SILENT HOUSE is a haunted house flick with a difference: like Hitchcock's ROPE, it's ostensibly filmed in a single take (and like the Hitchcock movie, it's in reality made up of ten minute segments with the cuts hidden from the viewer) and in a single locale, with a pretty blonde all-American girl at the mercy of the unknown in a creepy, boarded-up old house.

Being a predictable Hollywood horror outing, of course this house is anything but silent. There are unexplained creaks, menacing footsteps and evidence that our heroine is no alone. Sadly, the single take aspect of the film is gimmicky at best, and it soon transpires that this is yet another remake - this time of a Uruguayan film, of all things - which totally misses the original's point.

SILENT HOUSE is boring. The shaky camera work is off-putting and the predictable jump sequences are just a chore to sit through. Elizabeth Olsen works hard with the material, but the cameraman seems more interested in capturing glamour shots of her rather than eliciting a decent performance. The twist-upon-a-twist ending is tiresome and the whole "unreliable narrator" aspect of the story badly handled, so that the viewer feels that the rug has been pulled out from under their feet; THE SIXTH SENSE this isn't.

It's a shame, because there is potential here, but in the end it's ruined by a distinct lack of talent, skill and originality. The only good thing I can say about SILENT HOUSE is that it's made me want to watch the original...

Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen) and her father go to their cottage to pack their things. The house is being sold. Then something strange starts happening and they are attacked.

This is a low budget movie shot in roughly 10 minutes segments, and joined together to mimic one continuous shot. It is simply not scary no matter how hard they try. And it's all due to the fact that there are no snap cuts to heighten the tension. There's a reason why people started editing movies. It's harder to have jump scares without edits. Elizabeth Olsen is a compelling actress and if this wasn't an experiment, they may have a good little horror movie.

Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen),her father John (Adam Trese) and her uncle Peter (Eric Sheffer Stevens) comes to the countryside to fix their decayed Victorian house that was invaded by trespassers since John intends to sell it. Sarah opens the door to her childhood friend Sophia (Julia Taylor Ross) but she does not recall her. When Sarah returns, she hears noises on the attic and John checks and tells that old houses make noises.

Soon her father vanishes and Sarah sees an intruder in the house, stalking her and a little girl. Sarah finds that is trapped in the house and seeks out her father; soon she finds him wounded, unconscious on the floor. She finds a way out of the house and stumbles with her uncle Peter driving his car. Peter asks Sarah to stay in the car while he searches for his brother, but Sarah goes to the house. The lights go out and when power returns, Peter is also missing. Out of the blue, Sophia comes into the house and gives a key and the Pandora box to Sarah to solve the mystery.

"Silent House" could have been a good short; however, it is a boring feature with a terrible hand-held camera work. The plot is predictable and repetitive, and after twenty minutes it becomes tedious and never scary. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa Silenciosa" ("The Silent House")