Silent House (2011) - Chris Kentis and Laura Lau

Synopsis:

A young woman is unable to escape her families lakeside retreat after an unknown assailant knocks out her father and locks the doors.

Silent House is one of those films that probably didn’t get much of a look into because of its indie roots and the fairly unique technique of the manufactured one-shot, made famous by Hitchcock’s Rope. With that said it’s this technique that was really the selling point of the film; and rightfully so. It probably helped that the makers were playing with the easiest genre for the single-shot to be effective but hey “if it works..” right? Tension is easily built as we as an audience are forced to watch every moment. There’s no fancy cut away to help break it and ease the fear… we just lie in wait for something to happen. It’s like we are thrown into the film with the young Olsen’s character and in doing so we feel what it’s like, in real time (obviously), to be in that kind of situation and we relate very well, much better than expected I must admit.

Talking about Elizabeth Olsen. Not only is she better looking than her sisters, she’s also outshined the pair of them here in the acting department. As far as I’m concerned she’s “arrived” in the film world as an adult, something her sisters could never do. Her performance is nothing short of amazing. When you’ve got the camera glued to your petrified face the entire length of a film you have to bring an acting calibre the likes of which few others can match. A shame then to say no one else was really on par.

It’s quite interesting to see such a clear gap. She stands far away the most captivating and believable character where Adam Trese and Eric Sheffer Stevens characters feel so wooden and forced. I haven’t seen other things they’ve been in I admit but here they, really bring down the piece. It could have been down to sloppy writing but nothing felt right. It may have been intentional considering the outcome but I wanted to be shocked… not to be able to guess the bulk of the finale a couple lines of dialogue in because subtlety is apparently lost on these two.

Still a good twist at the end though, if not ABD (already been done).

Overview:

An enjoyable and interesting way of filming that I’d like to see more often. Elizabeth Olsens saves this film from the shoddy acting skills of her co-stars from becoming a two-star review. Don’t worry though… they’re hardly in it so definitely give it a watch. 

Rating:
★★★