The Silent House tells the not so coherent story of a father-daughter combo who arrive at a creepy old house in the woods apparently to carry out some routine maintenance. Inexplicably they enter and immediately set about going to sleep before the noises upstairs begin. Now a problem I often find with films is that it is important to me that I can trace at least a strand of logic through the proceedings. Even if it is just implied. The problem with The Silent House is that there is no logic to the story. I am not going to get into the specifics of the plot too much because it makes no difference to your level (or lack) of enjoyment. There are many more questions than answers come the closing credits. In fact, I may be being too kind, it is more of a bewilderment and a wish for director Gustavo Hernández to greet me in the lobby to hand back the hour and twenty minutes I have spent. This ranks up there with the clocks going forward in terms of blatant theft. In the last few weeks I have lost two hours and twenty minutes to British Summer Time and The Silent House. I can't say I am too impressed. I don't know how much we can say that The Silent House has drawn from its influences and how much it has actually stolen, or derived to be polite. The book of cliches wasn't so much thrown at the audience as it was launched directly at our noses.
- Creepy little girls - Check.
- Children's toys (musical of course) - Check.
- Doll - Check.
- Polaroids - Check.
- Escaping only to find a saviour who takes you back to the place of misery - Check.
- Plot twist (was it a twist..? Who knows) - Check.
There are others but you get the point.
I appreciate the craftsmanship in undertaking a feature length in one shot. In these terms the film is successful... no motion sickness at all. The few camera tricks that were employed were repeated continually and quickly became tiresome. I'm not sure how convinced I am that this was in fact one shot but it doesn't make a huge difference either way. Lets not miss the point here, the one-shot gimmick is there to direct our attention away from the poor narrative and generic scares. What was gained by this 'innovation' was quickly lost as it became clear why this technique is not frequented by the masters of the genre. The problem is that horror is effective when tension is built before the valve is released and the pressure allowed to build again. This can't happen to the required extent here as we are constantly in the face of the main character throughout. Instead of putting us in the shoes of the protagonist which could have been interesting (a first-person perspective for example) we get the feeling instead that we are in the same room; a voyeur more than a participant.
Two blogs, two films about strange houses. Quite apt considering I am in the process of moving home. The Silent House appeals to me as a name for my new house but I intend to enforce the silence much more strictly that the cast of the film. When the people who have snuck into the screen without paying start complaining about the quality on offer you know there is a problem. Just in case I haven't made it clear... don't visit The Silent House.
Official Site - http://www.lacasamuda.com/
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