Sister Island (1996) User Reviews

a chiller of a film right up until the end

[ant bee · 7/10 · 31 December 1998]

I became mesmerized watching this film. A very chilling story, a very strange plot, but the ending was pretty predictable. The ending was very weak for such a powerful subject.

Karen Black gave a powerful performance as the mother and the girl was wonderful. But...something was lacking in the ending.

Carefully crafted story

[khatcher-2 · 6/10 · 10 July 2001]

This is an interesting film based on the aftermath of `Hurricane Camille', probably the worst storm in the cyclone, tornado or hurricane variety ever to hit the US mainland. `Camille' burst into the Mississippi Gulf after having developed from very high temperatures on the African continent on the night of 17th August 1969.

There is even a web page dedicated to this matter.

At the height of the storm, Rose (Karen Black), finds a girl (Erin Buchanan), lying face down in the water. She is alive, but doesn´t speak and doesn't remember anything. Rose calls her Camille, which seems logical, and tries to win her confidence - and in so doing gets embroiled in some rather unnice events and people on Sister Island. Good performance from Karen Black, but much better still from Erin Buchanan who plays her very difficult role extremely well. After ten years this was her second film with Avery Crounse, who directed the film with great care, though at the end it seemed to take on a kind of saga-ish vein.

Nigel Holton's music is pretty good, though at times he seemed to have Ralph Vaughan Williams' `Fantasy on a Theme by Thomas Tallis' on his mind, but the piano pieces by Beethoven and Mozart were well chosen. On watching this film, more than once you are likely to think of `Nell', especially in the earlier parts, and I think it fair to make certain comparison with the magnificent performance by Heather Matarazzo in `Our Guys'.

All in all, `Cries of Silence' is an interesting film, and Erin Buchanan makes it really worthwhile.

POWERFUL DRAMA!!!!!

[oliverburnett · 13 October 2001]

I saw this movie a few years ago and it has really stuck with me. It is one of those very rare dramas that hook the viewer in from start to finish. I couldn't believe how good this movie was! Everyone I saw it with agreed! It's hard to find but if you do give it a try!

Hurricane Katrina History repeats: Amazing Drama

[brnmarshal · 10/10 · 10 June 2007]

I bought this movie on a lark. Having family on the Gulf coast who were recently devastated by Katrina, I was curious to see what was out there that could help me put my family's losses in perspective. So I Googled, and came up with this fascinating apparently undiscovered drama. Bought it on e-bay VHS. Cries of Silence is based around the real drama of Hurricane Camille, which like Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast (only in the late 1960s.) Unlike Katrina though, Camille is seemingly long forgotten, except to older gulf coast residents who periodically might mention hurricane parties gone bad, in much the same way a WWII veteran might sadly recall Pearl Harbor.This movie was classically structured- good versus evil, the good being the central characters, the bad being the storm itself, along with depressions both tropical and psychological (needles to mention the antagonist, an incestuous, unredeemed specter). With its unique narratives and fascinating characters, I found Cries a bit of a catharsis. Cries of Silence was very moving to say the least. The Director, Avery Crounse, has a gift for mixing fact and fiction seamlessly. The images one is left with are much like the dream you just woke up from, wanting to remember but sadly knowing you will forget. Most simply, Cries of Silence is a beautiful film.