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Review #427 of 365
Movie Review of Dead Silence (2007) [R] 90 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12.25
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 17 March 2007
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: James Wan (Saw)
Screenplay by: Leigh Whannell (Saw III) based on a story by James Wan (Saw III) and Leigh Whannell
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Ryan Kwanten (Flicka) • Amber Valletta (Transporter 2) • Donnie Wahlberg (Saw III) • Michael Fairman ("Medium") • Joan Heney (Secret Window) • Bob Gunton ("Desperate Housewives") • Laura Regan (Hollow Man II) • Dmitry Chepovetsky (Man of the Year) • Judith Roberts (Faceless)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Is it just me or do these 'Saw' people really get how to make clever, modern scary movies with good twists and a bend toward justice, albeit perturbing justice or even vigilantism? I purposely stayed away from Saw I and II, but took in Saw III last fall, sort of, because I had to see something in trying to see a new movie in theatres every day. I was pleasantly surprised as it wasn't as terrible as I expected. Actually, it was pretty good and pretty intriguing. So, the creators of the Saw concept are back now with Dead Silence and their favorite actor, former New Kid on the Block singer, Donnie Wahlberg (from Saw II and III). The film is based on manufactured mythology about a mythical town named Ravens Fair, of course because every creepy town has to have Raven in the name, where back in the day, when the town was a thriving cultural megalopolis they built a grandiose theatre across from this murky lake for traveling Vaudeville acts to perform. One such act took up residence in the theatre and town, apparently a favored performer. Her name was Mary Shaw, not to be confused with the Mary Shaw, the famous early feminist and actress of the late 1800s and early 1900s. This Mary Shaw was known for being a ventriloquist, a word which as the cheesy, old fashioned, stylized opening credits inform us comes from the fact that people in the 1600s believed that spirits of the dead could speak to the living through the stomach (Latin venter which means belly and loqui which means to speak. Poor Mary, though, in her old age became obsessed with making ever more perfect dummies for her act, while her skills in the art got rustier. A boy in the audience made fun of her lips moving, and later he disappeared. Soon after, Mary Shaw was found dead herself, and her wishes were to be buried with all 101 of her dolls. Pay attention to the number of dolls, it is relevant to the story. Fast forward into the future, and meet the lovely couple of Jamie (Ryan Kwanten) and Lisa Ashen (Laura Regan). They are from Ravens Fair, but moved away long ago. The happy couple is planning a nice romantic dinner, but things go wrong when a mysterious packaged containing Billy, the ventriloquist dummy appears outside the door to their apartment. Now, I'm not going to argue that everything makes perfect sense here. When you manufacture mythology, sometimes you have to throw out good sense. Actually, in most horror films you have to throw it out. I mean how many people, upon entering a spooky house, don't immediately try to turn on the lights?
"…clever, inventive…psychologically scary…great twists…"
Whereas in just about every horror film ever made, the people fumble around until they drop their flashlight down into a bottomless pit with a clunk leaving them vulnerable to the baddies that so forebodingly await their arrival and eventual peril. So, for some reason, Jamie leave Lisa at home with the dummy. Both of them know of the legend of their old home town that dummies signify death and they know most of the nursery rhyme of Mary Shaw which ends badly and has to do with not screaming or you'll get your tongue ripped out. Yikes. But, Jamie goes for Chinese food, in the rain, and it's a foregone conclusion that as soon as he's out of the house, Lisa's not going to be alive when he returns. It's gruesome and horrifying what happens to her. The cool thing is that, and this is where the title comes into play, everything does quiet just before the killing. It's pretty spooky. So, of course, Jamie returns to find his beautify wife savagely murdered and posed up under a bed sheet. There are no witnesses, except the dummy. The lead detective assigned to the murder is Jim Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) who sadly is no Mark Wahlberg when it comes to acting, thank goodness he made enough money to live on back in his NKOTB days. Now Lipton has only one suspect in the killing, and that is Jamie. But Jamie knows better and flees back to Ravens Wood to get to the bottom of all this mess. He's long suspected something was up in his family history that no one would tell him, but his angry and bitter relationship witih his father prevented him from ever getting to the bottom of it. In his cherry red Mustang he barrels out there and meets his father's new, younger, and somewhat mysterious wife. Clearly, she seems to be in this marriage for the money she'll inherit because Jamie's father looks one shade away from his deathbed. Of course, this is just where things get going and start to get really scary.
Yes, Dead Silence is pretty scary, and it's not stupidly so (with a couple of exceptions) like the Texas Chainsaw mayhem style movies or the idiotic malevolent ghost stories from Japan, no it's really scary. The stupid parts are, again, related to Jamie thinking he is just going to single-handedly barrel around down in his speedster and break some faces and crack some cases and get to the bottom of this. He's just one guy, and a pretty young guy at that. He needs a partner to help on this one. In any case, Ryan Kwanten gives a convincing performance playing the sort of good son sent away to brood come home to be the hero character. The dialogue he's got to work with was not quite as strong as it could have been. Overall, director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell have done what too few have done in new millennium and that is to create a spooky new mythology that relies on all of the psychologically scary things from dolls to clowns to eerie old houses at night. They probably could have done a bit better than their choice for the stylized opening credits which were just too cheesy. It was a nice idea, but it gave the film an unnecessarily straight-to-video, low budget effect which it did not warrant. The casting was good—Donnie Wahlberg did his best, but the motivations of his character are not always obvious. The pay off for this film though are in the form of several very unexpected twists. There are clues planted throughout, but I admit to not catching on. The final couple of minutes reveal all these and shed light on what's really been going on all along. This is so much more than just a ghost revenge film, and one thing I love is a good, unexpected twist. I think since The Sixth Sense, people no longer feel that any twist in a film is any good because nothing, not even ones cooked up by the man M. Night himself, will ever compare to The Sixth Sense twist. But, I'm of the opinion that there can and still are great twists. This one in Dead Silence was clever, inventive, and, as I said, one that I never saw coming though I'm sure there are plenty of people who will say they figured it out right away. Sure, this film is not going to be up for any awards, but when it comes to entertainment value, it's certainly a lot better and more interesting to follow than the Hostel and Hills Have Eyes of last year.
Yes, Dead Silence is pretty scary, and it's not stupidly so (with a couple of exceptions) like the Texas Chainsaw mayhem style movies or the idiotic malevolent ghost stories from Japan, no it's really scary. The stupid parts are, again, related to Jamie thinking he is just going to single-handedly barrel around down in his speedster and break some faces and crack some cases and get to the bottom of this. He's just one guy, and a pretty young guy at that. He needs a partner to help on this one. In any case, Ryan Kwanten gives a convincing performance playing the sort of good son sent away to brood come home to be the hero character. The dialogue he's got to work with was not quite as strong as it could have been. Overall, director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell have done what too few have done in new millennium and that is to create a spooky new mythology that relies on all of the psychologically scary things from dolls to clowns to eerie old houses at night. They probably could have done a bit better than their choice for the stylized opening credits which were just too cheesy. It was a nice idea, but it gave the film an unnecessarily straight-to-video, low budget effect which it did not warrant. The casting was good—Donnie Wahlberg did his best, but the motivations of his character are not always obvious. The pay off for this film though are in the form of several very unexpected twists. There are clues planted throughout, but I admit to not catching on. The final couple of minutes reveal all these and shed light on what's really been going on all along. This is so much more than just a ghost revenge film, and one thing I love is a good, unexpected twist. I think since The Sixth Sense, people no longer feel that any twist in a film is any good because nothing, not even ones cooked up by the man M. Night himself, will ever compare to The Sixth Sense twist. But, I'm of the opinion that there can and still are great twists. This one in Dead Silence was clever, inventive, and, as I said, one that I never saw coming though I'm sure there are plenty of people who will say they figured it out right away. Sure, this film is not going to be up for any awards, but when it comes to entertainment value, it's certainly a lot better and more interesting to follow than the Hostel and Hills Have Eyes of last year.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Dead Silence (2007)
Cast Members
Ryan Kwanten
• Amber Valletta • Donnie WahlbergMichael Fairman
• Joan Heney • Bob GuntonLaura Regan
• Dmitry Chepovetsky • Judith RobertsDirector
James Wan
Writer
Leigh Whannell
| CD Soundtrack | DVD | |
| Related DVD | Related DVD | Related DVD |
Dead Silence (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Is it just me or do these 'Saw' people really get how to make clever, modern scary movies with good twists and a bend toward justice, albeit perturbing justice or even vigilantism? Well, they're back now with Dead Silence about the curse of the spirit of a 1920s ventriloquist named Mary Shaw who was implicated in the disappearance of a young boy and later, herself, killed by rogue townspeople. Ever since, however, her dummies and dolls seem to pop up just before other townspeople were killed and left in mysterious poses with their tongues cut out. Directed by James Wan and starring Ryan Kwanten sent away by his father to escape the curse, Dead Silence is pretty scary stuff with a spooky new mythology and a clever set of twists. While not an award candidate, it is entertaining and scary—far better Hostel and The Hills Have Eyes of last year.
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