A Place Called Silence review – suspenseful Malaysian high school horror reboot

The pounding rain never lets up in this macabre and moralising schlock-horror about the deadly consequences of high school bullying and overprotective parents. Malaysian director Sam Quah took the unusual step of remaking and entirely recasting his own 2022 film, after the original male lead was embroiled in a #MeToo scandal, which prevented a Chinese release. Quah’s efforts have now been vindicated: this 2024 version is a box-office hit all over east Asia.

The story concerns Li Han (Janine Chang), such a beautiful, saintly and apparently devoted single mother that she’s taken on a cleaning job at the school attended by her mute daughter Tong (Shengdi Wang), just to be close at hand. Shame there’s a cagoule-wearing killer on the loose, targeting the school’s students.

Though clearly aspiring to social commentary, A Place Called Silence lacks either the intricate intelligence of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s similarly themed recent release Monster or the scathing black comedy of genre classic Heathers. Instead, there are tonally jarring comic caricatures – the bumbling local cops and the busybody landlady. These, plus an abundance of suspenseful set pieces and proper plot twists, keep us adequately entertained. Unless, of course, you’ve already seen the 2022 original.

• In UK and Irish cinemas