“Silent House,” originally a Uruguayan horror movie, has been remade in English and was presented at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It was released in theaters on March 9.
The thriller stars Elizabeth Olsen, the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, as she makes her mainstream Hollywood debut. The film also stars Adam Trese and Eric Sheffer Stevens, known for his role as Dr. Reid Oliver from the cancelled soap opera “As the World Turns.”
Elizabeth Olsen stars as Sarah, who is restoring her family’s vacation home with her father (played by Trese) and uncle (Stevens). Revisiting the vacation home takes a turn for the worst when her childhood friend Sophia (played by Julia Taylor Ross), whom Sarah can’t recognize, pays her a visit, heralding the recollection of childhood memories that start to distort Sarah’s grip on reality.
Once night falls, Sarah starts to hear noises around the house, and her father disappears while searching for the source of the noise. With her father missing and her uncle gone after a quarrel, Sarah is left alone to be confronted by an unseen intruder. Things really get going when she is forced to fend off the intruder alone, continuing all the while to lose grip of what’s real and what’s seeping into reality from her suppressed memories.
Despite such an intriguing plot, the script feels like a rough draft. It lacks the level of polish and tightness you’d expect from this kind of psychological thriller. It leaves too many unanswered questions and ambiguities – which might have been excusable had they resembled cliffhangers rather than plot holes.
Despite the poor script, the directorial vision of Chris Kentis and Laura Lau is deserving of high praise. In terms of the film’s direction, the only noticeable flaw is the occasional, laughable “false alarm” moment when what is expected to be the intruder is, for example, a fallen object.
Otherwise, cinematographer Igor Martinovic is masterful, treating the camera’s lens like the eye of a predator, following Sarah’s every move and implicating the audience in the film’s lurid goings-on.
The music is reminiscent of “28 Days Later,” with bone-rattling instrumentals that work effectively to make the viewer’s mind vulnerable, particularly in its moments of misdirection; the score sounds climactic at moments that are not, and it fizzles out when the intruder is about to attack Sarah. It’s a risky move by the production team, but it pays off.
Elizabeth Olsen’s performance in “Silent House” is outstanding. What might seem like unintelligent or even unintentionally comedic choices on the part of the writers, she somehow plays off with a believably human tone. She admirably conveys the unhinged emotional state of someone being dragged into a dire situation. Whether she’s breaking into tears or desperately trying to calm her breathing, she captures something ineffably human through her craft.
The Olsen twins aren’t known for being involved with anything more serious than a daytime television show, so it is encouraging to see their younger sister tackle such a dramatic role. She has a lot of talent and will surely take on more complex roles in the future. The supporting cast also delivers a solid performance, despite having very little screen time.
“Silent House” may be beautifully made on a filmic level, but its script lacks substance and depth where it counts. With its gorgeous cinematography and strong acting, “Silent House” rises above most films currently in theaters, but because of its unpolished script, it fails to prove itself as something special.
Stephen Margelony-Lajoie can be [email protected].
