THE SILENT THIEF – SLIFF Review

Review by Dana Jung.

The “stranger in the house” subgenre of thrillers has a long and storied history, beginning with Hitchcock’s THE LODGER and continuing through decades of disturbed roommates & houseguests, bonkers babysitters, and crazy nannies.  The new film THE SILENT THIEF adds some new wrinkles to this tried and true formula.

Toby Hemingway (BLACK SWAN, IN TIME) is the mysterious Brennan, a quiet and well-mannered English bloke who answers a room for rent ad with the Henderson family.  At first, everyone seems smitten with Brennan:  mom (Frances Fisher) sees the sweet boy as the perfect solution to her partially empty nest with her older son away at college; daughter Elise (Scout Taylor-Compton) is intrigued by the exotic stranger and starts to develop romantic feelings for him; even dad (Kurt Fuller) warms up to the youth, who has all the right answers and plenty of cash.  However, things start to go a bit off kilter when son Mike returns home on school break, as Mike’s initial mild jealousy soon becomes full-blown suspicion.

Director Jennifer Clary keeps things moving nicely along, stopping only to ratchet up the creepiness factor.  As Brennan starts feeding off the emotional vulnerabilities of the family—mom’s natural protectiveness, Elise’s attraction, Mike’s secrets—his actions become more and more odd and threatening.  Scenes of Brennan mimicking a video of Mike are downright disturbing.  A running gag involving the placement of toy cars in Mike’s bedroom starts off as amusing, then becomes a symbol of how unhinged Brennan actually is.

The movie is uniformly well-acted, especially by Taylor-Compton (HALLOWEEN, RUNAWAYS), as Elise finally puts two and two together and must deal not only with a broken heart, but with saving her family as well.  Although the film has its flaws — Brennan’s motives are never made completely clear, there are several bits with a homeless man that take too much screen time, and a rushed ending that appears to be an excuse to end on a more menacing note – THE SILENT THIEF provides a solid entertainment for fans of psychological thrillers.

THE SILENT THIEF screens as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival on Friday, Nov 16th at 9:30pm at the Tivoli Theatre with director Jennifer Clary in attendance.