Format: Streaming video from Tubi TV on Fire!
If you’d told me years ago that the Olsen twins had a younger sister who was extremely talented and was going to take some really interesting movie projects, I’m not sure I would have believed you. Elizabeth Olsen is a real talent, though, and it’s worth seeking out her movies whenever possible, as she has been extremely successful in digging herself out from under the weight of her sisters’ careers. Silent Houseis one of her earlier films where she isn’t serving as third fiddle to her sisters, one of her first roles as an adult. To be fair, Martha Marcy May Marleen is a better showcase for her talents, but this will do in a pinch.
The main issue with Silent House is that there is no way to really talk about it in detail without diving head-first into spoiler territory. That being the case, this will contain a bunch of spoilers. I’ll do my best to keep them as far to the end as possible if you want to avoid them, but I’ll be up front here—I'm not entirely sure this is a movie that you can’t enjoy spoiled, mainly because it uses a plot device that you’ve almost certainly seen before multiple times.
Sarah (Olsen) is helping her father John (Adam Trese) and her uncle Peter (Eric Sheffer Stevens) fix up the family’s Victorian house in preparation for selling it. After a minor argument, Peter storms out of the house and Sarah meets Sophia (Julia Chan). Sophia claims that the two were friends in childhood, but Sarah has no memory of her. Shortly after this, Sarah hears John fall down the stairs, and when she tries to get out of the house, she finds all of the exits blocked, and she has the sensation that there is someone in the house with her. She eventually finds John unconscious, and still trying to get out of the house, she ends up in the basement where she sees evidence that someone has been squatting in the house.
When she gets out of the house, she runs into Peter, who has just returned. She also sees a girl on the road, who then vanishes. Back inside the house, John is now missing, and soon the power is cut, leaving Sarah and Peter with just a flashlight and eventually just the flash on a Polaroid camera to see by. In those flashes, we’re going to see other people in the house who may or may not be pursuing Sarah, and who may or may not have ulterior motives at hand.
This is where we’re going to get to some spoilers, and while it’s easiest to discuss the main spoiler in terms of other films, I think it’s probably best to avoid that and instead I’m going to avoid mentioning other movies as much as possible. You’ll be able to think of your own examples when we get there, I promise.
What we learn when we get to the third act is that there aren’t actually other people in the house. Sarah is actually having something akin to a psychotic break caused by a sudden reliving of her past trauma. The young girl that she keeps seeing in the house is actually her, and the other intruder is actually her father, who evidently abused her when she was young, which is why the Polaroid makes such a prominent appearance as a light source. It’s not really explored how this trauma has suddenly resurfaced, although the implication is that the abuse happened at this house in the past, and perhaps simply being there has triggered the memories in Sarah.
This aspect of the conclusion to Silent House leaves me in something of a quandary. It’s a completely legitimate place for the story to go, of course, and this kind of trauma is something that needs to be addressed. But it does feel like something akin to an overused trope when it comes out at the end of the movie. We’ve seen this before, and it feels like there might have been a better way to handle this without losing this aspect of the story. It feels like dime store pop psychology when it could have been handled in a more interesting way.
Because of that, ultimately, Silent House is a film that could be a lot better than it is, particularly with Olsen as the lead actor in the film. She is very much the best thing here, and if there’s a reason to watch this, it’s her.
Why to watch Silent House: Elizabeth Olsen is a real talent.
Why not to watch: The twist is one that you’ve definitely seen before.
If people told me in the late 90s and in the early 2000s the same thing about the Olsen Twins having a younger sister who would become a big star. I would've laughed. It is amazing that she is the one that has all of the acting talents as well as doing so much more while her older sisters have managed to step back from fame to do other things which is good. Plus, I'm glad the Olsen Twins didn't involve themselves in Fuller House. I tried to watch that show and it was shit. Plus, I have a real hatred for John Stamos, Lori Loughlin, and Candace Cameron Bure as people.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand the Loughlin and Bure hate. Not sure about Stamos, who has always been sort of...just there in my opinion.
DeleteElizabeth Olsen is a real talent, and she's the only reason this is worth any of your time.
My disdain for the Stamos is that he's full of himself and is the definition of a brown-noser in his devotion to Mike Love of the Beach Boys. And it should be noted that of everyone in that group, Love is the least talented member and the definition of uncool while his cohort Bruce Johnston is mainly Mike's bottom bitch.
Delete