Elizabeth Olsen
SILENT HOUSE
After her explosive career performance in Martha Marcy May Marlene last year, one would think Olsen would have chosen a better follow-up than some insufferable horror film. Silent House is a nearly silent film that is made to look like one long continuous shot, trying to capture real time from the moment we see our lead female to the final frame. Of course this would be near impossible for a 90 minute film, but the 10 minute segments are hidden very well. There is less than a full page of dialogue in the entire movie, which means the audience must fight to stay awake while we watch this girl walk very slowly from one room to another, searching for stuff we don’t understand and, apparently, neither does she.
Sarah (Olsen) is with her father (Adam Trese) and her uncle (Eric Sheffer Stevens) at their lake house cleaning up the place after numerous break-ins. Sarah is supposed to be helping pack up her room but seems to be in a daze. She meets an old friend that says they grew up together, but Sarah doesn’t seem to remember her. Sarah keeps thinking she hears movement in the large old house and then cannot find her father. Sarah sees shadows and movement and becomes very paranoid that someone is trying to kill her and her father. Sarah cannot find the key to get out of the house for help, the power is off and the phones don’t work.
Writer and director Laura Lau and co-director Chris Kentis portray Sarah as one of the dumbest anti-feminist characters I have seen on screen in a long time. She is as weak as a dishrag and moves like she is in slow motion. At 85 minutes in running time, 60 of those minutes are spent boringly with Sarah creeping around various floors in the house, hiding under furniture and trying to escape these men she thinks she sees. We don’t really know anything about Sarah, the house or the family because the script isn’t intelligent enough to feed us that info. Boredom sets in very quickly with all the silence and stupidity this film lays out.
An entire plot attempts to surface with only 15 minutes remaining, but by that point I can’t imagine anyone would care what happens to pathetic, whimpering Sarah or her father and uncle. Silent House spends an hour presenting questions and giving no answer until the final minutes and tries to wrap everything up. Olsen, who showed true promise with MMMM is more annoying on camera than anyone I have seen all year long. I found this film without artistic merit, entertaining quality or any reason to watch it whatsoever. Final Thought – Impossibly slow, boring and uninteresting.
Grade D-
By: Dustin Chase W.
Dr. Donna Copeland’s
2nd OPINION
A young woman (Elizabeth Olsen as Sarah) seems to have an easygoing relationship with her father (Adam Trese as John) at their family lake house, which they are preparing to sell. John’s brother Peter (Eric Sheffer Stevens) is on the scene, and the two bicker about the repairs, and Peter leaves in a huff. The power is out, and they must use lanterns to move about the large two-story house with a basement. Elizabeth hears disturbing noises, and John searches upstairs, smiling slightly at times, and reassuring her that there is nothing to be concerned about. He leaves her in charge of packing, complaining that she should have accomplished more by now. She hears more noises and calls out to him, but he doesn’t answer. When she goes to find him, there are more noises and crashes, and she gets glimpses of a stalker.
This action goes on for way too long and eventually becomes tedious, with Sarah terrified, breathing heavily (nonstop) and trembling, with more and more despairing expressions on her face. She is trapped inside the house and desperately tries every way she can to get out. In the process she makes alarming discoveries, which terrify her even more. Her uncle does return at one point, but true to his character seen earlier, he doesn’t listen to reason and gets his gun, with the assumption that squatters have invaded the home.
This is a film that starts out being scary and pulls the viewer right in. We get to know enough about the characters to begin to see them as real people with frustrations typical of those trying to get a house ready for sale. Certain set-ups are thrown out to further the intrigue—photos quickly hidden, a strange encounter with a neighborhood woman who was a childhood playmate of Sarah’s, the father’s weird smile when they are investigating suspicious noises upstairs. Yet, the desperation and plodding through the house goes on for so long, the story sags in the middle. Finally, a bathroom scene gives us clues about what is going on, but comes too late to tie in most of the story with the grand finale ending.
Apparently, this is a remake of Uruguayan Gustavo Hernandez’ 2010 film, La Casa Muda. Both were reportedly filmed in one continuous real-time shot, which is supposed to lend an eerie reality to the drama. But at least in this version, some artful editing would have improved the flow. Elizabeth Olsen’s considerable talent shines through once again and carries the movie to a great extent. The other two main actors are less convincing.