THE WHISPER MAN (NETFLIX) (2026)

SYNOPSIS: Based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Alex North. When his eight-year-old son is abducted, a widowed crime writer looks to his estranged father, a retired former police detective, for help, only to discover a connection with the decades-old case of a convicted serial killer known as "The Whisper Man."

MOVIE REVIEW:

2026 seems to be a good year for Adam Scott to play a writer. In Hokum, he plays a writer haunted by a witch in rural Ireland. And now, in The Whisper Man, he plays Tom, a writer who has lost his wife to illness and whose young son is kidnapped by the mysterious Whisper Man. The man simply can’t catch a break.

Anyway, instead of being a ghostly folklore horror thriller, The Whisper Man is about a serial killer, Frank Carter (played by a big-name actor), who is fond of tapping on windows before kidnapping and killing young children. Although the killer was captured years earlier by Tom’s detective father, Pete (Robert De Niro), there is now a copycat killer on the loose. Detective Amanda (Michelle Monaghan) decides to seek the help of the now-retired Pete to solve the case.

Based on the original novel by British writer Alex North and produced by the Russo brothers, the screen adaptation is a talky, procedural-based mystery that lacks the urgency and thrills needed to make a serial-killer movie work. Half the time is spent interrogating Carter, as well as a man (Hamish Linklater) who collects creepy, morbid trinkets. There are a whole lot of The Silence of the Lambs vibes here, but that magic is not something that can be easily replicated not even by its own sequels and prequels.

While Tom is sort of billed as the leading character, his role becomes increasingly diminished as the movie goes on. Scott gets another chance to go all dramatic, playing a grieving father who, while searching for his son, also needs to repair his relationship with his estranged father. The script does offer De Niro the opportunity to put in an above-average performance, though the narrative is too diffuse to make the viewing experience particularly engaging.

That leaves Michelle Monaghan, who at least gets to play something other than someone’s wife or mom. Despite her character being involved in a tense fight, Amanda is ultimately the typical, forgettable tough-cop persona. The Russo brothers sure know how to wrangle a strong cast for a Netflix movie, but even an impressive lineup cannot outwit a script that doesn’t quite measure up to the serial-killer playbook. In hindsight, it might as well have been turned into a supernatural scare fest.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee