and her New Jersey-based family’s struggle to adjust and survive after a swarm of predatory monsters called the Vesps are accidentally unleashed on the world by a group of spelunkers. The monsters emerge from a deep cave system in Pennsylvania after being trapped underground for centuries.
The Vesps are flying, fanged creatures that rely on sound to hunt. They attack anything that makes a noise, tearing it to shreds. So the only way to avoid being detected by the Vesps is to remain absolutely silent.
Fortunately, members of the Andrews family learned to use sign language after Ally lost her hearing in an accident. For their part, Reverend’s cult members cut their tongues to ensure they do not make noise that could attract the Vesps.
The Silence is streaming on Netflix.