In lesser hands, Silent House could have been a disaster. And, let’s face it, many critics did find this film a disaster. I am not among them.
Silent House is a horror in real time. The storyline is told in one continuous take. I knew this going in, so the closet filmmaker in me tried to find the cuts. I mean … you know they didn’t get it exactly right in one 85 minute take. I searched a great deal to find where the film got cut. I didn’t find any, and I find cigarette burns with regularity. Kudos to directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau; I assume they edited the thing, too, because imdb won’t tell me who deserves the credit. The story follows Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen, the younger, and legitimately talented, sister of twins Mary-Kate and Ashley. In a way, you could say Elizabeth has been prepared for horror like few other actresses before her.). For the entire hour and a half, the camera never strays more than five feet from Sarah. We see what she sees.
Silent House is freaking scary. Our setting is a remote woodland fixer-upper. There is mold in the walls and a lack of electricity. One can only imagine a smell, but I’m sure it exists. There isn’t a single scene in bright light. It’s dusk, lamps, flashlights or none-of-the-above. Sarah is on the ground floor; her father goes downstairs. They’re the only ones in the house and then we all hear a bump coming from upstairs. Uh oh. Yes, it’s that kind of film. Later on, Sarah finds herself alone, in the dark and locked within an ever creepier and lightless dwelling. At this point, an empty beer bottle rolling across the floor can creep you out. And it does. The camera catches every line of horror written on Sarah’s face.
In this way we see the power of the medium, don’t we? Silent House is like a play in that scope is limited. Unlike a play, however, our heroine can go anywhere she has access. There’s no need to pretend one part of the stage is “outside” while the other part is “inside.”
In the hands of a lesser actress, Silent House would fail, no question. When the camera finds you for all 85 minutes of an 85 minute movie, you better have a decent POV. I didn’t much care for Martha Marcie May Marlene Marcia Manny Mneumonic Mallomar, but it wasn’t lead Elizabeth Olsen’s doing. She has damn good range and a little spunk. Physically, her big eyes and drawn face might remind one of a smaller Maggie Gyllenhaal. You can do worse there, too. It is fair to say I cared when Sarah made a move and was guessing as she was guessing how she was going to escape alive.
BTW, fellas — hard to distinguish Silent among Safe House and Dream House. If your film gets lost in the shuffle … not my fault.
Rated R, 85 Minutes
D: Chris Kentis, Laura Lau
W: Gustavo Hernández, Laura Lau
Genre: First person horror
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Film students
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Fans of light
