La casa muda

Must be a really nice movie but just dont watch the trailer..youre gonna get it all figured out.

The Spanish have been leading the way in horror movies in recent years. Rec and the Orphanage are two examples of great horror's which makes it all the more disappointing that The Silent House is such a poor film.

This the story of Laura and her dad , Wilson who are asked to do up an old house but it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary house and that things are not what they seem.

The best thing about this film is that it's only 80 minutes long. I don't know if i would have got to the end if it was a normal length film. This starts really well . It is suspenseful and has the feel of a Blare Witch type movie. There are very long scenes without breaking away , following the girl around this spooky house but then the film changes. It starts to become confused ( as i was) and far too clever for it's own good and instead of becoming a good old fashioned haunted house move it changes direction - for the worse. I was annoyed by this film because quite clearly it never had an ending to start with. The director snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.

I don't know if the movie really was shot only in one (long) take or not. I know that it has been done before, "Russian Arc" being one of the most elaborate movies to have done so (though I haven't seen that one yet). The question is, if this is more than just an experiment? And isn't it better to cut away to something else sometimes?

The story is pretty straightforward (no pun intended) and might not give away were it is going from the get-go, but if you follow it (again with the pun), it will eventually become very clear, what lies behind those walls. Of course if you have seen a genre movie like this, you might be on to where it is actually heading. I can't tell you how much less you will enjoy the movie, if you come up with the solution, before it is revealed. I can tell you, that for a "single-take" movie it does and sounds pretty good though

The Silent House gives the illusion that is was filmed in one take. I highly doubt this, as there are a lot of suspicious panning across solid black objects. Still the lengths of the takes is still impressive, if a little ambitious at times. Sometimes it's obvious the actors are walking around the crew. Luckily, the darkness soon covers it all up. I can't say much for the film really as I found it rather dull. It's pretty much a woman walking around a house in the dark. Once it was obvious that nothing scary was ever going to happen, I soon settled down and was just bored. Every time there was something suspicious in the background, a sound effect/musical cue would alert me to its presence. The film finally gets a plot in the last few minutes, which plays out through the credits in Polaroid form. Like a horror version of The Hangover's end credits, it was the best part, and the film should have focused on the photographed events, rather than being a tease for nothing.

Boasting 'one continuous take', yes, this is another hand held offering, "based on actual events" joint. It takes a little while to get going, as do most in this genre, but with a running time of 76 minutes, its not too long before the $h1t hits the fan.

Part spooky house film, part psychological thriller, The Silent House attempts to add something a little different to the sub genre. And for the most part, I think it succeeds.

On the other hand, the clichés are all there, a haunting childlike nursery rhyme score, enough spooky imagery to last a couple of halloween's, and even the old "don't go upstairs" warning! But all in all, it's really quite well done.

The film asks more questions than it answers, which kinda bothered me, but I'm guessing the 'actual events' may shed some light on the story, if there is indeed any actual events…

This was pretty much what I expected it to be, a fun pop corner. So crank the volume up high, and enjoy the ride.