Silent House
Made watchable by a good young actress
Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2013
This low-budget thriller falls into a recent category of marginal films made watchable by good young actresses. This time it’s the old girl-trapped-in-a-dark-house chestnut, but we empathize with the up-and-coming Elizabeth Olsen’s (Martha Marcy May Marlene; Red Lights) expressiveness and vulnerability, and the claustrophobia and suspense ratchet up. Co-directors Chris Curtis and Laura Lau (Open Water) use a real-time, one-shot, handheld camera technique that, for a gimmick, works well. It’s pretty scary, but then it all evaporates in the third act when it starts to explain itself.
