Dead Silence [DVD] [2007]

A really good creepy film, especially if you're not a fan of ventriloquist dolls, mainly the old types that are in the film. As my friend pointed out to me, they always have a dicky bow tie on.Absolute belter of a film though with a cracking storyline. It certainly knocked us off of our track as to who was behind it at the end. So of you're looking for a good mystery/creepy/thriller type film, definitely recommend this.

a women who used to perform as a ventriloquist dies,as murders are happening ,the tongues ripped out of the victims,a couple in the city are sent a doll ,and put it on the bed the girl alone while her boyfriend goes for wine and a take out hears movement and sees the full size apparition and is found dead ,tongue ripped out,the boy goes back to this father and the town to find out who sent the doll,but people are reluctant to talk,and yet more murders occur they police officer sent to the hamlet town to arrest the boy finds that all 100 ventriloquist dolls she asked to be buried with her have been dug up and then the danger starts and the fun begins.a brilliant film I must say ,well worth the money and well worth watching,recommend it

Raven's Fair-A Quiet Place To Live.Dead Silence is directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell. It stars Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Bob Gunton and Judith Roberts. Music is by Charlie Clouser and cinematography by John R. Leonetti."Beware the stare of Mary Shaw, she had no children, only dolls, and if you see her in your dreams, be sure to never ever scream"Autonomatonophobia-Fear of ventriloquist's dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues - anything that falsely represents a sentient being.The Autonomatonophobia angle is important in the context of how much you enjoy/get scared by Wan and Whannell's first venture out of the Saw franchise they created. On that level, along with a sprinkle of menacing clown play for the Coulrophobic, Dead Silence knocks it out of the park. The imagery of freaky dolls and dummies is excellently handled by Wan, who along with his deft knack for spooky atmospherics and setting of a scene, shows a gushing obligation to chill his viewers. Production design is a blend of Universal Studios old school and Lynchian weird, with the town of Raven's Fair a wonderful ghost town creation, and the vengeful Mary Shaw ghost at the centre of proceedings is high on the old hag scary scale. The surface of Dead Silence is excellent, but what lies beneath is shallow and unlikely to induce Autonomatonophobia in those fortunate to not be spooked by model critters.The story itself is just a little old hat, even if the doll/dummies angle adds a fresh spin on it. Be it Woman in Black (Herbert Wise), The Drop of Water (Mario Bava), Darkness Falls (Jonathan Liebesman) or Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven) for a handful of examples, regardless of the quality of film, stories of this type have been well enough served already. Whannell's distinctly average script adds some jolts and twists, which apart from the daft reveal at the finale (seriously it's on a par with Orphan's WTF twist), keeps the undemanding horror faithful entertained. But it's a missed opportunity to instill a new fear into those horror fans searching for a new high, it's lazy writing and forces the roll call of dolls and dummies to carry the movie on their own. Too many occasions crop up that bewilder the viewer, the opening kicks it off by having two people barely bat an eyelid when a Ventriloquist Dummy is mysteriously delivered to their home! And on it goes from there, without a semblance of thinking outside the Autonomatonophobic box.Sadly the cast aren't up to the task of imbuing the weak plot with any amount of human drama. Kwanten isn't strong enough to lead the picture, Wahlberg struggles in a barely realised (and near pointless) role, Gunton is wasted: a victim of plot dynamics as it turns out, and Valletta, whilst pretty as a picture, is just filing in for a role that any pretty blonde actress could play on any given day. Support players Laura Regan and Michael Fairman do better at performance level, and Roberts adds a bit of creepy class for the Mary Shaw flash back sequences. Sound work is well orchestrated, with Clouser's score able to fray the nerves and Wan's decision to use silence to herald impending terror works clinically well and Leonetti's photography is suitably at one with the atmospherics required for the Raven's Fair segments, with lurid reds, shifting shadows and filtered fog all hitting the spot.As someone who is tinged by Autonomatonophobia and Coulrophobia, I had a scary old time with the film, often finding myself breathing heavy and peeking through fingers when the camera fell on one of Mary Shaw's model creations. But that's about the level Dead Silence plays at, it's restricted in who it will scare. Meaning that even allowing for some undoubted technical flourishes (Wan undeniably has a horror talent), Dead Silence rates about 7/10 to people like me, but below that for the non dummy phobics.

This story is great it's all about a curse of Mary Shaw who was hunted down and killed. A small town has been haunted by terrible deaths, when a farmers wife is found dead he returns home to unravel the legend and reason why when you see her don't scream. I rated this an A grade plus for sheer full on ideas and suspense that has you wrapped in a blanket to watch, so now it's time for your relaxing and munching out while watching a scary movie that has first class entertainment that will rock th foundations. Enjoy!

I really wanted to like Dead Silence, and in the case of horror movies, 'liking' for me means being genuinely creeped out.All of the elements for a good horror movie are there. The creepy setting of old-fashioned Ravens Fair, the doll theme, a really impressive and haunting musical score, some amazing derelict environments like the abandoned theatre. Mary Shaw, the ghost who seems to plague protagonist Jamie and his hometown, also has a visual design that ought to linger in the back of your mind as a horror classic (although some of her CG additions in the later half of the film were unnecessary, like that ridiculous tongue). I can't fault the visual direction at all.For some reason, though, these elements just didn't glue together very well. The acting is average, the cast is forgettable, the script is uninspired, and the plot is delivered in such a hamfisted way that the word on my lips at several points during the film was 'silly'. The connection to the creators of Saw is touted on the DVD cover, but I'm not sure in this case that the very obvious Saw-inspired elements helped the film along. Several times during the movie, I got the feeling that there was confusion around whether they were telling a ghost story or the story of a physical horror killer, and it muddied the waters. The twist was also delivered in ways so stylistically similar to Saw that it would have jolted me out of my immersion, if I'd been immersed - the only reason I didn't guess it earlier was because I put some of the clues down to sheer bad acting/script dialogue.It's worth a watch once, if only to appreciate the visual design and setpieces of the movie, and the twist itself is appealing in a gruesome kind of way, but if you go in expecting to be scared or compelled by a well-told ghost story as suggested on the DVD blurb, you may wind up disappointed.