Was This Horror Movie Starring Elizabeth Olsen Really Shot Entirely in One Take?

Silent House arrived at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival promising an ambitious technical achievement: a horror movie captured in real-time as one continuous take. The psychological thriller stars Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) as Sarah, a young woman who becomes trapped in her family’s deteriorating vacation home while being terrorized by mysterious assailants. While the synopsis teases a classic home-invasion tale, the idea of a single 88-minute take was enticing enough for Silent House to stand out in a festival known for welcoming genre cinema. Furthermore, directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau seemed to have drawn inspiration from innovative single-take films like Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark for their remake of the 2010 Uruguayan film La Casa Muda. But was Silent House really shot entirely in one take?

While marketed as a continuous-shot horror experience, the truth behind Silent House‘s production reveals a different kind of achievement. In an interview for the National Post, star Elizabeth Olsen disclosed that the movie was actually filmed in 12-minute segments, a fact later confirmed by directors Kentis and Lau. Rather than diminishing the film’s accomplishment, this revelation highlights the extraordinary coordination required to create such a convincing illusion of unbroken action.

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Shot between October and November 2010 in New Rochelle, New York, the production utilized Canon EOS 5D Mark II cameras to capture its extended sequences. Any mistakes during these 12-minute takes meant starting over from the beginning, as the filmmakers worked to maintain the appearance of continuous action. Because of that, the production design team had to completely transform the empty house used for filming to serve both the story’s needs and the technical requirements of these long takes.

Silent House Creates the Illusion of Real-Time Filming

Silent House‘s innovative approach created unique challenges for everyone involved. According to production notes, the crew encountered numerous technical issues while filming, particularly surrounding lighting and mobility within the house. Since filming was carried out in 12-15 minute takes, there were several occurrences where entire sequences had to be thrown out and re-done due to lighting problems or missed cues.

For Olsen, these extended takes demanded extraordinary focus and stamina.

“It was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be,” she revealed. “We did it in 12-minute takes, and we’d keep re-doing sessions over and over.” The physical and emotional toll was enough that Olsen needed unprecedented recovery time, stating, “It was the first time I felt like I had to physically unwind from a role.” Still, that hasn’t demotivated Olsen, who would love to get more horror projects in her filmography.

Due to the unconventional filming process and storytelling mode, director Kentis felt he was making an “experimental film” with Silent House. He maintained that the presentation of the film as a single take was the main focus of the production and that the fact that there were cuts was irrelevant to their artistic goals. The dedication to maintaining this illusion of continuous action shaped every aspect of the production, from the technical approach to the performances. While the movie failed to resonate with critics and the audience, Silent House still remains an example of how filmmakers can shatter expectations when deciding how to tell a story.

Silent House is currently available for streaming on various digital platforms, including Peacock and Pluto TV.