Dead Silence (1997 film)
Dead Silence is a 1997 Canadian-American crime thriller television film directed by Daniel Petrie Jr. and written by Donald E. Stewart, based on the 1995 novel "A Maiden's Grave" by Jeffery Deaver. The film stars James Garner, Kim Coates, Marlee Matlin, and Lolita Davidovich. Release. "Dead Silence" premiered on HBO during January 1997. That year the film was also released on VHS in Australia, the UK and several other countries. A few months after its HBO premiere, the film was screened at the 1997 edition of the Cannes Film Festival, despite being a made  for TV production. It also received a theatrical release in Japan. It was released on DVD in the USA in 2005, and in 2007 in Australia. Reception. In their June 1997 review, "Variety" labelled it "strictly for undemanding thriller fans", and commented that, "For most of its length, "Dead Silence" is a routine hostage drama, though a couple of plot twists in the final reel, while implausible, enliven the hitherto mundane fodder." Premise. A veteran FBI agent negotiates the release of a bus load of hearing impaired school children taken hostage by three desperate escaped convicts. Dead Silence (1997 film