| Silent House movie trailer and review | MoviezMuzic Mar 16th 2012, 08:11 | We Rate | 5.2/10 |  | | Director | Laura Lau, Chris Kentis | | Producer | Tazora Films, Elle Driver | | Cast | Eric Sheffer Stevens, Adam Trese, Elizabeth OlsenAdam Barnett, Haley Murphy | | Story | Gustavo Hernanadez, Laura Lau | | Genre | Horror | | Runtime | 85min | | Rating | R | | Release | 9 March 2012 |
Silent House strongly reminds you of The Blair Witch Project, because it started something that has picked up momentum over the years and it is now time for the 'found footage' cinema to be laid to it's overdue rest. I mean, seriously, Silent House is supposedly a film that is shot in one-take of 88 minutes long and well, maybe that adds a little bit of suspense to the tale unfolding but honestly it just feels like amateur camera work for half the time. Once the hand held camera meant avant -garde, and then it became just another style of creating suspense. Now, it just seems unnecessarily repeated. The lighting is poor, too and even though that is a part of the plot it really gets annoying throughout the film.
Elizabeth Olsen, the younger sister of the famous Olsen twins, plays Sarah, who is staying at her lakeside house with her father, John (Adam Trese) and her Uncle Peter (Eric Sheffer Stevens). They are all attempting to fix up the house in a bid to sell it. The story takes a turn for the predictably supernatural when Sarah begins literally 'hear voices' in the house.
Elizabeth Olsen shot to fame in Martha Marcy May Marlene and was seen to be a promising talent. In this film, though, it's evident that she's trying to bring a deeper dimension to her character but the 'found footage' cinematic technique doesn't allow her much scope for that. She did try, though.
Adam Trese and Eric Stevens, too gave the film a valiant effort but the script didn't allow for any real character exploration. One can argue that it's the limitation of the genre but after seeing films such as The Woman in Black, it can easily be said that such isn't the case.
The film is a remake a 2011 Uruguayan film called The Silent House. The writers could have done so much better. Though, they do deserve credit for using the one-take concept to their advantage in one or two scenes that really chill your spine and others that do make you scream. Though, those moments are few and far between. Sure, the shaky camera work makes it look like anything can jump out of the corner of your eye and make you almost wet yourself but the film doesn't deliver on so many levels that it becomes odious.
Chris Kentis and Laura Lau have directed this film and they should get credit for attempting to use a really good technique, however I would be forced to take that credit away when it becomes evident that the technique isn't really used to the advantage of Silent House and is just another catchy PR technique. Laura Lau who adapted the screenplay from the aforementioned Uruguayan film does keep the integrity of the original mentioned above while adding her own personal elements to spruce it up. The original was supposedly based on a 'true story', like most of the horror flicks are!! That is certainly a point of contention between this and the original.
The film does lead up to a plot twist at the end that is, in my opinion, simply brilliant but it loses all of it's impact by being so predictably annoying for the first 80 minutes. In a way this film undoes all the good it's done on its own.
This movie had the potential to be right up there with the classics if you ask me. The ending isn't as contrived/religious oriented or overly supernatural. It's pretty straightforward and does what any good twist is supposed to do: Question everything you know. Though, by the time the twist arrives you're already fazed by this ordeal of a movie that you really couldn't care and the race to the parking lot seems more fun than sitting through the film again.
If you're looking for some cheap thrills and a catchy twist then Silent House is the movie for you. International Release Dates | 09 March 2012 | USA, Canada | | 16 March 2012 | Ireland | | 04 May 2012 | UK |
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