Movie Title: Silent House
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Director: Chris Kentis and Laura Lau
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens, Julia Chan, Adam Barnett, Haley Murphy
Review: A young woman (Elizabeth Olsen) finds herself trapped inside her family's secluded lake house with a mysterious someone...or something. I really wanted to like this movie. I think Elizabeth Olsen is a fantastic actress. She can certainly carry a movie (see Martha Marcy May Marlene), she just needs to be in a good movie. Silent House follows Olsen around the entire runtime as she investigates strange noises, hides under furniture, and tries not to scream so not to spoil the jump scares that you'll see coming from miles away. The more it went on I kept on saying aloud, "What?" and "But, why?" The reveal at the end doesn't gel with the movie's setup. I was more confused and irritated than shocked or scared. I think this is definitely one of those movies that thinks that it's smarter than it truly is. I'd prefer to sit alone in my own house silently for 1h 26min rather than watch this again. I'd suggest you skip this lame student art film masquerading as a minimalist horror movie.
Fun Fact: This is a remake of the Uruguayan horror thriller film La casa muda (2010) which employed the same "continuous" take technique.