Dead Silence

Okay let me start off by stating that this isn't the greatest horror movie or amazing by any means. But I think it's underrated or not given enough credit. For a film that is 15 years old it holds up pretty well except for the CGI and the plot isn't great. Dead silence is a film about the curse of Mary Shaw, where if you scream she'll kill you (I don't want to spoil much so I won't say to much) and she targets Jamie ashen, and Jamie must find out why she is targeting him by going back to his old home ravensfair to uncover the secret. The plots pretty simple and nothing crazy, but where this movie shines is it's atmosphere, Cinematography, acting, soundtrack and tense slow build scary moments. Now there still are jumpscares in this but there's also lots of slower intense moments and very disturbing parts which makes it way scarier to me rather than having constant loud jumpscares that are mainly scary because of the loud sound, and again this movie does have one or 2 but there's way more creepy moments that will have you at the edge of your seat or creeped out. The shots are also done very well and the transitions are awesome. The soundtrack is definitely memorable and fits the movie well. The acting is decent enough and I think the flashback scene in the theatre is one of my favourite scenes in the movie for its tone and the acting of judith Anna roberts, genuinely creepy scene. The film style/look is a bit dark and colourless which fits perfectly for such a dark movie like this. And the ending will definitely surprise you! Overall it's a pretty decent movie that is worth the watch if you haven't seen it already. It gets a 7/10 from me, I came in not expecting something good but I was surprised and creeped out. I can agree with people who do give it 6. It's understandable for those who thought the plot was boring. I think this movie could've been better if it was 2-2.5 hours to expand on the characters and the story and backstory. I hope one day they revisit this series and make a sequel or remake that it deserves.

Firstly, the story isn't bad at all, although it'll hardly win any awards. It's pretty difficult for horror movies to continually be original, and this certainly has some moments in it. The villain seems to have some originality; it's not some Chucky imitation. The story lacks depth, and the characters aren't fleshed out at all. The real point of this movie is to be a horror film and nothing more. After the first few (poor) scenes, this movie does one of two things: keep you waiting to jump or trying to make you jump. From the rest of the audience's reactions, I'd say it did a pretty good job at that.

The acting was nothing to write home about, but for this genre, it's more good than bad.

Overall, I would say this a horror movie that deserves a trip to the theater. Compared to many of the sad horror attempts that come out, this isn't too terrible. And it doesn't rely on an abundance of gore like many others do.

After a villainous ventriloquist's dummy is delivered to the home of handsome Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten), and his pretty wife Lisa (Laura Regen), this perfidious puppet very soon belies its inert demeanour, as 'Billy' utilizing murderous means most macabre dispatches Kwanten's pale Mia Farrow Lookalike wife in an especially jaw-droppingly diabolical manner! Thusly burdened with grief, our dishy widower high-tails it to his gloomily dilapidated Silent Hill-esque home-town in his ubiquitous Hollywood hero's muscle car in order to discover the possibility of there being some monstrous truth behind the childhood rhyme extolling the evil exploits of malevolent Mary Shaw and her supremely sinister 101 Dollnation had anything to do with his sinuous spouse's savage snuffing out! A goodly number of noughties 'horror' films are based on creepy urban legends, and James Wan's predictably jump-scare laden 'Dead Silence' rigorously maintains the zeitgeist. The sleekly fashioned fright-flick reeks of Hollywood artifice, from the screamingly obvious polystyrene tombs, plentiful usage of Fright Night fog, and delightfully hokey, hunchback-less Guignol theatre, wherein the grim-faced Mary Shaw's infamous legend was so menacingly born!

While the shocks are somewhat muted, perhaps in an attempt to avoid the boggle-eyed wrath of hissy missy Mary, the film's more endearing qualities are the delicious comedy stylings of a deadpan Donnie Wahlberg as the wryly disdainful cop Detective Lipton, his colourful performance increasing the faux-Gothic campery herein. For me, as a horror film-maker, Wan is a somewhat pallid practitioner, but the dude has legit comedy chops, to whit, the blackly funny, wickedly witty 'Tales From The Crypt' twist, and if all noughties horror titles were replete with a similarly cartoonish cynical cop like Donnie I'd be more of a fan! While 'Dead Silence' is about as scary as a mislaid till receipt, it proved to be all so fabulously absurd I couldn't help but dig it! Usually I relish the dire misfortune that descends so fatally upon the expensively coiffed heads of Hollywood's perfectly plastic protagonists, but in this rare instance I had enormous empathy for the dotty old dear gibbering benignly away in the mortician's cobwebbed cellar, this truly darling, whimsical white-haired octogenarian Marion Walker (Joan Heney), and dynamic cop Donnie got me rooting for 'em right till the final curtain, mayte! One of the more aesthetically pleasing aspects of 'Dead Silence' is the splendidly evocative chiaroscuro photography of talented DP John R. Lionetti, this gifted fellow also lensed the deliciously skewed, greatly underappreciated Lindsay Lohan oddity 'I Know Who Killed Me'.

What can I say...I liked Saw, I'm scared of Ventriloquist Dummiess, this movie was a sure hit, right? Well...

My expectations were fairly high, I suppose. I was expecting a more intellectual, (or maybe just more interesting) plot. Let me cover the things this movie did well and what it lacked.

On the good side, the movie had a nice style to it. There were some legitimately scary scenes (cinemagraphically). The music was also appropriate, and they definitely took some chances, which is nice to see.

However, the entire movie is based on a fairly generic concept, and a very uninspired script. Don't get me wrong, the movie "works," but there is nothing to this movie beyond its base concept- no depth, no real characterization, and honestly, very few explanations at all. The end should tie everything together, but instead reveals how shallow the story really is.

Bottom line, it's the kind of movie that could easily be lost in the sea of other generic horror movies out there. I almost feel the story may have worked better as a farce, because it just didn't try hard enough as a horror.

Dead Silence (2007) is a movie that I recently rewatched on Tubi. The storyline follows a woman who turns up dead in her hometown. The hometown has a history of a ventriloquist who was blamed for the murder of a little boy and killed by the local townspeople. Back in present time, when the husband of the murdered lady begins investigating the death of his wife, he finds the doll of the ventriloquist. Could the ventriloquist be back and why was his wife targeted?

This picture is directed by James Wan (Saw) and stars Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Amber Valletta (Hitch), Donnie Wahlberg (Saw II), Michael Fairman (Mulholland Drive), Bob Gunton (Shawshank Redemption) and Julian Richings (Urban Legend).

This is a very well done movie. The storyline is fairly straightforward but fun to watch unfold. The opening kill and demise of the ventriloquist was a great way to set the tone for the picture. The cast is well selected and portray their characters to perfection. Donnie Wahlberg was perfect as the cop and his demise was tremendous. The twist at the end was clever and set itself up for a worthwhile sequel. I will say some of the CGI was better than others.

Overall, this is a tremendous addition to the horror genre with enough unique elements to make it an absolute must see. I would score this a 7.5/10 and strongly recommend it.