Whether you call it experimentation or a gimmick, it’s never a good thing when the peculiar style in which a film was created is its most interesting feature. In shooting La Casa Muda (The Silent House) Director Gustavo Hernandez committed to a remarkably arduous restriction: he filmed it all in one take. One 89-minute, uninterrupted take. No tricks to turn two long takes into one like in the intro of The Player; one take. It’s an extreme undertaking, to be sure, and granted there are plenty of moments where he could have cheated (I guess we’ll have to take his word on it – because there are far too many moments where it would have been easy to do so), but what really matters is whether or not The Silent House warrants a viewing and how well it succeeds in the creation of an eerie atmosphere. It’s a horror film that rewards patience, but for some the pay-off probably won’t be enough as the main character wanders about an evil house whose hallways and dark corners hold moments of brief terror and unsettling music.
Tasked with fixing up a secluded home to prepare it for sale, Laura (Florencia Colucci) and her father (Gustavo Alonso) go about dusting and making repairs, but not for too long. Within minutes, Laura experiences a growing sense of unease as strange noises emanate from the depths of the house, and soon she finds herself scrambling through the halls attempting to evade a shadowy pursuer with seemingly murderous ambitions. Over time, it becomes unclear as to just how much of the film actually happened and how much was in Laura’s mind, adding sufficiently to the terror.
What the film lacks in dialogue, it more than makes up for in the frantic nature of the filming style and mood. It’s a testament to the world created by the supposed single take that the time passes as quickly as it does, even though its danger is vague and our ability to make sense of what we’re seeing is limited by the erratic camera work (but it never induces shakey cam nausea like many of its ilk). Its primary weakness lies in Colucci’s performance. At times her fear seems genuine, aided by the filming style and the setting, but in those truly frantic moments she seems to struggle with repressing a smile. Even so, The Silent House ranks above many of the horror films dumped unceremoniously onto DVD every month and if you’re a fan of the genre, it really shouldn’t be missed.
DVD Bonus Features
The film’s trailer is the only extra.
"The Silent House" is on sale September 13, 2011 and is not rated. Horror. Directed by Gustavo Hernandez. Written by Oscar Estevez (screenplay), Gustavo Hernandez (story). Starring Florencia Colucci, Gustavo Alonso.
