Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Why Doesn't Anybody Like This Movie? Silent House (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Seriously, why is ev- eryone hating on Silent House (86 minutes)? It's a bit gimmicky maybe, but I thought it was well- paced, involving and if the ending isn't satisfy- ing everyone, well, get over it. I haven't man- aged to get my hands on Uruguayan writer/direc- tor Gustavo Hernandez's original Spanish lan- guage version yet (Las Casa Muda), but this version only makes me want to see the original that much more. Super-interestingly to those of you who care about media studies, the American remake was scripted by a chick, Laura Lau (who also scripted indie shark movie Open Water). Wrack your brains, see just how many fe- male screenwriters come to mind … and then, try to think of any horror movies that were written by women. Genre films are traditionally a boys club with few exceptions (Mary Harron adapting Bret Easton Ellis' famous- ly misogynistic novel notable among them). Why do you care if your horror film is written by a chick? Well, the typi- cal male-scripted horror film tends to emphasize the tortured female victim, while female writers usually manage to bring something more to the table. Granted, some of the best female genre characters originate with male writ- er/directors … see The Descent if you want an example. I would just like to point out that all the hating might be motivated by the uniquely female perspective that drives this version, defying the expectations of the primar- ily male audience. The film opens on Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen, much prettier than her sis- ters). She is staying at a lakeside cabin in an isolated area with no power or working cell phones. Everyone get that? She is in the one area of the country without cell-phone towers, AND her power is out. She is working with her father (Adam Trese) and Uncle (Eric Sheffer Stevens) to fix up the house so they can sell it. After about a million references to how squat- ters have damaged the house by breaking all the windows, Poppa and Uncle get into a bit of a spat and Uncle drives off. This helpfully establishes that all the windows are boarded up, so that no natural light can illuminate the house, even at midday. The house is both silent and dark, not to mention padlocked with mys- teriously disappearing and reappearing keys. Sarah hears ominous noisy noises and sends her father upstairs to investigate. He can't find anything, not that he bothers shining his light under the beds or anything. He wan- ders off to do something manly and leaves Sarah in her room to finish going through some stuff. Thumping sounds point to something bad happening, and Sarah gets to show off her repertoire of screams, ranging from scared to startled and back to horrified. She runs through the house, seemingly pursued by some- one or something with menacing intent. Shaky cam makes me close my eyes to avoid a headache, and when I open them Uncle has returned to save the day. Stupidly, he thinks it is an excellent idea to leave his niece in an unsecured vehicle so he can go check out the scary house. Then things start to get a little weird, begging the question of exactly what reality the film is attempting to operate in. Much like The Grey, audience members weren't shy about voicing their disappointment in the ending. However, overall, while the gimmick of at- tempting to edit 8 or 9 shots into a seamless one-shot film ala Hitchcock's "Rope" doesn't add a whole lot to the movie, it was still a very watchable suspense flick. The use of shaky cam aside, I liked it. Now showing at Wynnsong 7, Carmike 12 and Carmike Market Fair 15. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upand- comingweekly.com Packages Starting at $ www.LittleMiracles4D.com 6516 Dental Ln. Suite B Fayetteville, NC 28314 910.778.5806 Better Health would like to thank the sponsors of An Elegant Evening at the Theater PRODUCED BY CASSANDRA VALLERY C la s s A TOUCH OF A TOUCH OF Saturday, March 31, 2012 Platinum Blackwell and Edwards, Attorneys at Law Cape Fear Eye Associates Carolina Mortgage Company of Fayetteville, Inc. Mary Flagg and Jim Haugh Dr. Wes and Lucy Jones Gold Adams, Burge and Boughman, Attorneys at Law Alpha Medical Center • Cape Fear Valley Health Village Family Dental Nobles Pound Financial Planning, Inc. Ryan P. Kishbaugh Memorial Foundation Cape Fear Podiatry - Dr. Dan Laut New Town Apartments - David and Donna Watson Silver BB&T • Carolina Kidney Care • Carolina Regional Radiology Edwards Jones Investments - Cissy McPhail • First Citizens Bank Family Foods, Inc./TA Taco Bell • H&H Homes Hendrick Chrysler Jeep • Hogan-Kimrey, LLP Attorneys at Law Horne Brothers Construction • New Century Bank Dr. Sanjeev and Seema Slehria Carolina Rheumatology and Internal Medicine Better Health has served our community for 54 years....bridging the gaps in healthcare by providing emergency fi nancial assistance for medical needs, diabe- tes education programs, medical equipment loans, Eat Smart, Move More healthy lifestyle program and referral to health resources. For more information or reservations please call 910.483.7534 or visit www.betterhealthcc.org MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2012 UCW 21 49 The F ay e tte ville Obser v er • Special t hank s to Up & C omin g Weekl y Actual Image From the Womb.