Silent House Deserves our Quiet Attention

Teenager Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen) is renovating her childhood summer home with her dad and uncle when strange events begin to haunt the house. Sudden poundings in the walls, a strange dark figure of a man, and a childhood friend she doesn't entirely remember.

As the trio attempt to work together, tensions grow and her uncle takes a temporary break while unexplained sights and sounds abound. Something supernatural is at play here and it's coming after her and her father. To make matters worse, when she tries to escape she finds that all of the doors are locked from the inside and the windows won't budge.

The threat of something sinister continues to grow as Sarah's fear propels her farther into the mystery, bringing her reluctantly closer to the obscure source. Directors Chris Kentis, Laura Lau filmed this in a single sequence so that wherever Sarah goes, we do too, which creates a more intimate connection between Sarah and the audience. With each literal turn she takes around a corner or up the stairs, her uncertainty and terror build so that we cannot help but be right there with her, in the dark recesses of this mold-infested place, as haunted and terrified as she as we carefully navigate the house right alongside her, sometimes viewing her face up close for a more emotional effect. Olsen is incredible in her role, playing a brave girl who, in spite of her growing trepidation and the increasing disturbances, faces them with a rare sense of fortitude.

This film is much more than a "haunted house" story. It's a story that visits aphotic matters, tests the realness of our fears, and uncovers a depth that shakes reality as we know it.

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