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Reviews
Dead Silence (2007)
Nice Surprise
Although not the greatest horror film ever made, Dead Silence did manage to deliver an entertaining enough ride. James Wan's immediately sets this film in a somewhat fantastical world through visual stylization that allows us to go along with the craziness. Bearing some resemblances to his previous film Saw, Dead Silence once again exploits the creepiness of dolls. The film gets pretty far fetched but it's in this originality that some surprisingly effective moments are delivered. One complaint is that if you pay any real attention to the film you'll see the climax and minor "twist" coming a mile away.
As one who wasn't expecting much, this was a pleasant surprise. Check it out.
Masters of Horror: Valerie on the Stairs (2006)
Spin a yawn.
I've seen a handful of the "Masters of Horror" offerings and this sits at the bottom, beat only by Mic Garris' other entry "Chocolate". Valierie on the Stairs starts promisingly enough with an unpublished writer moving into a creepy apartment set up to provide writers of his lack of success a place to live and work. Strange things immediately begin to happen as the protagonist continuously encounters the apparent ghost of a beautiful women (more and more intimately each encounter). The other residents of the building are acting strange towards the author and it's clear that they are in on some of this. Tony Todd starts to show up in conjuncture with this woman as a big demon who always drags her away. It's a pretty messy and boring film. The atmosphere's good but it doesn't carry the film as huge leaps in plot are made as unexplained revelations by the writer. What could've been an interesting examination of the darker side of the writing process becomes a dull drag, even at 60 minutes. It's too bad, Clive Barker wrote the short on which this is based, the normally captivating Tony Todd gets lost under layers of decent demon make-up and the gore effects feel added on (as it does with many an entry in this series). I suppose one redeeming quality is the appearance of Christopher Llyod whom, despite his over-the-topness, is always fun to see. Yet again, Masters of Horror disappoints.