Dead Silent

When Dr Julia Meybridge's (Catherine Mary Stewart) sister and brother-in-law are murdered in a burglary, she takes care of their daughter Amanda (Arlen Aguayo-Stewart) who cannot speak due to the trauma of witnessing the murders. However as accusations of stealing industrial secrets are levelled at Amanda's parents and someone continues to stalk Julia's apartment it is apparent that Amanda is still in danger.

This is a reasonable TV thriller. It doesn't particularly pretend to having high aspirations and knows that it's plot isn't great but it's still OK if you're not expecting great things. The main story about the industrial espionage and the gang hunting for "an item" is pretty good if a little unbelievable. You can see the twists coming from miles but it doesn't take too much away from the conclusion.

It's difficult to care about either Stewart (Dr Meybridge) or Amanda (Aguayo-Stewart). With Stewart her character is so work focused that she neglects Amanda, the idea being that we would gradually see her warm to the prospect of motherhood. However she is so unsympathetic for the majority of the film that it is that that stays with you and not the sudden urge of motherhood experienced towards the end. As an aside Stewart looks so much like Meg Ryan that if her current work dries up she should be able to get a job as one of those celebrity impersonators at parties!

Amanda being mute for almost the entire film makes it difficult for Aguayo-Stewart to convey a lot of character. This would have suited a more experienced or better child actress and makes you wonder about how she was picked out for the role. Rob Lowe brings a bit of "star-power" to the film but, as projects like 'The West Wing' shows, he's too good for projects like this.

A reasonable TV thriller, this would have benefited from better performances from both the female leads.

This movie has it all. Poor casting, slow pace, Rob Lowe slumming, you name it. To start off, the little girl was a very bizarre casting as Stewart's niece (though she really may be, for all I know) and as the child of the people we saw in the beginning of the movie. She looks adopted. Perhaps she was - and I wouldn't put it past this script to not bother telling us.

The pace of this thing is deadly. There's no acting to speak of because the characters are cardboard. Everyone acts sinister. And what is all the fuss about? When actors chased after McGuffin in Hitchcock, there was another storyline to keep them interested. Not in this movie.

One sits through this entire film feeling as if something is off. Off with the acting, off with the story, off with you for watching it. So let's have one more off - off with the TV.

The movie uses motifs that could be plagiarized from "Wait Until Dark" (1967), a much better movie by Terence Young, starring Audrey Hepburn. "Dead Silent" is a pale paraphrase. There is nothing new here -- the hidden object in the doll, the bad men wanting it, the bad guy posing as a good guy. The disability, though, has shifted : Audrey Hepburn couldn't see, the child in DS cannot speak. But both stories hinge on the handicap. Where "Wait Until Dark" built up unbearable suspense, "Dead Silent" lets you guess the outcome, the story being such a stereotype.

It's amazing what you can do with little money. DEAD SILENT being a low budget movie delivers its promises.

Too bad we don't see Rob Lowe more often on the silver screen. Lowe is at its best in this riveting thriller . No wonder he went from DEAD SILENT straight to the TV mega hit The West Wing .

DEAD SILENT 8 out of 10

Sputtosi Toronto.

Young Arlen Aguayo-Stewart's parents are both executed while she hides in a closet. When the authorities find her she is in hysterical silence unable to comprehend how her world has turned upside down. Her closest living relative an aunt Catherine Mary Stewart who is a doctor trying to get a staff position at a hospital.

Stewart's world is all changed now that she's had to learn to be a mom real fast. But the folks who killed her sister are now after the child. She also has a mysterious neighbor in Rob Lowe who normally I'd love if he paid attention to me. But with all that's going on does Lowe have sinister ulterior motives?

Dead Silent is a thriller in the Hitchcock tradition and Lowe had by that time played enough sinister roles to be good casting for a villain or a red herring. The parents were into some illegal business themselves.

Dead Silent is all right for the thriller genre, but it will never be rated a great one in said genre.