Kyle Khatchadourian
Staff Writer
For fans of horror and spine-chilling movies, “Silent House” will do nothing but disappoint with its uninteresting and less- than-thrilling plot line.
With a rather unconventional filming approach, directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau aspire to make the movie seem as if it was filmed in one continuous shot. Kentis and Lau attempted to create a more life-like thriller, but “Silent House” falls very short of enjoyable.
The story opens with a young girl named Sarah (Elizabeth Olson), Sarah’s father John (Adam Trese) and her uncle Peter (Eric Sheffer Stevens), all trying to repair their old family lake house. Before the trio even has time to unpack its bags, things start to t ake a drastic turn for the strange and inexplicable.
Like any cliche scary movie, Sarah soon finds herself as the medium through which a series of inexplicable events occurs. Sarah’s every decision and random hallucinations become the misguided focus of the film.
Blurry backgrounds and shaky camera movements are enough to cause audiences to feel nauseous and exhausted by the end of the 88-minute technical turbulence.
“Silent House,” loosely based on the 2010 Uruguayan film “La Casa Muda,” has a similar feel to its Latin American counterpart.
Both movies use first-person filming, where the audience is forced to view the movie through the eyes of the character holding the camera.
The filming style seemed like an interesting approach for a movie that was trying to make the scenario seem more realistic. Ultimately, however, the home-video style becomes tiring to watch.
The constant shakiness of the camera in combination with characters running through the house becomes obnoxious and confusing. Although the unusual filming technique contributed to the film’s scariness, it could not make up for the monotony of the movie’s premise.
Along with the unconventional filming, the acting was flat and not convincing. Olson showed promise after her role in “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” but she failed to relay this talent in “Silent House.”
Overall, “Silent House” was poorly put together. With its combination of random scenes with weird objects and people who appear randomly without explanation, the film is a sorry excuse for a thriller.
“Silent House” opened on March 9 and is playing in theaters nationwide.
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