Movie Review: ‘SILENT HOUSE’

Boarded up windows, locked doors, and dimly lit rooms . . . these are all ingredients for a haunted house.  Throw in an unwelcome house guest or two and your about half-way there in terms of what to expect from Silent House.  However, in an attempt to not let you be bored by the all too familiar scenario, directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, have employed the same gimmick that the original Uruguayan film boasted: one long continuous camera shot.  Though it may be this clever device that gets you into the theater to see the film, it will be the engaging performances and intense experience that will leave you remembering it.

Silent House takes you on a single-take camera ride through a creepy house with Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen).  She has returned to her family’s desolate home to help out her father (Adam Treese) and uncle (Eric Sheffer Stevens) fix it up in order to sell it.  The abandoned property has been home to vandals and rats who have chewed through the electrical wires.  As sunset approaches and the electrical lanterns flicker on, the two elder siblings begin to bicker leading the uncle to drive off and leaving the overly dominant father and daughter alone in the house.  Or so they think.  A strange noise in another room results in Sarah finding her father unconscious and bloody.  It is then up to Sarah to fight off her mysterious captors who endlessly pursue her as she tries to escape the boarded-up home.

In what is becoming a successful career for the newcomer (she was equally remarkable in last year’s Martha Marcy May Marlene), Elizabeth Olsen delivers a mesmerizing performance that should warrant her inclusion in the ranks of classic scream queens.  Recalling Catherine Deneuve in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion, Olsen’s character is constantly reacting to strange noises echoing throughout the creaky old home.  Many times these noises lead to a reveal of another cluttered room; making you question the sanity of Olsen.  It is a testament to her acting ability that she is captivating the entire time since she’s in every second of the film.  Outside of the film’s leading lady, the other two main stars here are the sound designer and cinematographer.  Nathan Larson creates a perfectly understated score that accents every footstep and door creak perfectly.  Even in the opening scene where we see an isolated Olsen sitting among rocks on the shore, the repetitive music screeches softly like an old swing on a front porch.  Later we hear an uneasy quirkier music tone when Olsen catches up with Sophia, a forgotten girl from her past, in what is another subtle scene that slips under the viewer’s skin.  A lot of these earlier scenes do more than just add filler before the later real scares.  They actually add meaning and tension and create a weird dreamy state as Olsen seems to float in and out of the frame.  Speaking of the camera frame, Igor Martinovec deserves much applause for his brilliant camera-work.  Though the long “unbroken shot” is a gimmick, it actually comes off as quite natural. Even though there are a couple of times when its fairly obvious that the directors might have broken the shot because of either quick switch-pans, fading in and out of black, or using a flash of white light.  You do begin to ignore the camera trick by the end of it. How he is able to compose some of his camera shots with the actors and specific elements of the house in the frame is a masterful feat for himself as well as the directors.

The directing duo previously gave us the reality based thriller Open Water.  Once again the directors have been able to create intense scenes of claustrophobia and unnerving danger in the limited surroundings.  They have made a haunted house/home invasion film that makes the location as creepy of a character as the unseen pursuers.  Right until the thought-provoking ending, Silent House presents a disquieting tale that is very effective in agitating you during its 83 minute single-take.  I expect its style and sound design is best experienced on the big-screen as opposed to home-viewing.  For some people the ending will cause you to either love or loathe the film.  I personally have always been a fan of films that delve into areas of the unknown or don’t exactly spell out everything for the viewer.  Ending aside, there are still many things worth applauding here.  Most importantly there is a solid performance by Elizabeth Olsen that should be long remembered by horror fans.  My only gripe would come from the fact that she hides one too many times under the bed, under the dining room table, or under a pool table.  These questionable decisions may take you out of the film.  Then again, didn’t we also yell at the screen when Jamie Lee Curtis hid in the closet in Halloween?  I digress.  Silent House takes other familiar horror trappings and combines them into an intense and realistic genre film that never tries to cheat you into thinking this is actually reality; we’re even given open credits so as not to confuse it with the Paranormal films.  The reality is broken by delving into the surreal towards the end of the film.  At least for me, this transition felt warranted.  I’m curious how Silent House will be viewed five years from now as another film comes to mind that initially turned off some horror fans.  I highly encourage you to settle into this house of heart-pounding thrills.  It’s a stay well-worth your time.