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The first feature length film I saw at this years Sundance film festival was a midnight screening of Silent House, a real-time horror ride from Sundance alum duo Laura Lau and Chris Kentis of Open Water fame. With Silent House, the filmmakers hope to recapture the tension and heightened sense of dread they achieved with their previous film. However, the film fails to create that utter sense of hopelessness that was achieved so brilliantly in their debut film. Utilizing every horror trope and trick in the book isn’t enough for Silent House to capture a true sense of fear, making the film instead feel like a tapestry of cliches and gimmicks.

The film, which is a remake of a Uruguayan thriller that premiered at Cannes last year The Silent House, is designed to be experienced as if the whole movie is comprised of one shot happening in real time (a la Russian Ark). First off, its creatively criminal to remake a movie that came out in the last eight months and hasn’t had a proper release in the US. Even though many foreign films don’t get stateside releases, there should be a grace period before something is remade that quickly. Back to the singular shot concept, the steadi-cam work in this film is truly to be commended as a technical feat of cinematic prowess, but beyond that is where the film starts to fall apart.

It’s hard to describe the plot without venturing into spoiler territory, but suffice to say it involves a house that becomes not so silent. Elizabeth Olsen, the younger sister of Mary Kate and Ashley who looks like a hybrid of the twins, carries the weight of the film’s tension in her face. Unfortunately, her acting is one of the major barriers to becoming immersed in the film, delivering lines that comes off as stilted and unnatural. Again, this may be due to the unforgiving nature of the one take shot and the face palm stupidity of the script and dialogue, but Silent House major problems become more apparent as it tries to venture into the scary.

Relying on every trick in the horror film playbook, the gimmicks utilized by the director duo painfully takes the audience out of the film instead of drowning them in the atmosphere. In the premiere screening I attended, most of the audience laughed and guffawed at the ridiculous loop holes in logic and actions displayed by the characters. As the plot twists and turns, the film becomes more and more silly, gimmick after gimmick. If marketed correctly, this film could have a Blair Witch/Paranormal Activity effect, which is exactly what the filmmakers want, but in the end Silent House can’t help feeling like a proof of concept that proves absolutely nothing.

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Tags: Chris Kentis, Elizabeth Olsen, laura lau, silent house, Sundance 2011