SILENT HOUSE
Chris Kentis and Laura Lau (Open Water) return to terra firma for this remake of the "real time" Uruguayan thriller La Casa Muda. Their summer cottage vandalized by squatters during the off-season, Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen), her father, and her uncle begin the laborious process of cleaning the place up when noises from within hint they are not alone. Now the deeper Sarah ventures into the derelict building, the further the secrets of her dark past are dragged out into the light. As with La Casa Muda, Silent House was shot in one continuous take, a production style that allows the viewer to experience the swelling tension of Sarah's horror firsthand as she unlocks a diabolical mystery. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Director: Laura Lau, Chris Kentis
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens
Release Date: Mar 09, 2012
Rated R for disturbing Violent Content and Terror
Runtime: 1 hr. 28 min.
Genres: Art House/Foreign, Horror, Suspense/Thriller
Review:
Silent House is a gimmick film, 2 in fact and they both do a solid job of making a mostly taut thriller that engages only to unravel in its final reel. Visually it’s edited to appear as if it’s one continuous shot following the story in real time. In reality these gimmicks make it feel a lot like a “found footage” film without the need to explain the ever present camera man. Regardless, it feels very similar and serves its purpose for the better part of the film. Directors Laura Lau and Chris Kentis, who directed the wonderfully effective low budget shocker Open Water, keep the tension high and wind the audience up like a top in the first 2 acts. Elizabeth Olsen is pretty much alone here and she delivers a frantic fragile and frazzled performance which is effective and believable. She’s strong enough to elevate some of the weaker portions of the film. Sadly, the script provides such obvious road markers about the coming turn that you are left hoping for an unambiguous ending. Instead, it heads into very some well worn territory which would have served the film and story better had they been left open to interpretation. It falls into the same pitfalls that The Last Exorcism and Insidious feel into, taking a strange and unnecessary turn in it’s finale, nearly destroying what it’d done so well beforehand.
C
