Jack and Amanda Harms (Tom Zembrod and April Hartman respectively) are dealin’ with that ultimate fright flick family buzzkill; a dead kid…namely their young daughter. As is often the case in films like this, the couple haul ass to the most secluded spot they can find and move into a seemingly nice abode (which of course is anything but). Of course that tyke won’t stay dead and soon begins appearing to our heroes which increases their marital woes roughly a billionity (it’s a real number) percent! What is this kreepy kid’s endgame, and will our protagonists make it long enough with their sanity intact to find out?
Writer/Director Mitch McLeod has worked a bit of magic with Silhouette; while the flick is definitely well-stepped in horror biz tropes tried and true; his film is elevated by a stellar cast and a keen visual sense. Tom Zembrod and April Hartman really knock it out of the putrid park as the troubled couple that is put through an emotional wringer that runs the gamut from grief to guilt to stark terror; and these pros handle it with amazing skill…making it is easy to believe they are dealing with both the loss of a child, and a supernatural intrusion on their lives in equal measure which is admittedly no easy feat.
As for the visuals, McLeod along with cinematographer/editor Marc Rouse, make this a slick looking affair despite the rather small budget allotted for the film. Silhouette is enshrouded in a dark, dreamlike aesthetic (though nothing is ever hard to see) which sets the tone of a family dealing with ever increasing attacks on their reality. And while this flick is by no means an over-the-top visual effects showcase; the presentation of the ghost is kept relatively simple which only makes her more disturbing as we aren’t distracted by non-stop CG wizardry and can therefore can focus on the unsettling fact that these folks are seeing their dead child.
Silhouette works both as family drama and ghost story, and presents a fine slow-burn terror tale that will appeal to fans of more sedate supernatural shockers such as The Changeling. Don’t sleep on this one boils n’ ghouls!
