The Silent House review (Blu-ray) ★★★

Review by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Florencia Colucci, Gustavo Alonso, Abel Tripaldi,
María Salazar | Written by Oscar Estévez, Gustavo Hernández & Gustavo Rojo
UK cert 15 | UK RRP £22.99 | BD Region 2 | Runtime 82 mins | Directed by Gustavo Hernández

Filmmaking is a tough enough business as it is without directors making it even harder than it needs to be (although stories abound regarding certain prima donnas said to be nigh on impossible to work with). So why anyone would choose to shoot an entire movie in one take is beyond me. But that's allegedly what's been done in The Silent House – with mixed results.

Hailing from Uraguay, this is a haunted house thriller with a few twists and turns. Laura (Florencia Colucci) and her father, Wilson (Gustavo Alonso) rock up at a friends dilapidated house in the country, to help him fix it up for sale. He heads out in the car for some provisions as Laura and her dad bed down for the night, warning them not to go upstairs because it's too dangerous. Of course, as they settle in, strange noises emanate from the floor above, so Wilson goes to investigatre ... and from then on, things get nasty, creepy and somewhat weird.

As a technical achievement, The Silent House is a masterpiece. But as a film, it's somewhat flawed – and, in too many places, slow and dull. Director/editor/cowriter Gustavo Hernándezand cinematographer Pedro Luque appear to have pulled off what many have considered impossible, and with loads of applomb. The camera is in constant movement, and Luque frames every shot beautifully; he also makes effective use of the limited lighting and the occasional mirror to add atmosphere and effect some quite good scares. But ultimately, the muddled narrative, massive plot holes and lack of character development let the film down.

EXTRAS Just the theatrical trailer.