La maison silencieuse

Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory! The first 80 minutes of this film were terrific - technically brilliant, gripping and creepy. But then the denouement was so feeble and pathetic that it wiped out any goodwill there might have been for the film as a whole. And the thing is that the directors and producers had already seen the ending from the Uruguayan original, but they decided against changing the disappointing premise - which makes me think they don't really know what a good story is.

But however much of a let down the film might be overall, I really think Elizabeth Olsen deserves an Oscar for her performance. Of course the Academy never gets it right - no Oscar for Viola Davis, no *nomination* for Albert Brooks's career best performance in Drive! So they'll probably dismiss her role as just being adequate for a mere "genre" film.

Anyway, I'd say 8/10 overall - 2 points deducted for the dreary conclusion.