Review of Dead Silence (2007) by Dustin P — 05 Apr 2016

It's really a testament to the skills of director James Wan and writer Leigh Whanell that even when their rushed to finish a product in the Hollywood system, it still comes out as a fun and sufficiently scary product. Dead Silence has faults, sure, primarily that it feels like the script is one or two drafts away from greatness. The dialogue can feel a little lame and expositioney, and I would have liked a little more about the big baddie Mary Shaw. Her motivation is kind of thin, and there's never any explanation of how she's able to do what she does. Even if they just said she was a witch the whole time, as thin an explanation as that is it would at least be something.

Story problems aside though, I generally liked Dead Silence. One area where the vagueness comes in handy is with the creepy dolls that inhabit the film. In something like the Child's Play series, it was difficult for me to be afraid of Chucky, because it was very clear what the extent of his abilities were, and as such I kept thinking how easy it would be to end the little bastard. Here though, the dolls powers are pretty vague, and that makes them much scarier. And yes the film can be pretty damn scary at times. James Wan is a master of creating tension, and there are a lot of scenes where I was holding my breath waiting for something bad to happen. It's also just a very good looking movie. A great movie for Halloween, it's got all the fog, creepy buildings, and grayscale that horror fans love.

The problems with Dead Silence are clear, and I can completely understand if it ruins the experience for some people. For me though, the stuff that's good is just too damn good. It's not Wan and Whannell's best work, not by a long shot, but as something a little different in their filmography it's a lot of fun.