Review of The Silent House (2010) by Justin H — 08 Oct 2011

Horror films that are "based on a true story" tend to annoy me. Far too often, the only "true" basis is something like a headline stating that people were found murdered, while everything else is entirely made up. Take "Wolf Creek" for example, where there was only one survivor, and he was unconscious until the very end of the film--meaning that almost EVERYTHING prior to him waking up was completely fabricated. "Silent House" is similar, except worse in several ways. Some spoilers follow, so if you actually want to see this disappointing feature, stop reading now.

Now, the first thing that makes this worse than "Wolf Creek," is that not only was there (presumably) only one survivor, but that survivor was never found. So pretty much the entirety of the events surrounding the murders is just made up. Hell, it's not even clear if the killer was even in the house in real life, when these murders happened.

This sense of confusion extends to the rest of the story, as well as the characters themselves. From a story standpoint, I gather that the father and daughter were asked to come out and fix up the house. So what's the first thing they do when they get there? Go to sleep. In the middle of the day. Because that makes any sense at all. As for the characters themselves, even calling them two-dimensional seems a bit of a stretch. The father is essentially a piece of scenery, as is the daughter until the end, when the relationship between her and the guy who owns the house is revealed, in a twist that has absolutely zero buildup leading up to it at all. In fact, it's so out of the blue that it feels entirely unbelievable.

I'm only being generous and awarding "Silent House" two stars, because of the cinematography. It's somewhat debatable as to whether this film was really captured in one continuous shot (because, as another reviewer said, there are some scenes that become pitch black), but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, because the sound never seems to skip. And regardless of how dull the plot is, and how empty the characters are, that's an accomplishment that deserves some respect. It's just a shame that it couldn't have been attached to a better movie.