Silent House
USA. 2011.
In English.
Directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau
Starring Elizabeth Olsen
Dearest
Scarers, it’s October in New England. Shadows are lengthening, leaves flee in
fright from their cozy tree-houses, and every night is a good one for curling
up and watching a scary movie. Today’s
tale is a small-budget flick starring Elizabeth Olsen (yes, of those Olsens) as Sarah, who travels to
fix up her family’s vacation home with her Dad and Uncle. Unfortunately, they
are terrorized by an unknown assailant of questionable realness. Plot twists
anything new? Nah. Still enjoyable? Mostly. It must also be said that Silent House is an English-language remake
of La Casa Muda, a 2010
Oscar-nominated film from Uruguay. Not having seen the original, I can still
say that this movie is still more interesting than the typical big-Hollywood remakes
typical in today’s theaters.
The movie
does have some definite positives to it: the mystery is well-put together, even
if the plot starts too slowly and is at times uneven, Olsen does a heroic job
with the mediocre script, and the long shot camerawork lends a unique angle to
the production. The filming for both remake and original was done in 12-15
minute long shots, which were then edited together to look like one continuous
reel. Mostly effective at portraying Sarah’s gradual breakdown, this technique also
feels a little overdone at times, such as one 3-or-4-minute segment of nonstop shaky
cam.
Scare-wise, I give it a 2/5 “This
isn’t a PG movie?” Aside from a few jump moments and some creepy images towards
the end, the movie drags too much to be all that scary. Likewise, I score it
2/5 on the gore-o-meter “Meh- like that time I broke my toe.” There’s some
blood, but nothing very graphic.
Overall, Silent House is worth a watch. Maybe not a super-focused,
headphones-in kind of watch, but a hang-with-friends, it’s-Tuesday-night kind
of watch. Just make sure you double check your house’s front door before you go
to sleep!
Stay Creepy now,
-AC
See also,
2010. La Casa Muda. Gustavo Hernández.
1948. Rope. Hitchcock
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