The Whisper Man (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
2 days ago
5 min read

THE WHISPER MAN (2026)

Starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan, Adam Scott, Hamish Linklater, Owen Teague, Michael Keaton, Acston Luca Porto, Will Brill, Exavier Montanez, Robert Clohessy, Aniela Zeig, Randy Danson, Kimberlee Monroe, Alyse Alan Louis, Glenn Cunningham, James Harkins, Stewart Zamudio, Abdul L. Howard, Jacob Berger and Ryan Frisson.

Screenplay by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer.

Directed by James Ashcroft.

Distributed by Netflix. 114 minutes. Rated R.

The sins of the fathers being visited upon the children is explored on a few levels in The Whisper Man, a serial-killer thriller which specifically muses on some very dark aspects about the relationships of fathers and sons – and the ways those relationships can shape or haunt the people we become. It asks a lot of very deep, disturbing questions about bloodlines, many of which it never adequately answers.

Netflix has become oddly adept at producing thrillers that look better than they play. The Whisper Man is the latest example: a moody, well‑cast serial‑killer drama that seems poised to deliver something chilling, only to settle into familiar rhythms. It’s atmospheric, competently made, and occasionally unnerving, but it never quite finds the sharper edge that its premise promises.

Honestly, The Whisper Man feels a bit like one of the lesser episodes of Criminal Minds. It has some legitimate scares, has a disturbing premise and a pretty terrific cast, but most of these positives are somewhat squandered.

Also the fact that the serial killer specializes in kidnapping and killing small boys gives the film an extremely creepy vibe – and not in the way that is intended. Unless handled with exceptional care, this kind of subject matter risks feeling exploitative rather than genuinely unsettling, and The Whisper Man never quite earns the darkness it's trafficking in.

The Whisper Man is based on a 2019 novel of the same name by Alex North about a series of apparently copycat killings in a small town. (The novel took place in England, but the film moves the action to the fictional New Jersey town of Garreton.) Young boys are being kidnapped and forced to do psychological interviews recorded over old music cassettes – Tiffany, Diana Ross, En Vogue – a stylistic flourish the film never bothers to explain. It seems intended to echo past crimes, but the movie treats it more as a creepy visual motif than a meaningful clue. Then, after the tapes are sent to local press, the kids are found dead, dumped in secluded public places with their t-shirts wrapped around their heads.

At the same time, widower Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott) has moved back to his hometown with his eight-year-old son Jake (Acston Luca Porto) as they try to start a new life after the recent death of his wife. They rent an old, ramshackle house which is instantly creepy. Jake – who has an imaginary friend who warns him of danger – is sure there is something evil about the house. And then one night Jake just disappears.

In the meantime, local police detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan), is investigating the killings, which she realizes are extremely similar to a series of murders which happened 25 years earlier. However, she knows that killer is still in jail.

The original murderer, named Frank Carter and nicknamed “The Whisper Man,” was caught by long since retired detective Peter Willis, played by Robert De Niro. (Remember back when having De Niro in a cast was a good thing? That’s been a long time now.) And possibly (or possibly not), by strange coincidence, he is also the estranged father of Tom Kennedy and had never met his now-kidnapped grandson.

Beck goes to Willis, knowing that the former detective is the expert on the case – and that he is the only person that the original killer will speak to in order to investigate his copycat. At first Willis refuses, but when his own grandson is taken, he agrees to go visit his old nemesis.

Apparently, Netflix asked press not to leak Michael Keaton’s participation in the film until it was released. However, I saw the movie the day after its release and Keaton’s participation is already widely shared online, including being openly included in the cast listings on IMDB, Wikipedia and Google. So, I suppose I’m safe to reveal it here.

I’m not sure why Keaton’s participation as the imprisoned titular serial killer was supposed to be a surprise. His picture is shown early in the movie. His actual role is not all that large. And honestly, it’s far from Keaton’s finest work. Not that it is completely Keaton’s fault, the character as written becomes a defanged Hannibal Lecter, whose quips and intimidation tactics pale in comparison to its inspiration.

Carter agrees to possibly help – but only if the police agree to an unthinkable quid pro quo, looking for the wife and son who long ago decided to disappear far from their disgraced patriarch. (This is particularly hard to agree to because the police suspect the t-shirts covering the faces of the kids were Carter’s way of pretending he was killing his own son.)

Therefore, Willis, Beck and Kennedy must put aside their differences and join forces in a race against time to rescue Jake before he too becomes a victim.

The silly coincidences add up. It turns out the house that Tom rented was the house where The Whisper Man used to torture and kill his victims and the copycat turns out to have a not particularly surprising connection to Carter. There is also a weird collector of serial killer memorabilia (Hamish Linklater) who also just happens to live in this same hellish town – but is he involved in the crimes or just a MacGuffin?

The strong cast is mostly wasted on these one-dimensional roles. Particularly De Niro (no huge surprise) and sadly Keaton seem to be sort of mailing it in. Scott is fine-but-underwhelming in the kind of potboiler role that the formerly comic-based actor seems to suddenly be specializing in. Only Monaghan comes out of this looking good, gamely committing to the absurdity of the situation.

The climax tries to deliver a shocking moral dilemma, but the film’s final twist is so implausible – and so strangely staged – that it undermines whatever tension the story has built. It requires law enforcement to behave in ways no professional would, and it contradicts the emotional logic of several characters. It’s meant to be harrowing; instead, it’s just wrongheaded.

Sadly, that’s true of the film as a whole.

Jay S. Jacobs

https://youtu.be/ZHRR-1CKYIQ?si=KzJaxLHjZhxzn1_4