Silent House is a 2011 American independent horror film directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau. The plot focuses on a young woman who is terrorized in her family vacation home while cleaning the property with her father and uncle. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and was released in United States (US) theaters on March 9, 2012.
I have chosen to analyse this film because I was really interested in the way it was filmed, it had a manufactured appearance of one continuous take- throughout the 87 minute film. This became a unique selling point , using the catch phrase to entice the audience, "experience real fear, in real time."
This style was extremely effective, as a viewer I felt gripped as we followed the main character around the house. The single continuous take appearance meant that the viewer watched the events through the main characters perception alone, and therefore fear was created as we did not want her to get hurt, we wanted her to escape alive.
Typical horror conventions used included a huge emphasis on darkness. The main character (Sarah) walked through the house mostly in darkness. At one point when the lights cut out, Sarah had only a polaroid camera to provide light, it created almost a strobe lighting effect, leaving the audience in suspense whenever the flash stopped. Through the flashes, we are shown an unidentified man and a little girl, which is clearly unsettling as we are given no explanation for their presence. There were also a selection of unexplained photos left by the camera on a table, photographs that we could see Sarah had not taken. This clearly led us to believe that someone else was in the house.
There is also a prominent use of violence. In the beginning, Sarah finds her father lying unconscious with a severe head wound. She later finds him tied up in plastic, he begs her to free him. Once freed however, he viciously beats her with a belt. By the end, after realising what her father has done, in true horror film style, she bludgeons her father to death with a sledge-hammer. These acts of violence are shocking and gory.
Elements of both psychological and horror conventions were used in Sarah's paranoia and psychosis as she experienced flashbacks. The flashbacks are unexplained and disturbing , seeming to depict traumatic childhood events. Images we are shown included blood stains, a young girl in a bath with beer bottles and bloody water, and a toilet spewing blood. The connotations of blood are death,violence and suffering, and the use of it is almost compulsory in horror films. The psychological element is apparent through these flashbacks, as Sarah is clearly suffering trauma, and we attempt to figure out why.
Sound-
A large proportion of the sound in the film is diegetic. As we follow Sarah around the house, there is minimum opportunity for any diversity in sound effects. Most of the sound is natural, for example breathing, panting. There are also the typical screaming sounds, and occasionally a loud "bang" or "thud." Dialogue through the film is mostly fragmented. The actual amount of diegetic dialogue is very minimal, as very little is explained to the audience. This is also a result of having very few main characters, as Sarah does not really have anybody to talk to her, except from her Uncle occasionally. Another key sound is the flash of the polaroid camera, which places even more emphasis on the silence accompanying the darkness which follows each flash.
Mise-en-Scene-
Lighting in the film is minimal. As for props and costume, characters wear casual modern day clothing. However the decor in the house is old and worn down. It is boarded up on the outside (creating yet more darkness), and as Sarah and her father are supposed to be renovating the inside- it is in an obvious state of distress. The house is not furnished, and serious work needs to be done. This creates a horrible atmosphere- of a setting which has been isolated for too long. There is nothing friendly or charming about it.
Target Market-
The target audience seems to be at a 15-25 age range. This can be concluded as the main character is a young adult female. The film discusses serious issues, but the typical conventions advertised in the trailer such as a spooky house and the gore and violence attract the older teen market who are interested for the "scare factor".
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