Reviews: Dead Silence (2007) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Subgenres: Supernatural, Cursed, Dolls, Urban Legend
Exploring Dead Silence (2007) through our review, we cover its story, scares, and how it fits into the broader horror genre landscape.
Dead Silence (2007) is a one h 29-min American supernatural psychological horror movie shot in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Elora, Ontario, Canada. Director James Wan (Saw (2004), The Conjuring 2 (2016), The Conjuring (2013), Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)) did a fantastic job executing this supernatural movie that made me jump once or twice. Dead Silence contains foul language; jump scares from a creepy doll, minor violence, gore, suspense, thrills, tension, and a good storyline.
Dead Silence revolves around Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten - True Blood (2008-2014), Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord (1997), Summerland (2004-2005), Home and Away (1992-2006)) and his wife, Lisa. Jamie and Lisa (Laura Regan - Unbreakable (2000), They (2002), Someone Like You… (2001)) received an anonymous ventriloquist doll named Billy. It did not take long for us to see a death in the movie. Lisa was found dead with her tongue cut out after playing with Billy, and she saw a figure approaching her.
Detective Jim Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg - Blue Bloods (2010-2016), The Sixth Sense (1999), Saw II (2005), Saw III (2006)) found a message about Mary Shaw, who is a ventriloquist from his hometown, Raven’s Fair. Jamie visits his wealthy father, Edward (Bob Gunton - The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Argo (2012), Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), Demolition Man (1993)), who is wheelchair-bound and his very young wife, Ella at Raven’s Fair. Jamie asked Edward and Ella (Amber Valletta - Hitch (2005), Transporter 2 (2005), Gamer (2009)) about any information regarding Mary Shaw.
Jamie does not believe what he hears and brushes it off as superstition. Jamie began arranging for Lisa’s funeral and met the mortician, Henry Walker (Michael Fairman - General Hospital (1996), Dead Silence (2007), The Young and the Restless (2008-2014), Mulholland Drive (2001)) wife, Marion. Marion (Joan Heney - Secret Window (2004), Dead Silence (2007), Frequency (2000), Spider (2002)) is senile but warns Jamie of how dangerous Mary and her puppet, Billy, are. I was happy we were told about Shaw’s backstory and why she is seeking revenge on a particular bloodline and kills anyone who screams. She had 101 dolls and asked to be buried with them. It is later revealed that someone dug up all of Shaw’s dolls and why Shaw killed Lisa, although she was not part of the bloodline.
Every scare counted because it was done perfectly and will put chills up your spine. The sound, cinematographer, and sets were done nicely with finesse. All of the actors gave their best performances which showed and shone. Dead Silence should not be missed by horror and supernatural fans because the jump scares are something that should not be ignored, as well as the twist ending. Some part of the movie was a cliche to other films, but it had much of its material to stand out from the rest.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Dead Silence Rating Scores
- Our Score: 6/10
- Overall Score: 4.59/10
- IMDB: 6.1/10
- MetaCritic: 3.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 2.0/10
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