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First single shot horror film: The Silent House or Cut?

TheSilentHouse.jpgA trailer popped online today for what claimed to be the first single shot horror film, that is a film that has no edits in it, filmed from opening moment to closing moment in one continuous shot. The Silent House (La Casa Muda) is the Uruguayan horror film that makes the claim.

However there's a British horror film that makes the same claim and is out this year. However neither may be the first and there are a few claims out there for the title.

The Silent House (La Casa Muda) comes from the director Gustavo Hernández and director of photography Pedro Luque who together have filmed what would appear to be a single take film. Now you may be thinking this is all going to be either fake, first person, and/or rubbish. Well having seen the trailer I can definitely say it's not looking rubbish and it doesn't seem like it's going to be the traditional first person type horror.

One thing is clear from the trailer, it's not using the usual scares and there are some queues here from strong horror films, just look at the two shots where slight movements in the foreground reveal the figures in the background, enough to unnerve you for certain.

The trailer comes through Twitch, Dread Central and Quiet Earth, and here's the blurb for it:

Laura and her father Wilson settle down in a cottage that seems to be off the beaten track in order to update it since its owner (will soon put the house up for sale. They will spend the night there in order to start the repairs 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.

Now let's have a look at the trailer:

Well, looks good doesn't it? What about that claim of a single shot though? I personally think it's going to be nigh on impossible, unless that film is a short one, but it doesn't seem that way.

In the comments on the Quiet Earth article someone is quick to point out the British horror film Cut which makes the same claim, you can see more about the upcoming film on the official site, but the site blurb reveals that it's not one shot immediately:

With the exception of the first five minutes the film takes place in real time and will be filmed in one long single shot! This is a UK first and to our knowledge a world first within the genre.

Twitch suggests this isn't true as the 2005 film Infection claims to have done the same thing before both these horrors, but still, it's a tall order for any film to attempt to do this. Meanwhile, Cut sounds interesting, although it does have to inject the usual British horror comedy aspect. From the official site:

Five friends return from a cocktail party to a cottage deep inside the English woods of the Peak District. Having brushed off the notion of urban legends as rubbish, never occurring in reality, our protagonist’s slowly find themselves weaving through their very own horror story. An urban myth for the UK... As the night progresses strange occurrences become increasingly difficult to explain as the friends slowly realise something serious may be happening. Initially assuming bored kids are responsible they keep cool and attempt to calm the situation resulting in a violent encounter and thus the severe reality of their predicament hits home! Questions begin to arise as to the motivation of our friends’ tormentors and it emerges someone may have a dark secret responsible for this terrifying night in the middle of nowhere. . . The question now remains who will survive the night and how far will they go to save themselves?

It’s a claustrophobic thrill ride, only relenting on its increasing tension and heart stopping shocks, to inject a little humour to soften the blow and increase the fun! Because it takes place in one shot, the audience has to go through every step of the way with our characters; the fear builds for our protagonists as it does for the audience, there is no escape! Therefore our
filming concept adds to the creative element of the film, rather than serving merely as a

Unfortunately there's no trailer for it yet, so Here's the trailer for Cut, thanks to harvey in the comments for pointing the way:

I'd say The Silent House is definitely leading the way, even if it didn't get there first. Does anyone else know of films truly made in one cut as these claim?



I saw a trailer for CUT via /Film UK last week. Youtube link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ReviE8jN9c

I have no idea which is the first, but they both seem good...


Apparantly there was one from 2002 called Russian Ark which was 96 minutes long.

Its an interesting idea for both but TBH the single shot just sounds like a gimmick...I don't see it really bothering me as a viewer.
The films are either good or they're not....

Now this before I mention the title of this movie, or close to it, I am mentioning this "movie" or humorous but factual value. One "movie" that has a continuous shot from beginning to end is "Seymore Butts' Pool Party." Yes it's an adult, hardcore porno.

Sorry for that comment of mine for almost everything. I was commenting via Droid X mobile device, and typing on it is horrendous.

No problem Tom. The saying is that the adult industry is always leading the way for mainstream Hollywood in some way.


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