Dead Silence

Plot synopsis:
This movie starts out with Jamie and Lisa receiving an anonymous package in the mail. They decide that the only way to find out who it is from is to open it up. When they open it, they find a ventriloquist doll.Later on, after Jamie leaves their residence, Lisa hears it get dead silent, then starts to hear voices coming from the room where they left the doll. She creeps in there slowly, pulls back the sheet that they had used to cover up the doll, and the doll murders Lisa.After Jamie, now the prime suspect in his wife's murder, gets interrogated by the police, he returns home to look for clues. He finds a clue in the box that leads him to his home town, also the home town of murdered ventriloquist, Mary Shaw.After a brief visit with his rich father, and his father's new young bride, Jamie finds himself hearing voices in his hotel room.Meanwhile, at the coroner's office, the coroner (Henry Walker) is getting ready to take a picture of the latest victim while his wife (Marion Walker) is hiding in a dark hiding place mumbling.Then, they cut away to Lisa's funeral where the Marion tries to warn Jamie of the curse of the stare of Mary Shaw. Near the end of the warning, you hear her say that he must "bury the doll."Jamie then returns to the hotel where he finds the name "Billy" on the back of the doll. He then immediately gets in a car, with the doll, and brings it to the Cemetery. After a few minutes of searching, he finds a head stone with Billy on it and starts digging. He pulls out the casket only to find it empty, throws the doll in, who then looks right at him, and buries the doll.Jamie is then in his car, when he starts to see shadows of something running and hearing noises. He then sees the doll looking at him through the window and decides to get out and look.In the next scene, Jamie is back at his Hotel washing his face. He is drying his face and has a towel over it. When he removes the towel he finds two surprises. The doll AND Officer Jim Lipton are in his hotel room.The Officer then begins to use the doll to "badger" the prime suspect of Lisa's murder. Jamie begins to tell Lipton about the nursery rhyme associated with Mary Shaw. They continue to talk about the murder a bit and then Lipton leaves and takes the doll with him.In the next scene Lipton is shown shaving and talking to the doll.Then Jamie gets the doll back and heads over to the Henry and Marion's house to talk to them. Jamie starts talking to the Coroner about Mary Shaw when Henry says they don't mention the name Mary Shaw.Henry then tells the story of Mary Shaw, the Ventriloquist who lost her voice. They flash back to Mary putting on a show with the same doll involved with the movie so far. Mary and the doll, now known as Billy, get into an argument with a child in the audience.Then, back at Henry's house, he tells Jamie that the child in question ended up missing. After Mary died, she asked that she not only be buried with her dolls, but that they make her into a doll.Then they flash back to when Henry was a child, and how he went in to look at Mary's corpse and the table falls, sending him and Mary to the ground of the Coroner's office. Then he sees Mary's ghost, but covers his mouth, so as not to scream.Then, back in the present day, Henry shows Jamie pictures of a bunch of townsfolk, all murdered by having their tongues removed.Next, Jamie heads to the old run-down theater while Lipton starts digging up graves at the cemetery. Jamie finds some more clues leading him to believe the haunting is true.Meanwhile, at Henry and Marion's house, Henry walks in on Marion talking to Billy, the doll. Henry then takes the doll from his wife and puts it in his office. Then Henry starts to hear things as he grabs a shovel. He thinks it is Marion and he apologizes to her. He then goes to look in Marion's hiding place only to get locked in. After pounding on the door for a bit, he realizes he isn't alone. He sees Mary's ghost, screams, and then is murdered in the same fashion as all the others.Meanwhile, Jamie goes back to question his dad. Jamie finds out that when his uncle, the little boy from the flashback that was arguing with Mary, went missing, the townsfolk thought it was Mary that took him. They went to Mary, made her scream and then cut her tongue out.Jamie realizes that he could also be a victim since Mary seems to be killing everyone involved with her murder, and their offspring. About this time Lipton shows up and starts questioning Jamie again. Jamie gets a call from the recently deceased Henry telling him to meet him at the theater.Next, Jamie has to run from Lipton who is trying to arrest him to head to the theater. Lipton gives chase but is stalled since he has to find a boat to cross the river. (The bridge is gone.)In the theater, Jamie keeps hearing Henry's voice guiding him to him. He comes up to a room where he hears the voices come from. Then Lipton walks in with a shotgun and says that Henry couldn't be there due to the lack of a boat for him. Then you hear "Henry" say that he is in fact there.They both start following the voices into a room where there are hundreds of dolls in cases with one empty case labeled "Billy". They also find a corpse of a boy made to look like a doll.Then it gets very silent, until the dolls in the cases start to move what looks to be all on their own. They all look to their lefts where the scene shows what looks like another doll rocking in a rocking chair.Jamie says the name "Mary Shaw" twice. The doll stops rocking. Jamie starts talking to this doll who is talking as if it is Mary Shaw herself. Jamie starts asking about specific victims when he finally asks about his late wife Lisa. The doll tells him to come closer so she can whisper it to him. As it starts whispering, it then sticks out a tongue and the scene shows Mary behind the doll sticking her snake-like tongue through the doll.Lipton then blows the doll away and starts shooting other dolls once they realize that Mary is living "through" the dolls. A fire erupts and Jamie and Lipton make a run for it. Then a girder they are running on falls and Lipton falls and starts to scream. Then he gets saved by the ghost only to have his tongue removed like the others.Then Jamie sees the ghost and covers his mouth as he falls through the floor in to the flooded basement of the theater. He then swims out and ends up on the other side of the lake and turns around as the Theater is burning down.Then he gets in his car and remembers the missing doll from the case, Billy, and speeds off. He heads back to Henry's house to look for the dummy Billy. He hears Marion crying. He finds her holding Henry's corpse and questions her about the doll. She claims that his father came and took the doll.Jamie rushes off to his father's house to find the doll. He goes in and heads up stairs and it gets dead silent again. Then he hears someone say "Why did you bury me Jamie? I am in here." He then walks in and finds the doll in a room of the house. Then the ghost of Mary comes out to try to scare Jamie and he throws the doll Billy into the fire place.Then Jamie finds his dad who he discovers is nothing more than a life-sized doll. Then he realizes that his doll "father's" young bride was controlling the life-sized doll and was the ghost of Mary Shaw.He then turns around and sees his stepmom who says "Now who's the dummy?" Then her face turns evil and ghostly and Jamie screams and suffers the same fate as everyone else.At the end of the film, Jamie's voice is heard saying the rhyme below as the camera moves over a photo album with each victim from Lipton to Jamie turned into a puppet with a workable mouth.Beware the stare of Mary Shaw. She had no children only dolls, and if you see her in your dreams, be sure to never ever SCREAM.

Tags: revenge, horror, gothic, murder, flashback

Review:
There just aren't enough horror films these days about menacing old ventriloquist ladies that are buried with their creepy dolls, who have come back from the dead to seek vengeance on the families that put her in the grave, by tearing out their tongues.
The atmosphere is heavy, the creepy music is provided by SAW'S Charlie Clouser, the colors are washed out, and the sets are surreal.Many will dismiss it as a formulaic, clichéd horror film.
The SAW creators, who are huge horror fans, have fun making their own version of the American horror film by throwing in plenty of classic tropes such as the wise-cracking detective (Donnie Wahlberg) and the crazy old lady that knows more than she should.I was pleased that the film didn't shy away from gore: it wasn't gratuitous, but it did enhance the horror.
It's got plenty of horror elements to provide scares: aged film, folk tales, singing children, antique furniture, voice recordings fading out, flickering lights, dead loved ones beckoning from beyond the grave, photographs of dead families, cackling old women, wide-eyed dolls, billowing curtains, plenty of thunder and lightning, open caskets, dank crawlspaces, and a pervading sense of evil throughout.
From the rest of the audience's reactions, I'd say it did a pretty good job at that.The acting was nothing to write home about, but for this genre, it's more good than bad.Overall, I would say this a horror movie that deserves a trip to the theater.
Dead Silence has thankfully come to show us that Hollywood can still make a scary picture.This movie is a throwback to the golden age of horror films.
Jamie takes it upon himself to solve the legend and curse before he becomes the next victim.Directed/co-written by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, the men who brought us the successful "Saw" series, are also behind this splendidly spooky horror film.
I suppose it is, puppets and dolls have become almost a joke in the genre because they are so over-used (as well as creepy little children, among other things), but since they are in the core basis of the plot, they actually come off as being scary.
If you like James Wan and Leigh Whannell's work, I'd really recommend seeing this - it's a pleasant change from your typical horror films, and a nice change of pace from their previous work.
Overall in my opinion Dead Silence is one of the best horror films ever and I liked it better then Saw. I also noticed the Jigsaw puppet in the scene where there was a room full of puppets and a clown puppet on a chair.
However, I will let you know that this movie will be more than worth your time if you truly like the horror genre.As good as it is, it is not without a small amount of horror cliché.
Director Wan's follow-up to his smash-hit SAW (2004) is a crackerjack horror film about a ventriloquist's dummy, which seems to bring death to those around it.
Jamie goes to the old theater in Lost Lake trying to find evidences of his innocence and discovers that Mary Shaw was constructing the perfect doll, and that the spirits have long memories.I like ghost stories and "Dead Silence" is above the average of the genre.
I was surprised to see the cast was that long, because outside of one flashback scene, there were probably less than a dozen people in this whole stinking movie.The entire thing hinges on creepy ventriloquist dummies.
This movie does none of that and instead gives you a script-by-the- numbers small town mystery ghost story, tosses in dummies, and expects that to scare us.
The state of horror films keeps deteriorating with the release of DEAD SILENCE, a super slick looking horror film which is as scary and deep as an episode of Scooby Doo.The idea of ventriloquists and horror have already been used in previous films, so the concept is not that original but the film's pursuit of a "surprise" ending, which wasn't really a surprise, is THE only thing going for it and it is so lame and improbable that whatever credibility the film had before evaporated in an instant.
The ending is truly one for the books.Who keeps making these god-awful horror films that look like a forgotten episode for a cheesy TV show on The CW?.
Sure it had an interesting premise and it was nice to see the resurrection of a dead sub-genre, but it was just lacking in so many aspects, especially with the box office numbers -- barely even making its budget back.So, we're given a simply story about an old ventriloquist whose murdered after being suspected in the disappearance of a local boy, and her vengeful spirit inhabits the dolls in her huge collection.
The movie does have a couple somewhat creepy scenes, but it has zero atmosphere, so a lot of the potential tension and scares it could have offered is lost.In fact, the most effective scares the film had weren't delivered by the dolls, but the old woman herself.
The movie is pretty slow-paced for the first hour, and Donnie Wahlberg's character as the persistent detective bent on outing the widower as the murderer, is presented as more of a nuisance to the story than playing a pivotal role in the film, but he did finally make himself useful towards the end.Then the "twist" was finally revealed at the end that I'm sure many (like myself) saw a mile away.
In the end, Dead Silence was nothing more than a mediocre addition to the genre that offered an interesting villain, but a bland tale of horror and revenge.OVERALL Although the movie offered an interesting premise and villain, the slow-pacing, lack of atmosphere, scares, and a predictable ending, left the film as nothing more than a mediocre fair.
If you are looking for a good storyline with good acting, great scares, just enough gore and body counts then this is your movie!When I saw the poster of the Ventriloquist doll I admit I rolled my eyes and thought "not another one", but I didn't want clichés to spoil my fun so I decided to go ahead and watch it anyway...
"Dead Silence" could have been a lot scarier,but for the most part it is an perfect example of a good horror movie!
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.
This movie is a very nice but under-rated movie, in fact it exceeded all my expectations.It provides a couple of decent scares.The way the story enfolds is very exciting.But the best thing about this movie is that it keeps the audience curious about "What will happen next??".The suspense of this movie entertains us more than the horror.This movie is more of a suspense movie than a horror movie.It has some good acting and the climax is really entertaining.The background music is fantastic and scary and combined with the sets,it helps in creating a very spooky environment.This movie is much better than other puppet horror movies like "Doll Museum" or "Child's Play"..
The plot is the most terrifying thing here (in good way).After receiving an anonymous package that contains a mysterious doll, Jamie Ashen, played by Ryan Kwanten becomes a widower who saw the death of his wife and now he's on the search to discover the truth.
Every time there was a scare to be had, Clouser knew how to make the audience jump.Besides having sluggish dialog, Dead Silence has everything a horror movie could ask for.
Surely,I heard about this movie from IMDb,most of the people had given it thumbs up,so i decided to watch this movie asap.I did last night and I can assure you I wasn't disappointed and i can tell you am a avid horror movie genre fan watched movies from psycho to day breakers a very recent horror movie,i rarely miss any horror movie,thus i was highly surprised as to how i missed s ucha tremendously good movie.the movie has twists and turns with good sequence based horror,gore is limited so don't expect gore too much.just like the SAW by the same duo who made that one,this one has a major twist which I din't see coming although i had made up my mind before watching am gonna crack it but you just can't figure it out,such is the beauty of the picture.Though you feel the puppet concept is taken from the Bride of Chucky in start but my word the movie is not at all based on such ambiguously foolish idea.the puppet is just a medium.The screenplay is fantastic,well the acting is decent and the soundtrack is very good,it has a dark yet very refreshing mood to it.I have to admit i am very pleased with this movie so would you so if you have not watched this one you surely must..
Dead Silence is a reminder that horror films can be good fun..
So would you believe that the fellow who created the Saw series, one of the most depressing horror series ever (Although I love the first film, it too isn't what you'd call a "Fun" film, and the sequels aren't scary or fun, they're just mean.) would make a movie that was genuinely "Fun" above anything else?
Yet Dead Silence, directed by Saw creator James Wan, is simply a "Fun" horror flick that actually delivers a few chills too.What makes Dead Silence work is that it doesn't have the depressing, somewhat oppressive style of a "Saw" film, nor does it have the over the top gore, TNA, or silliness that ruins most teen horror flicks, and it certainly isn't too dull to be a PG-13 horror movie.
A few Parts that got me were: 1) they could have given a little more detail About the Crazy Lady 2) the ending was not at all the way a movie like This should have turned out but I cannot change it, so in all the movie Had its scary parts and it also had the "I saw this coming" parts.
When I read about this film I hesitated due to the fact it was made by the makers of SAW, it tends to make you feel it will be another slasher/gore fest.Once again i must criticise the amount of people who mark a film down because it does'nt have loads of gore - what happened to liking a film because it has a story , is well acted , is not slow paced , has thrills & has a decent twist at the end - THIS FILM HAS ALL THESE ELEMENTS - Good late night entertainment - don't be put off by any bad reviews you may read - you won't be disappointed if you like a good old style horror / thriller - RECOMMENDED !!
The story is unique; how many horror movies have you heard of about ventriloquist women burying themselves with their dolls, who then return from the dead to seek revenge on those who put her in the grave, by tearing out their tongues?
"Beware the stare of Mary Shaw, she had no children, only dolls, and if you see her in your dreams, be sure to never ever scream" Autonomatonophobia-Fear of ventriloquist's dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues - anything that falsely represents a sentient being.The Autonomatonophobia angle is important in the context of how much you enjoy/get scared by Wan and Whannell's first venture out of the Saw franchise they created.
Sound work is well orchestrated, with Clouser's score able to fray the nerves and Wan's decision to use silence to herald impending terror works clinically well and Leonetti's photography is suitably at one with the atmospherics required for the Raven's Fair segments, with lurid reds, shifting shadows and filtered fog all hitting the spot.As someone who is tinged by Autonomatonophobia and Coulrophobia, I had a scary old time with the film, often finding myself breathing heavy and peeking through fingers when the camera fell on one of Mary Shaw's model creations.
Meaning that even allowing for some undoubted technical flourishes (Wan undeniably has a horror talent), Dead Silence rates about 7/10 to people like me, but below that for the non dummy phobics..
If you hate dolls, ventriloquist dolls, silence, creepy old deionized women, then this movie is definitely going to satisfy your horror taste buds.
This was entertaining movie at part it movie dose drag but not for long , i did find the doll to be really creepy , this movie did have great atmosphere in every scenes which i really liked,.The deaths in this movie not gory but there are some bloody death, saying that wasn't even that much blood in this movie.The acting in this movie was really good from the whole cast.I really liked the movie but wow the twist at the end of the movie shocked hell out me, i did not see that coming at all, it was one hell of a twist and it worked really well, the twist at the end of the movie made the movie a little bit better.I going to give this movie 7 out 10.
I'm an enormous fan of James Wan and Leigh Whannell from their film "Saw", and I couldn't wait until "Dead Silence" came out because I was expecting something that would blow your mind at the end and have sizzling twists and turns throughout the film...and when I saw "Silence" for the first time, I never felt such a horrible let-down in my life.
So, if you're a "Saw" fan and haven't seen "Dead Silence" yet, don't waste your time because it's not good.
In the mean time he finds out a horrific story behind his family's dark history of the death of Mary Shaw, the woman who couldn't live without her dolls.Dead Silence is incredibly scary and the story worked, but there were a few confusing moments, like the doll not being taken in by the police for evidence, and the ending in some ways still didn't make any sense.
But I would really recommend this movie for a good scare, it was good to know that some director still get it, even as cliché'd as horror movies could be, he made everything work and Dead Silence will be a haunting masterpiece for years to come.6/10.
There are scenes which start to build a feeling of tension, only to stop before it reaches an effective level.James Wan could probably direct an effective horror film if he had a decent story.
He must have either lost a bet or owed the director a favor.The mythology here had a really good premise and killer dolls are always good for a few creepy scares if done right but the opportunity for anything worthwhile is completely and utterly squandered on "seen it a billion and one times before" kind of garbage and the premise is never developed into anything past the initial setup.Through the parts I didn't laugh at due to their sheer crappiness I was just bored stupid and couldn't wait for it to end since it hadn't improved some 50 minutes in and I didn't think it was going to.I had really hoped this was going to be along the lines of the Puppet Master movies but obviously with a bit more panache and style since it was coming from the Team that gave us Saw.I haven't been this disappointed in a movie for some time and pulling this kind of stunt is just making me lose faith in the movie industry.
No wonder piracy is on the increase, people are scared that sh*t like this is going to more often than not be the only return they get for their money and are becoming less and less likely to take a risk on what may or may not be a rare gem sitting on the shelf at the video store...It has to be said though that there was a little (unnecessary though it was) twist at the end that was kind of cool if stupid but alas it wasn't enough to save this complete waste of time.....AVOID like your life depended on it!!!!.
The actors and actresses were all very very good and that ventriliquist dummy was seriously creepy.I like the fact that through the whole movie he was trying to figure out the mystery but that left US time to figure it out too.
I wasn't really scared the slightest bit, im very good with horror movies.
"Dead Silence" has the best ending of any horror movie since "The Prestige" and that wasn't really a horror film.The studio got ripped off by the ratings board.
I knew going into this film that I shouldn't expect anything close to the Saw series, and I knew that once that doll was shown that I should probably prep myself for a horror movie paying homage to the 80's films like Leprechaun or Child's Play.
Dead Silence (2007) * (out of 4) James Wan (Saw) directs this horror film, which turns out to be one of the worse I've seen in recent years.
I didn't like the Saw movies and so Dead Silence wasn't high on my list of 'must see' when it came out.
Movie Review: "Dead Silence" (2006)After the immense success of a low-budget short-film-turns-feature production "Saw" (2004), director James Wan gets the engagement with Universal Studios to realize his follow-up picture, again written together with fellow Leigh Whannell.
Overall, "Dead Silence" is just OK horror flick for one dark evening, if you already saw better movies of the genre.
He Mounts this Horror Movie so Creepy that the Story, Acting, and Scares have a lot to Live Up to.
Dead Silence's story  isn't bad at all, actually, I thought it was quite good.