Although Dead Silence is from the co-writers of the Saw franchise, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, fans of Saw should note that this is a departure from Saw’s splatter and gore.
Dead Silence opens with Lisa (played by Laura Regan) and Jamie (played by Ryan Kwanten), a couple who receive a ventriloquist dummy on their doorstep, which triggers Lisa to remember something she heard while growing up in the small town of Ravens Fair:
Beware the stare of Mary Shaw
She had no children, only dolls
And if you see her in your dreams
Be sure you never, ever scream
Or she’ll rip your tongue out at the seam.
After this unexpected delivery, Jamie steps out to get dinner, and when he gets home, Lisa’s lifeless body has been propped up on the bed, her mouth contorted and her tongue ripped out. Jamie is, of course, the only suspect in the murder, and Detective Jim Lipton (played by Donnie Wahlberg) follows him to Ravens Fair where he is going to bury his wife. While home, Jamie also visits his father, Edward (played by Bob Gunton) and his father’s new trophy wife Ella (played by Amber Valletta).
Soon, Jamie learns that the folklore surrounding Mary Shaw is true. Apparently, Shaw (played by Judith Roberts) used to perform with her ventriloquist dummy, and one day, during a performance, a boy yelled at her. She snapped, the boy disappeared, and Shaw was then accused of kidnapping him, which led to her being hunted down by the townspeople, who cut out her tongue and then killed her. They then buried her, along with her “children,” a handmade collection of dolls.
Dead Silence is presented in a 2.35: 1 aspect ratio, and sound is in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, with subtitles in English and French.
Extras include the music video for Aiden’s “We Sleep Forever”; eleven minutes of deleted scenes; and three featurettes, including “The Making of Dead Silence”, which discusses the film’s nod to classic horror films of the 50s, “Mary Shaw’s Secrets”, which covers why Roberts was cast in the part of Shaw, and lastly “Evolution of a Visual FX”, which discusses the special effects in the film.
The film Dead Silence has potential, which I will give it credit for. After all, who isn’t at least a little bit creeped out by ventriloquist dummies? Unfortunately, in the end, it doesn’t quite deliver the same way films like Child’s Play (1988) and Puppet Master (1989) did in their day.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSmLefAd38E 290 238][youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph_4YJncEc0&feature=related 290 238]
