John: Adam Trese
Peter: Eric Sheffer Stevens
Open Road Films and Liddell
Entertainment present a film directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau. Written by
Lau. Based on the film “The Silent House” by Gustavo Hernández. Running time:
85 min. Rated R (for disturbing violent content and terror).
There’s a misconception that
originality equals greatness. The Ancient Greeks, when they invented drama,
theorized that there were only a few original story lines and that every story
was a variation on those few. The new horror film “Silent House” isn’t
original. It couldn’t be by its very nature because it is a remake of a foreign
film, as so many American horror movies are. Where it distinguishes itself is
in its execution.
“Silent House” tells its
story in one continuous shot, or at least it appears to. I’ve read that it was
actually shot in 10-minute intervals. Carefully choreographed camera movements
and digital manipulation of the picture disguise the edits. If you’re really paying
attention you can spot where these edits might be. Of course, the filmmakers
don’t want you to do that. They want you to be caught up in the suspense and
mystery of what is unfolding on screen. They do a fairly effective job of
distracting from their own gimmick.
We meet Sarah. She’s the
daughter of John, who is fixing up an old family waterfront property in order
to sell it. Her uncle Peter is helping. Often the two men bicker like… well,
brothers. Someone has been vandalizing the property while they work on
it—breaking windows, cutting the power, etc. Because of this, John has boarded up
all the house’s windows and they keep the door locked at all times. The key for
the front door hangs just on the inside of it. Since this is a horror movie, we
know that it won’t be there once it’s really needed.
The camera is in the house
most of the movie, and the boarded up windows and lack of a power source create
the impression of perpetual night. The characters must carry around their own
personal light sources everywhere they go with only a few rooms having power
provided by gas generators. The fact that the camera stays focused on Sarah
throughout the entire movie’s short running time also greatly limits the
audience’s perception of what is happening. This element will pay off in the
film’s final moments.
After Uncle Peter leaves for
supplies, Sarah’s dad disappears. She’s listening to him walk down stairs when
she hears a house shuddering thud. She can’t find her dad, but she does
eventually discover that she isn’t alone.
“Silent House” plays on the
basic fears that fuel our strange attraction to horror. The elation that comes
with a feeling of helplessness is running just under the surface of this film
with an electrical current that threatens to strike out at any moment. Then it
plays on another fear—our ability to trust our own perceptions. Nobody likes to
be wrong in how they see things. Misperception is a greater fear than most of
us realize.
It eventually becomes
obvious that not everything Sarah is seeing could be real, but what is the illusion
and what is real? When your senses are restricted, as Sarah’s and the
audience’s, are, on what criterion do you base your judgment of reality? It is
this confusion upon which “Silent House” bases its horror. We are trapped in
the house with Sarah. We have even less stimulus upon which to base our
perception of the events that take place in that house, and when a strange man
is grabbing at your leg and it’s too dark to really see him well, only a
knee-jerk reaction can be relied upon. But, what if there’s more to the story?
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