For Your Awareness: The Silent House (2010)

I have often noted to my friends that the horror genre is in dire need of continual innovation if it is to ensure any staying power in contemporary cinema.  Currently it seems as though the Paranormal Activity franchise is the only horror film series to get this memo, along with a recent Uruguayan release called The Silent House.  A considerably short horror film given its 89 minute run time, the brilliance of this foreign horror film is that it contains on continuous shot that spans over the course of 72 minutes.  Drawn out shots are nothing new particularly given the magnificent feat that was The Russian Ark or John Woo's famous 2:42 scene from Hardboiled.  However, incorporating the rather tedious film style to suspenseful filmmaking is a completely different story.  The Silent House manages to do so with utter brilliance and careful composition.  At times it is easy to predict a moment of shock given that the camera pans off for a lengthened time, but even the most veteran of film goer will find themselves anxiously waiting a moment of horror, because in this film the horror is drawn out and the viewer is never finds a moment of relief.  There is one particular moment that you will not see coming and many that you will, but I can assure you without a doubt that it will scare the crap out of you.  If the sheer horror of the film were not enough, the plot is rather complex and certainly leaves the viewer with a larger amount of questions than answers, which is amazing given its rather short run time.  I am going to shy away from elaborating anymore on this as it is very much an experiential film and one that needs to be seen sooner rather than later, particularly given its upcoming American remake that will assuredly fail to do it justice.