Dead Silence

"Dead Silence" is a movie that I had been highly anticipating ever since I saw the trailer for it. I just got back from seeing it and I wasn't disappointed at all. The film follows Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten), who, after receiving a mysterious puppet, returns home to find his wife, Lisa (Laura Regan) murdered. With a detective (Donnie Wahlberg) convinced he is the murderer, Jamie returns to his childhood town of Raven's Fair, where a legendary ghost story is told. The story is about a woman named Mary Shaw, a ventriloquist who was murdered after being suspected of murder. She was buried with her massive amount of dolls and puppets as well. After her death, it seems she has been taking revenge on the townspeople, when numerous families are found dead with their tongues missing. Jamie takes it upon himself to solve the legend and curse before he becomes the next victim.

Directed/co-written by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, the men who brought us the successful "Saw" series, are also behind this splendidly spooky horror film. Originality is a hard thing to find in the horror genre these days, but this film manages to sluff off most of the typical horror set-ups and create an interesting and compelling story. This is quite a turn around from the "Saw" franchise, which, while it is a good series, has become more of a gore fest than anything. On the other hand, "Dead Silence" is a supernatural horror film with a very well written story. Character development is strong, and the acting helps that out as well, which is always a plus. Ryan Kwanten, an Australian actor, plays the lead role and is very believable. Donnie Wahlberg (of "Saw II" and "Saw III") plays a skeptical detective, and Amber Valetta ("What Lies Beneath") plays Jamie's new stepmother. All of the acting was really believable, I didn't see any below-average performing here.

Puppets and ventriloquism are main themes in the plot, which might sound a little clichéd. I suppose it is, puppets and dolls have become almost a joke in the genre because they are so over-used (as well as creepy little children, among other things), but since they are in the core basis of the plot, they actually come off as being scary. People who have that fear of dolls and/or puppets would be advised to steer clear of this film. There is some great sets in the film as well. The entire town of Raven's Fair has a heavily Gothic tone to it, almost to the point of complete surrealism. The sets are spooky and appropriately so, because it really adds the atmosphere of the movie. The villain/ghostly ventriloquist Mary Shaw, was actually quite terrifying. Her makeup effects made her one creepy looking woman. As for the gore, those expecting anything close to the over-abundance of violence in the "Saw" films will be disappointed. This film doesn't contain much gore - it has a little, but it doesn't use typical violence and graphic gore to get some scares out of the audience. I loved the way the movie ended as well. It's a twist-ending, but don't let that put you off - it works well with the rest of the movie, it's not one of those "bad movie twists". It was very unexpected and very well-written.

Overall, "Dead Silence" is a refreshing, semi-unique horror movie. The storyline is original enough, and the creepy themes and atmospheric setting add to its overall effect. Don't expect a gore fest though, because the violence is pretty tame compared to what you'd see in the "Saw" films. If you like James Wan and Leigh Whannell's work, I'd really recommend seeing this - it's a pleasant change from your typical horror films, and a nice change of pace from their previous work. It has a few flaws here and there, but it's such an enjoyable movie that all of that is forgivable in the end. Very refreshing. 9/10.

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.

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'.

If you have nightmares easily, I suggest staying away from this film: it's pure nightmare fuel. If you have an active imagination, you could have trouble sleeping with the film's imagery burned into the back of your eyeballs.

The story's intriguing enough. There just aren't enough horror films these days about menacing old ventriloquist ladies that are buried with their creepy dolls, who have come back from the dead to seek vengeance on the families that put her in the grave, by tearing out their tongues. The atmosphere is heavy, the creepy music is provided by SAW'S Charlie Clouser, the colors are washed out, and the sets are surreal.

Many will dismiss it as a formulaic, clichéd horror film. The SAW creators, who are huge horror fans, have fun making their own version of the American horror film by throwing in plenty of classic tropes such as the wise-cracking detective (Donnie Wahlberg) and the crazy old lady that knows more than she should.

I was pleased that the film didn't shy away from gore: it wasn't gratuitous, but it did enhance the horror. Most ghost stories tend to be separate from the gore flicks (I'm a fan of both), but I always enjoy seeing them combined. Another aspect that was interesting was the "silence" mode that signaled the presence of evil.

It's got plenty of horror elements to provide scares: aged film, folk tales, singing children, antique furniture, voice recordings fading out, flickering lights, dead loved ones beckoning from beyond the grave, photographs of dead families, cackling old women, wide-eyed dolls, billowing curtains, plenty of thunder and lightning, open caskets, dank crawlspaces, and a pervading sense of evil throughout.

Critics won't dig it, but I've shown it to two groups of friends and the majority were terrified and claimed it to be one of the scariest movies they'd seen. If you're a fan of atmospheric horror that aims to creep you to the bone, you should be more than pleased.