It’s never a good sign when I can barely extract the desire to write a review for a given film. Silent House didn’t even interest me when it was originally released to theaters back in March of 2012. My instincts were apparently spot on. But on video it had slightly more appeal. When I finally did watch this in August (which is when I dated this entry) it was so underwhelming I actually put off composing my thoughts for two months.
This little horror/thriller concerns a young woman who returns with her father and uncle to fix up their remote summer cottage that has fallen into disrepair. While there she becomes trapped within the house terrorized by what we believe to be squatters living in the home. The lights go out, doors are locked, someone tries to grab her from under the table. She encounters various “scary” moments for 87 monotonous minutes until the big reveal at the end.
Silent House is an uninteresting haunted house tale with a trashy ending that leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth. The production does have the distinction of appearing to be shot in real time using one long continuous take. Honestly I wouldn’t have even realized this if it hadn’t been pointed out to me. It gives the cinematography a novelty factor, sure, but it certainly doesn’t make the story better. Elizabeth Olsen is an actress to watch. She is engaging in the part and the sole reason this hokum has any merit. Because of her we do care for her character. The problem is she really isn’t allowed to do much besides act frightened and scream. Otherwise this is one tedious crawl to a “surprise’ conclusion that is lazy and clichéd. The only fear is that you might roll your eyes to death. Skip this.
7 Responses
Totally get what you mean about not having the drive to review a movie sometimes, but we’ve got to take the good with the bad. If we only reviewed the movies we liked people wouldn’t know which films were left out because we didn’t like them or if we’d never seen them. Were you planning on catching Sinister in theaters btw?
Yes, I definitely will. Sometimes there’s a dearth of things to watch at the theater and others there’s an abundance. Argo, Sinister and Seven Psychopaths were all released this week and I’d like to see all of them. Here Comes the Boom can wait (forever probably).
Paranormal Activity 4 comes out this Friday as well, although I don’t know if I can summon up the desire to see another one of those films.
This was bad. The end story was dumb.
Bad bad bad. 1 ½ stars bad maybe? Hmmmm.
Great review, Mark. Sorry it came out of a bad time. Sucks for Elizabeth Olsen, who is exceptionally talented. Have you seen the original, “La Casa Muda”?
I have not. Apparently it was Uruguay’s submission at the 2011 Academy Awards for Foreign Language Film. It was not nominated however. That was the year A Separation won incidentally.
I haven’t seen either but I’ve been told it’s far better than Silent House. On the other hand, I loved that A Separation won. Such a stunning picture.