Film Clip: Silent House

In a secluded house in the country (with no electricity or cell phone service, natch), a teenage girl (Elizabeth Olsen) and her father (Adam Trese) are terrorized, and the father bludgeoned, by an unseen intruder. Who is this person (or persons), and how can she escape? Writer-directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau (adapting a Uruguayan film by Gustavo Hernández) try an experiment: making their movie in one long real-time unbroken take. The experiment is interesting for about half of the movie’s 85-minute running time, but better they had written a less contrived script, a more believable resolution, and characters (including Eric Sheffer Stevens as the girl’s uncle) who don’t do the usual slasher-victim dumb things. Olsen, kid sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley, pants, whimpers and sobs with some conviction. J.L.