Review
For
the most part, Silent House conjures up the same feeling of déjà vu for
The Silent House that Quarantine did for [REC], so I really have to
wonder just how effective it could ever be since it seems so
perfunctory. Just as that pair of films provides dual
tours of
a familiar apartment buildings, the Silent House duo lets us roam
through dilapidated homes in rural countrysides as girls go insane with
fear. This time, though, the minimal dialogue is in English, so if you
have an extreme aversion to subtitles, you too can now partake in this
gimmicky, presented all-in-one-take thriller.
We also have another leading lady this time, too; now, it’s Elizabeth
Olsen as
Sarah,
a girl who is also returning to an old childhood abode that’s about to
be put on the market. Her father (Adam Trese) and uncle (Eric Sheffler
Stevens) are also around to help move stuff out, and Sarah is even
visited by a childhood friend (Julia Taylor Ross) that she’d all but
forgotten about for some reason. Sarah claims to have a lot of holes “up
there” in her mind, and, as such, the she gets a refresher course to
fill in the gaps over the next 80 minutes when someone intrudes upon the
house with violent intentions.
Pretty much everything
that was written about the original Silent House can be repeated for
this go-round; it similarly tests your patience with long, measured
stretches where you
watch
Olsen react to things that are more heard than seen. Minimalism is the
name of the game here, at least until the story unexpectedly escalates
and morphs from a simple home invasion thriller to something else. Well,
it’s unexpected if you’ve never seen The Silent House, in which case
this part of the
film
probably feels a little too familiar and even tedious; having seen the
original version only a month or so ago, it’s hard to say whether that
familiarity made parts of the film sag or not. I can say with some
certainty that Olsen at least makes the second watch compelling enough;
even though I had a good idea what would happen to her, her hysterical
terror still resonated through a finely tuned performance. She was
quietly terrified in last year’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, and her
performance here feels similar to that one, at least at first--she’s
very natural and inhabits the character well and easily brings us in.
The film literally begins by hovering above her and the camera rarely
leaves her, and Olsen doesn’t blink.
In
addition to Olsen’s performance, the film scatters a few minor
deviations from the original to keep things interesting, such as the
friend that shows up, a conceit that allows for a slightly retooled
ending that’s maybe slightly more dramatic than it was the first time.
Conceptually, just about everything’s the same, but the eventual reveal
is executed in a bit more cinematic fashion; just like its predecessor,
the film’s roving, handheld style deceptively lulls you into certain
expectations, so when lines begin to blur, you might be taken aback a
little bit. This version does telegraph things a bit more by making
certain characters overtly creepy, plus more hints are strewn
throughout; given that the first Silent House was a tad predictable in
its own right, I think I can fairly state that this one might as well
scrawl its reveal on its decrepit walls.
For much of the
runtime, I was considering deeming this to be kind-of-sort-of-maybe
better than the original, but then it just sort of quit instead of
providing a logical stopping point; as gimmicky as the original is, it
also leaves you with a haunting final sequence that captures the main
character’s despair and loneliness; this one just abruptly ends amongst
turmoil. This isn’t a found footage film, but I can certainly imagine it
eliciting the same sort of “that’s it?” whispers as the lights come up
in the theater. However, there’s no denying that the journey to get to
that point is pretty well done--the team here is the same one
responsible for Open Water, so they’re sort of re-treading familiar
waters, stylistically speaking. Once again, the camera bobs and weaves
throughout this house, and the one-take illusion is kept up rather well
(there are obviously cuts, but they’re well-buried); this method
suffocates viewers by getting them lost in the house’s obtuse geography,
leading to a sense of entrapment.
I don’t generally like to get too
hung
up on comparing remakes, but, in this case, it’s inevitable. If you’ve
seen the first take, this one offers a better central performance but a
weaker ending, so it’s a bit of a wash. For the uninitiated,
recommending either is a bit of a crapshoot; both are technical marvels
in terms of precision, and each represents the type of atmospheric,
slow-burning jolters that are fun to watch with a crowd. Since the one
from Uruguay provides the blueprint, it gets the nod, at least ever so
slightly; still, this American update provides an adequate amount of
suspense and jumps, all the while making Elizabeth Olsen even more of a
revelation. We’ll be lucky to keep her around in the horror genre, so
enjoy her while you can.
Directors : Chris Kentis, Laura Lau
Genres : Drama | Horror | Thriller
Release : 9 March 2012 (USA)
Writers : Gustavo Hernández (film "La casa muda"), Laura Lau (screenplay)
Stars : Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese and Eric Sheffer Stevens
www.imdb.com
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