Dead Silence (2007)

Number Rolled: 27

Movie Name/Year: Dead Silence (2007)

Genre: Horror

Length: 89 minutes

Rating: UR

Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Twisted Pictures, Evolution Entertainment

Executive Producer: Peter Oillataguerre

Director: James Wan

Writer: Leigh Whannell, James Wan

Actors: Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fairman, Joan Heney, Bob Gunton, Laura Regan, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Judith Roberts, Keir Gilchrist, Steven Taylor, Austin Majors

Jamie Ashen is a happily married man. Spending the night with his wife, he’s surprised to receive a package with no obvious sender. Inside the box he finds a perfectly normal looking, but creepy, ventriloquist dummy.

I know. There’s nothing worse than a recipe ventriloquist dummy movie. It’s been done to death and it’s always the same thing. Usually, that’s what I’d be saying, but this time I actually enjoyed it.

Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, Knights of Badassdom, Not Suitable For Children) is good actor and I’ve loved Donnie Wahlberg (Blue Bloods, Runaway, Band of Brothers) since I saw him as Duddits in Dreamcatcher (a guilty-pleasure alien movie). They worked well together, despite the fact that Wahlberg’s character had about as much depth as a kiddy pool. Aside from that, Judith Roberts (Eraserhead, Orange is the New Black, The Heart She Holler) was a great choice for Mary Shaw.

I’ll admit that about halfway into the film I was certain that Dead Silence was going to be like all the rest. It had all the mild shocks and creepy moving dummy eyes that you’d expect. What elevated the movie to something better was the second half.

I can’t pinpoint when the film started to get better, but I can say that once it hit that point I found it very difficult to look away from the screen. The ending was the best I’ve seen in a while.

I would definitely watch this movie again; possibly even recommend it to friends that enjoy horror.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 21%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 52%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 3.7/5

Trust-the-Dice Score – 3.5/5

The Random Rating: PG-13

P.S. Written and directed by the creators of Saw.

Movie Trailer: