- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080i/60
- Audio Codec: Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit), German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English, German
- Region: B (Region-Locked)
- Classification: 15
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: August 1, 2011
- List Price:
[amazon-product region=”uk” tracking_id=”bluraydefinit-21″]B00525QGXI[/amazon-product]
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Overall
[Rating:1.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:1/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:2/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:2/5]
The Silent House seems like an interesting concept, a horror film shot in one continuous take on a digital photo camera, but after about ten or twenty minutes in, this film, sadly, wears very thin. The problem is not so much in the concept, but, rather, in the execution.
Based on a supposedly true story from 1940s Uruguay, the setting is an old ramshackle house in a secluded area in which Laura (Florencia Colucci) and her father settle in for the night. The owner will be selling it soon and Laura’s dad will be fixing it up. Once things settle down for the night, Laura begins to hear loud noises that come closer and closer, eventually from upstairs inside the house. When her father decides to go upstairs to investigate, he ends up tied up and dead. That’s where this film falls apart, because rather than high tail it out of there, what does the braniac Laura do? She decides to pick up her lantern and continue her exploration around this dark house. Apparently there’s no electricity. Hell, she even stays when she sees the feet of a mysterious man searching for her and she has to duck for cover.
And, basically that’s it. 80-minutes of Laura and her lantern searching through a spooky old house with a killer on the loose. There’s a reason why people yell at the screen in horror movies, but with this one, I’d like to yell at writer/director Gustavo Hernández.
Video Quality
[Rating:2/5]
What can you really say about a film that was shot entirely on a digital photo camera? It’s just not going to look good and this 1080i/60 AVC/MPEG-4 encodement is a prime example of that. The contrast is terrible, black levels are all over the place, there’s lots of color banding and posterization and video noise abounds. This one will drop straight to the bottom of the pile along with releases like The Blair Witch Project as far as HD reference material goes.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
The audio mix is only marginally better than the picture quality. While the Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix sounds good, those surround channels are rather silent and most of the action takes place across the rather widely panned front channels. It’s a shame, really, since a film like this really could have used much more atmospherics.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
The original theatrical trailer (1.85:1; 1080p/24) is all that’s included.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:1.5/5]
Skip it. Although there are initially a few scary moments in The Silent House, ultimately this film is a bore unless you enjoy watching people explore dusty old houses in the dark for an-hour-and-a-half.
Additional Screen Captures
–
[amazon-product region=”uk” tracking_id=”bluraydefinit-21″]B00525QGXI[/amazon-product]
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.co.uk
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:1.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:1/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:2/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
–
