Rated R for disturbing violent content and terror.
Directed by Chris Kentis; Laura Lau
Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens
When I was a little boy, I wasn’t really afraid of the dark. That is to say, if I started to get scared of something that I imagined in the dark, 83% of the time I could reason my way through the situation and manage to get back to sleep, or cross through the living room with no lights on, etc. But there were times—that 17%—when something inside of me would be shaken; panic would set in and no amount of rational argument could convince me that there wasn’t something hiding in the shadows waiting to get me. In these moments, every innocent sound became something sinister, every creak, every rustle, even my own breath. The fear would settle in deep and it was very difficult for me to stop being scared. That being said, Silent House made me feel like a small child again.
Silent House is presented as one unbroken cut, filmed from start to finish in one take through one camera. Because of this there is very little setup, but you get to know everything you need to know about the characters and the setting quickly. The camera mostly follows a young woman named Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen, and yes, she is related to those other two Olsens), who has returned with her dad and uncle to the house where she grew up. The house hasn’t been lived in for years and has fallen victim to vandalism, repeated break-ins and everyday wear and tear. The old house doesn’t need any help looking ominous; the windows have been broken and boarded up and the locks on the doors have been replaced by simple padlocks—worst of all, the house is without electricity, leaving the inside in complete darkness. Sarah’s father has finally decided to sell the property, so they are there to salvage what they can before it is sold.
When Sarah begins to hear creepy sounds she tries to convince herself that she is imagining things, but once it is clear that there is someone dangerous inside the house, that irrational fear becomes very real and stays real for the rest of the movie.
I really enjoy horror movies, and Silent House definitely delivered. The pacing was excellent; I was terrified for a majority of the movie, but there were plenty of breaks in between scares to give me time to recover. And like I said before, the atmosphere made me feel like a scared little kid wandering through a big dark house again. It’s been a while since a movie has made me feel that way, and I think it’s because the director was very careful not to ever show too much of the man after Sarah. We get just enough to let you know that Sarah is in danger, little glimpses that are so much more effective than full, clear shots.
Along those same lines, I really liked that this movie wasn’t very graphic, and it easily could have been. The end of the film gets into some heavy material, but instead of going in to the details of what happened, the movie focuses more on the effects on Sarah, both physically and psychologically. Elizabeth Olsen does a tremendous job; there is little chance that she’ll ever be compared to her sisters. The camera focuses on her for most of the movie, and I was impressed by how well she did with what she had to work with. Characters in horror movies do lots of inexplicable and stupid things, but Sarah’s motivation was always clear to me. And even though Sarah spends a lot of the movie screaming and crying, I never felt that she was overacting.
I enjoyed Silent House. It was a great film to see in a packed theater, fueled by the energy of the audience. While this film won’t convert someone who isn’t into horror movies already, horror buffs should definitely check it out.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
This movie had me pretty scared, and it really leaves a lasting impression. Also, the end of the movie features some disturbing imagery and some heavy content.
One f-bomb is dropped, along with one GD.
Conversation Starter:
- Why do you think people are afraid of the dark?
- Some people say that we are scared of what we don’t know. Why do you think this might be true?
- Jesus said that we are to be the light of the world. What do you think he meant by this? What does light do to darkness?
- If we are the light, what was Jesus commanding us to do?
- How can we shine Jesus’ light on the world?
