Silent House Review

Yesterday I saw the film Silent House and it was one of those films that I am going to defend against all the negativity I am hearing from people. This film is 88 minutes of one long take that being said for a horror style film this is pretty remarkable especially considering the limitations of lighting for video. The story is seemingly simple but at the same time not at all, especially in the end which is something I will bring up in a second.

Anyway back to the main points first of all is lighting which as I said earlier I think was done fairly well in this movie although some of the points where there is pretty much no light was just a tad bit too dark and almost created a feeling of serenity for viewing which didn't help the tension build. The next point is score which to me was way too campy and kind of ruined the effect of the ambient sound. This film would have been way more engaging with just ambient sound, however I guess the filmmakers felt it would make the film boring for viewers or something. Next up is the acting which at times was good and bad, the worst point was the crying scenes for Elizabeth Olsen it almost seemed as though she was laughing which kind of makes sense if you take into consideration the ending but I feel is a small detail no one will really pick up on. The camera work of the film was a bit too handheld at times and instead of feeling engaging was a bit too jarring for me they could have used a preset in After Effects or something to help make the footage a little less shaky. Now time for the ending which is the most frustrating point of the film...not because it is bad but because so many people are not going to catch onto it. The ending is super duper pyschological and so much so that they average viewer is going to not understand it which will lead people to hate it. As I was walking out of the theater so many people were talking about how dumb the ending was...it is not dumb just as a heads up it is just something you will have to think about for a second, if you aren't willing to do that then don't go see it. Overall I don't think it is a must watch but is an enjoyable film with a good twist ending that to me makes the simple nature of the film even better. Check it out but be prepared to think about the ending.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess