A gimmicky horror film from Chris Kentis and Laura Lau (Open Water), Silent House keeps you engaged until that timeless genre staple, the moronic plot twist, takes the movie to a weird, sinister places and saps the fun out of it. Of course, that makes it hard to review the picture, which depends so heavily on that third act reveal. The first hour-plus is pretty gripping, a real-time single-take (undoubtedly including disguised cuts) depiction of a young woman named Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen) being tormented by mysterious stalkers inside a lakeside home she and her father (Adam Trese) are restoring. It's a creepy place, with the windows boarded up, the doors locked and the power shut off. Cell phones don't work and there are no neighbors. The filmmakers, remaking a 2010 Uruguayan movie, play up the closed-off quality by setting the action during the late afternoon, with the sun first setting outdoors. The slivers of light that occasionally peak in, suggesting that helps lies just outside the front door, make the home an ideal setting for a suffocating living nightmare. Olsen does a remarkable job of seeming genuinely, unabashedly freaked out amid a symphony of loud banging noises and sinister apparitions. It's the sort of immersive full-throttle performance that only a real actor could give, grounding this sensational experience in tangible, real world terror. The intimate documentary-style camerawork gets in close, showing us every shade of terror on Sarah's face, hiding with her under tables and sharing in the sheer panic. [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]
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