La Casa Muda (The Silent House) is an independent Horror film from Uruguay that ran the international festival circuit in 2010. Written and directed by Gustavo Hernández, this film is said to be inspired by actual events that took place in the 1940’s. Produced for around $6,000 La Casa Muda was originally intended for local audiences only. However, IFC Midnight was so impressed when they saw this film at Cannes, they bought the US distribution rights, and gave it a limited theatrical run last May. What really sets La Casa Muda apart from other micro-budget Horror movies are its technical achievements: Filmed entirely on one hand-held Canon Mark II, this movie is one of only a few theatrical releases made from one continuous shot (and arguably the only Horror movie—more on that later). Available to North Americans on DVD beginning September 14th, La Casa Muda can already be seen On Demand.
During this year’s Sundance Film Festival, writer/director Chris Kentis (Open Water) premiered his English-language remake for La Casa Muda called The Silent House starting Elizabeth Olsen (yep, Mary-Kate and Ashley’s little sis). Completed but without an official release date, The Silent House also claims to be shot in one continuous take (but, for some reason, I’m doubtful in this case)…
Synopsis and trailers for both films after the jump…
La Casa Muda trailer: [BD]
La Casa Muda synopsis: [BD]
The plot is based on a true story that happened in the late 40′s in a small village in Uruguay. The film focuses on Laura, who, second by second, intends to leave a house which hides an obscure secret, unharmed. Laura and her father Wilson settle down in a cottage they have to renew since its owner will soon put the house up for sale. They will spend the night there and repair the following morning. Everything seems to go smoothly until Laura hears a sound that comes from outside and gets louder and louder on the upper floor of the house. Wilson goes up to see what is going on while she remains downstairs on her own, waiting for her father to come down.
The Silent House clip: [UHM]
The Silent House synopsis: [UHM]
Sara (Olsen) returns with her father and uncle to fix up the family’s longtime summerhouse after it was violated by squatters in the off-season. As they work in the dark, Sara begins to hear sounds from within the walls of the boarded-up building.” Although she barely remembers the place, Sara senses the past my still haunt this home.
Bloody Disgusting also reveals: [BD]
Sara is still suffering from a “childhood trauma”
Since the advent of digital filming, several movies also claim to have been taken in one continuous shot: Timecode (Mike Figgis), Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov), and PVC-1 (Spiros Stathoulopoulos), for example. La Casa Muda seeks to set itself apart from these others with the claim that this is the first Horror movie filmed in such a manner. I know astute aficionados are already clamoring about Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Rope. While intended to be shot in one continuous take, the technology at the time made such a feat impossible (since a reel of film could only hold 10 minutes of footage maximum). Still, Hitchcock was largely successful at creating the same effect by ending with “dolly shots” to featureless surfaces (like the back of a character’s jacket) with the following take beginning at the same point by zooming out. Consider this your “Film History Lesson of the Day”.
I spent over 20 minutes online searching for some information about the supposed “actual event” La Casa Muda is “based on” and came up with nada (big surprise). There were, however, plenty of articles about this film in Spanish. Perhaps one of my bi-lingual readers can help me get to the bottom of this mystery. Most likely, it’s just another bullshit marketing ploy.
Saucy Josh writes a blog for intelligent Horror Movie aficionados called Blood and Guts for Grown Ups: https://bloodandgutsforgrownups.wordpress.com/
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