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.
"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.