Dead Silence Creates More Than Awkwardness

""Beware the stare of Mary Shaw. She had no children only dolls. And if you see her in your dreams, do not ever, ever scream."

A small town's ghost story haunts the lives and dreams of Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) and his new wife Ella Ashen (Amber Valletta). When a small ventriloquist's doll comes to this couple's house the normalcy of their lives quickly unravels and for one ends entirely. The doll leads back to the birthplace of one of the survivors and instead of finding answers more questions arise from an incident that took place in the 1940's.

Mary Shaw (Judith Roberts) was once a performing ventriloquist at the Ravens Country Fair in the 1940's, and after receiving a heckling, during a show, a curse fell over the surrounding township. Many of the children and local inhabitants became the victim of Mary Shaw's hatred. Afterwards, the local townsfolk came for revenge; Shaw had her tongue cut out and her curse expanded in power. Now, over sixty years later more people are dying.


Rating: Restricted for violence and images.

Release Date: March 16, 2007.

Director: James Wan.

Writers: Leigh Whannell, and James Wan.

Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fairman, Joan Heney, Bob Gunton, Laura Regan, and Judith Roberts.

The haunting musical score in "Dead Silence," starts early and is consistently freaky and tense during the showing. Whispering voices in a type of echo chamber hover over the feature and create an uncomfortable feeling. Accentuating scenes with a raw intensity at times, much of the suspense of the film comes from the frightening music of Charlie Clouser. As well, the sound effects seem to blend into the soundtrack of the film and dismiss any feelings of safety or contentment.

Much of the acting from central character Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) is physical in nature until the entry of Detective Lipton (Wahlberg) into the story; Lipton helps develop some of the thoughts of Ashen into dialogue. As well, many of the conversations between suspicious detective Lipton and unassuming Jamie Ashen are often confrontational in tone, and hilarious to watch. Overall, no one drops the ball in the acting department within "Dead Silence," but, Wahlberg could have read a couple more detective novels as his acting lacks any fizz.

The writings of screenwriter Leigh Whannell, and author James Wan allows for few breaks in the frantic pace of "Dead Silence," and the story stumbles along until the final climactic finish. Most of the film is building towards an excepionally bleak and surprising ending that involves so many quick twists and turns that few if any viewers will be able to anticipate the conclusion. Despite, few scares in the middle third of "Dead Silence," the story is constantly building for the final climax and the complexity of writing gets a reveal in the last few frames. Yes, a talking and stalking doll has been written before in the "Child's Play," series; so, some of the originality is gone from the story, but "Dead Silence," adds a whole mystique to the theme of a demonic doll that rarely disappoints.

"Dead Silence," made for a relatively large horror budget of $20 million has as of yet to recoup the initial investment. Many of the reviews for this film have ranged the gamut and are mixed, which is probably one of the reasons why this film has only developed a cult following. In addition, for those "Saw," trivia buffs out there watch for the appearance of the "Jigsaw," doll late in the picture. The creators of the "Saw," franchise are also responsible for this unfortunate box office bomb.

Taking place in a quiet, remote town "Dead Silence," has enough scares within to entertain most horror fans. Watch this one with the lights off and if you are brave enough, alone to experience the full scary effects of the film.

A theatrical trailer for "Dead Silence:"



Sources:

Dead Silence at IMDB

Dead Silence at Wiki

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