Real Time? Real Horror?Real Crap!

This house is better off remaining silent
By Morgan P Salvo


Movies never profess to really tell the truth (just check the Coen brothers credentials surrounding Fargo), but when a movie advertises something and it turns out not to be the case, you have to wonder whether is it worth being lied to. The answer is, sure, if the movie is good enough, but Silent House turns out to be nothing short of an insult.
Silent House is based on La Casa Muda, a low budget 2010 Uruguayan horror film, whose similar claim to fame is that it was shot in real time with one continuous shot. Silent House portends to have used this technique as well, one that has only been used effectively in a few cinematic cases such as Hitchcock’s classic Rope and director Yuri Zeltser’s Circle starring Angela Bettis. However, I noticed at least three different cuts and one glaring camera trick, not to mention that the blood on Elizabeth Olsen’s face and plunging neckline changed locations from scene to scene. Silent House’s claim to have been filmed in one shot is a complete falsehood plus it’s not a good movie.
The skeletal plot revolves around two brothers, John and Peter (Adam Trese and Eric Sheffer Stevens) and John’s daughter Sarah (Olsen of Martha Marcy May Marlene) renovating their house in the country for sale after squatters have damaged it. The electricity is gone due to varmints or vandalism and there’s no cell reception. Cut to inane dialogue to get the ball rolling and viola, we are immediately thrown into scary movie territory with big noises and dad’s disappearance. Olsen spends the rest of the movie in ultimate fear mode, which visibly takes its toll upon her and eventually on the audience.
Cinematographer Igor Martinovic keeps the mayhem encompassed in blinking lights and grainy detail while co-directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, responsible for 2003’s sleeper hit Open Water attempt to score again with this “original” idea. The camera work is spot on genius at first evoking the feeling of being right there in the moment, and the creepy humming music is generally effective. After the camera stops focusing on Olsen’s cleavage for the first 15 minutes, the movie then allows you to absorb her escalating claustrophobia.

Olsen must have been drained after filming this. On the heels of a wrenching performance in her last flick about cult brainwashing, again she goes through the ringer with an exhausting display of panicking meltdowns in attempt to stifle her fear-produced hyperventilation, holding her breath and swallowing her screams to conceal her hidden whereabouts in the dark house…in other words a lot of cowering. The filmmakers obviously could give a rat’s ass about the male characters, as Adam Trese (Laws of Gravity) is underused and Stevens as Uncle Pete is one of the worst actors I’ve ever seen. It’s all about Miss Olsen and her emoting ability, which is fine but after a while we wonder, just how many times does she need to convince us that she’s scared shitless squelching her noise while hiding in precarious places from the killers, ghost or whatever? This Olsen should run back to sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley’s Full House leaving this silent one far behind her.
The requisite psychological terror scares of slammed doors, weird noises and flickering silhouettes are few and far between. Silent House plays out more like Wait Until Dark than Paranormal Activity. Hallucinatory little girl ghosts and blood pouring harkens The Shining but in the end it doesn’t matter. This movie, with its myriad of stolen ideas, lifts the plot from Stir of Echoes and makes that flick look good. When we get to the twist the sad part is that it’s not predictable because it’s just pathetic.
The ending negates all that came before it. When the last 20 minutes defy the greatness of the entire movie, it only then stands to reason that this entire movie sucks and as an audience we have been betrayed. I like a movie that’s good enough to make me think, not stupid enough to make me wonder “what the hell were they thinking?” It’s a shame as this flick might’ve been something of merit to talk about rather than, once again, to complain about.


Silent House
Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens
Directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau
Rated R



1 ½ stars