Silent House Review
Returning to her family home, Sarah is helping her dad and brother pack up the house for moving. But all is not well as Sarah at first hears and then spots a stranger in the house. Sarah soon finds herself running from room to room to hide from the presence in the house and to try to find a way out.
The film is edited together as if to appear in one shot. This is a strong highlight of the film’s technical achievement and also aides the course of the tension as you know for a fact that the camera can only go so far from the character we are following. It also means that wherever Sarah is trapped; we are trapped there too, and often it is almost excruciating hiding under a table or in the dark from incoming shadows with her.
The lead actress, Elisabeth Olsen (from Martha Marcy May Marlene fame). Puts in a solid performance, further demonstrating her skills. She literally has to carry the entire film as the carry is following her around, and to make each cut seem seamless in her performance should land her some plaudits.
There are a couple of problems however – Both of which relate to the twist in the tale. The sad news is that despite the subtle hints dropped, the main twist in the tale (and the drama than unfolds within this twist) are utterly predictable and break down the logic.
Perhaps we have grown too smart as an audience to fall for these sorts of things, or perhaps film-makers need to try different antics in order to fool us rather than breaking their own rules to fool us. But it is this alone where the film loses points and will certainly kill the re-watch value of the film. But first time round, so long as you are game for a fright – and for some clever technical approaches then Silent House is actually effective in its mood and style – so we are going to be kind and say it’s worth a decent fright night out.
Steven Hurst