I‘ll admit I’ve only been half-paying attention to various sites coverage of Cannes this year, but my attention perked up immediately upon seeing an item about Uruguayan film The Silent House, a 79-minute horror film from director Gustavo Hernández shot in a single hand-held take. I’m not a huge fan of horror films in general, but I do like to see experiments in one-shot films, and this one looks like a cross between [rec] and Paranormal Activity to boot. I’m betting some of our more genre-loving writers and readers will be interested in checking out The Silent House – before its inevitable American remake.
Or is this type of hand-held scary movie beginning to be played out? Does the one-take gimmick add any interest for you, or is it just that, a gimmick? The story sounds fairly routine – a father and daughter plan to renovate an old house, but begin hearing strange sounds and investigation launches them full into a haunted house scenario. Routine, but sometimes simple, classic stories can be effective if done, well, effectively. Slashfilm’s Peter Sciretta is fairly positive about the film, and also includes a short rundown of some other notable one-shot films.
Check out the trailer under the seats and let us know what you think.
Count me in…I expect many will be rolling their eyes at another “gimmick-y” horror film, but if they use the limitation as a way to inspire their own creativity, it could be great. I’m slightly encouraged by the trailer and the attention to framing and lighting.
What I am sick of is “inspired by true events”. I don’t have a problem with filmmakers getting stories from real events and changing them to suit their needs, but don’t imply the “real” story actually happened when you are simply taking one person’s telling-of-the-tale. A father and daughter had a haunted house experience? OK, base a movie off what they said happened and expand on it. But don’t try to suggest that the house was actually haunted.
I can’t tell you how incredibly annoying it was to encounter people who would say “The Exorcism Of Emily Rose” was a document of a real event. Ugh.