paulclaassen
Not only did James Wan take the haunted doll genre to a new level, he created an utterly suspenseful, interesting murder mystery. Exceptionally well done.
gengar843
DEAD SILENCE is a film about a cursed town plagued by the ghost of an evil woman out for revenge. First of all, the ghost was NOT an innocent in life, she deserved what she got, being a child murderer and using their body parts, so the premise is morally wrong on every level. Second, the town seems to have suffered murders and economic depression which should've brought publicity from every news outlet, because it's not like the town was sealed off or is in another dimension, so the "unreal" meter is on 11 here.Third, Donnie Wahlberg as the wisecracking cop is wasted opportunity, since his demeanor is all wrong, serious one minute, humorous in the wrong places the next, like a piano that plays a familiar song but makes you cringe from being out-of-tune. In fact, all the acting is overdone, and as far as I can tell not deliberately for laughs. Fourth, the tense scenes are way too long and the jump-scares not worth all the waiting. If you've never seen horror movies before, I suppose this will be OK with you, but not for anyone who's been to the movies. Even so, it doesn't excuse the long walks through halls which are completely unnecessary except to show there are no more ideas.Fifth, there WAS a good idea, which was a human puppeteer (Ella) manipulating human bodies (Mr. Ashen), and this would've been brilliant if it weren't submerged in all the overacting and bad writing.As for bad logic, here's one. Both boats are at the dock of Lost Lake, but Jamie doesn't think "how did Henry get across?" I hate gaping holes like that, especially when the characters can't see them. OK, so Jamie is dense - that doesn't really make me root for him, not like Hud from CLOVERFIELD.So overall, not really much to recommend here.
Scott LeBrun
There's just something inherently creepy about ventriloquist dummies. They figured prominently in "Dead of Night" (1945) and "Magic" (1978), to quote two well known examples. Here, the filmmakers behind "Saw" make an attempt to keep this motif alive, with a fairly spooky and atmospheric shocker about young husband Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten), who receives a strange package in the mail. Shortly after, a hideous and twisted death results, and Jamie is making the trip back to his hometown of Ravens Fair, in part to investigate a local legend about a creepy entertainer named Mary Shaw (Judith Roberts, "Eraserhead").Apparently, screenwriter Leigh Whannell was very unhappy with how this turned out, insisting that studio interference bungled the project. As it is, the story has its moments: the doll imagery creeps the viewer out, there is a great bit of business with a (CGI) tongue, and there's an amusing (if unoriginal) twist right at the end involving a major character. But overall, the story is average at best, despite co-star Donnie Wahlbergs' attempt to liven things up by playing his jerky detective character with a degree of humor. The film does boast a fairly impressive Gothic horror look, while keeping colors largely muted.The cast is generally fine. Kwanten is a likable chap in the lead, and Laura Regan is similarly amiable as his wife. Wahlberg is mildly entertaining in a goofy sort of way. Bob Gunton ends up pretty wasted in his role as Jamies' dad. The two performers that come off the best are the effectively off putting Roberts and the excellent Michael Fairman as a jittery undertaker.Watchable genre fare overall, and not entirely unmemorable.Six out of 10.
view_and_review
The movie begins with a quote: "In the 6th Century B.C. it was believed that the spirits of the dead would speak through the stomach region of the living.From the Latin VENTER for 'belly' and LOQUI 'to speak' Hence the word VENTRILOQUIST" Hollywood is always looking for a new vessel for evil spirits. The doll project has already been done but apparently not in this manner. Not long into the movie a ventriloquist doll is delivered to the doorstep of Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) and his wife Lisa (Laura Regan). Shortly after that the wife dies a horrible death and Jamie looks like the main suspect.The story was essentially about a woman named Mary Shaw who wrought havoc upon the people of Ravens Fair after her death. There was even a poem about miss Mary, "blah blah blah Mary Shaw. Something or other don't scream." It was there as a poor attempt to drum up more intensity and fear.The whole story, as well as the characters, was stale. For some reason we were supposed to care about Jamie and his quest to find out about the doll and the death of his wife. Donnie Wahlberg, clearly in the movie for comic relief, played a Columbo style detective (sloppily dressed and everything) investigating Jamie for the murder of his wife. His character adds nothing to the movie except a paltry attempt at believability--in other words a woman can't wind up dead with no tongue without someone having committed the murder.The movie meanders on with Jamie pursuing answers and Det. Lipton pursuing him. There's some spooky stuff, jump scares, deaths and mercifully the movie ends. In the end there is a bit of a twist. The twist was kind of cool but because I didn't particularly like the story it was wasted. Dead Silence was a dud.
AD
