Movie Review: Silent House
Based on the remake of the Uruguayan film, La Casa Muda, the film Silent House is a bizarre psychological thriller about a young woman, Sarah Murphy (Elizabeth Olsen) and her return to her family’s summer home, which holds some painful and disturbing memories of her childhood.
Sarah’s dad, John (Adam Trese) and her uncle Peter (Eric Sheffer Stevens) are renovating the derelict home to put up for sale. Strange behavior is not only evident in the house but among Sarah’s family. Right off the bat, things seem kind of strange with the father stalking Sarah’s Facebook page and Uncle Peter staring creepily at Sarah, creating an uncomfortable tension between Sarah, her father and uncle, making it awkward to watch. Between the two of them acting weird and hiding mysterious photographs, things get even creepier and confusing with the puzzling appearance of Sarah’s childhood friend, Sophia (Julia Taylor Ross), not understanding why she’s so pushy in making Sarah remember their past, which Sarah is unable to do. While John and Uncle Peter deal with the home’s mold problem, the minute Sarah is left alone the descent into terror begins. Strange and violent noises begin to evade Sarah’s psyche as she grapples with the possibility that someone else might be in the house. Her father disappears and she’s locked inside the dark, boarded house with no way out with a lone creepy man stalking around making noises and kicking bottles.
Elizabeth Olsen in “Silent House.”
Shot in real time, supposedly in one continuous shot, we experience 88 minutes of Sarah’s paranoia as she is trapped within the house with no electricity or outside communication as she evades the demons that pursue her. This allows the audience to feel and enter Sarah’s world of suspense and terror, creating that effect with limited lighting, claustrophobic surroundings and shaky camera angles. The audience can surely be lost and confused along with Sarah within the walls of the spooky house.
With a limited cast of six, Elizabeth Olsen scores some major screen time as she carries the movie on her shoulders. She becomes a professional with the excessive crying, screaming, and cowering under tables and beds which in some spots in the movie becomes annoying and somewhat comical. I was elated when another character appeared on screen because at times it was too much Olsen and her facial expressions. Nevertheless, she’s quite convincing as the doe-eyed, terrorized victim.
Sad to say, Silent House came up short and disappointing in the end leaving me feeling completely confused, and slightly disturbed. Confused that I still don’t know what the hell happened and disturbed by the unexpected and strange ending. As much as the movie is highlighted for its fancy camera work (which at times made me dizzy) and almost flawless editing, it’s not enough to categorize Silent House as a good horror movie but a failed attempt at a remake that didn’t need to be remade.
