2007 / 90 Minutes / Unrated
Reviewed by Jason Jones

I am not what one would call a horror film aficionado by any stretch of the imagination. So it would be prudent of me to start out this review by saying that, to date, I have yet to see any of the Saw or Hostel movies. For whatever reason I have never acquired a taste for them like many filmgoers have. Now, of course, I appreciate the greatness of films like The Exorcist and The Shining, but to me those are films that manage to transcend the genre and exist outside the boundaries of what a horror film should be.

I mention this only because I feel it is relevant to people who watch these sorts of movies to know what they’re in for. Being that this film is written and directed by the same guys who brought you Saw (James Wan and Leigh Whannell) it would be reasonable to expect that Dead Silence would be cut from the same torture gorefest cloth. This is what I expected it to be, but surprisingly it turned out to be little more than a sometimes promising knockoff of The Ring that never quite manages to completely deliver.

The film begins with a deadly package containing a doll of mysterious origin leaving a young man’s (Ryan Kwanten) wife dead and him under scrutiny for her murder from the local homicide detective (Donnie Wahlberg). In order to clear his name he goes back to his hometown where he feels he can find the answers that will prove his innocence. Along the way he will unravel the history of a local ghost story that casts a shadow over the town and might shed some light on questions from his family’s past.

From the twisted faces of the victims to the plot device of the doll the film tries a little too hard to cash in on the success of The Ring. That said there are some high points to be found. Donnie Wahlberg turns in a scene-stealing performance as the detective, injecting some much needed life into the proceedings. In terms of the production design, the detail of the dolls and clever use of sound added a great sense of foreboding to the film that would have otherwise been lacking. The gimmick of having all ambient sound drop out when something not so pleasant is about to happen managed to be quite unsettling every time it was put to use. Unfortunately not all aspects of the film were this effective.

Some of the areas that were less than stellar revolved around the acting and the film overall falling victim to a number of horror film cliches that have been beaten to death over the years. Ryan Kwanten just didn’t seem to know what to do with the role of the investigative widower Jamie. He had next to zero charisma, which isn’t always a bad thing in these movies, but when he’s onscreen with Wahlberg his limitations rapidly become apparent. It was nice to see the warden from The Shawshank Redemption (Bob Gunton) show up, but sadly he is given little more to do than sit around and explain his failings as a parent to his son. None of the characters in this film have arcs to speak of, as none of them get fleshed out beyond the fact that there was a crazy woman in their hometown long ago. So the viewer is left with little investment in the characters, which is an essential element of any movie to succeed. This is especially true of horror films. If I don’t care about the characters how am I supposed to get scared when they are in peril. I really didn’t even care if Wahlberg’s character lived or died, which is sad because I enjoyed his performance, but his character was sorely lacking in development.

My primary beef with the movie is that it has so many of the stupid choices characters always make in horror films. I’m sure you know the scenes I speak of. Well guess what? They’re here in full force. Go to a creepy graveyard in the middle of the night to do some digging all by yourself? Check. Go to some remote abandoned building in the middle of the night by yourself? Check. Go unarmed? Check.

These are the major ones, but I’m sure there were more. I can appreciate the fact that the guy is trying to clear his name, but come on! This could be handled better. I suppose it’s unfair for me to unload on this particular film as many films of this nature fall prey to these mistakes. However, there comes a point when I say enough’s enough and that point came while watching this film.

Many of the films problems could have been solved with a little more time in the editing room and for that matter a little more time overall. Even though it runs a crisp 90 minutes the film feels like it drags in a number of spots. That is until the end when events unfold very rapidly and before you know it the revelation has happened and the credits are rolling. I swear between the time when the big twist (fairly clever I must say) is revealed and the credits start rolling has to be less than 3 minutes. It felt like story arc-wise the film was just completing Act 2 and then Blam! the movie ends. Sadly it turns out to be one of those movies that just started to get interesting just as it ends.

In the end Dead Silence takes an intriguing premise and fails to deliver. There are some bright spots, but they are few and far between. My suggestion is to watch The Ring instead, but that’s just the opinion a non-horror aficionado talking.

P.S. - If you do decide to check out the DVD it does have an alternate beginning and ending that each offer up a very different tone from that of the rest of the film. Plus, you get the requisite deleted scenes, making of featurette, and some visual effects breakdown that provide further insight into the film as it might have been.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Jason's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.