DEAD SILENCE

The newlywed couple Jamie and Lisa receive an anonymous package containing a strange ventriloquist doll. That same night, Lisa mysteriously dies, and Jamie becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Despite the authorities' orders, Jamie sets out for Raven Fair, his hometown, to hold Lisa's funeral. Once there, he encounters hostility from the locals upon seeing the doll he has brought with him. Through some investigations, Jamie learns about the legend of Mary Shaw, a ventriloquist and former owner of the doll, who seventy years ago was accused of murder and consequently executed by a vengeful mob. The legend says that Mary Shaw's spirit still roams, seeking revenge... Ventriloquist dolls, puppets, porcelain dolls—it's incredible how these simple automata, created to entertain children, instead manage to scare and unsettle almost everyone. James Wan clearly knows this well, as he previously introduced a chilling doll with red cheeks in his cult classic "Saw," used to deliver the messages of the sadistic Jigsaw. With "Dead Silence," Wan reunites with Leigh Whannell, who, as with "Saw," handles the screenplay, crafting a new terrifying nightmare. Leaving behind the mechanisms of a gory thriller, Wan and Whannell focus on a story of pure supernatural horror, recreating many of the atmospheres beloved in 1980s horror films, but rewritten to meet the expectations of a modern audience: fast pacing, easy scares, and some computer graphics. But fear not—the formula works fairly well, and "Dead Silence" succeeds in engaging and delivering a few chills. Mixing "Magic" and "Bad Pinocchio" with the legend of the Tooth Fairy ("Darkness Falls"), and adding a touch of "Nightmare," "Dead Silence" offers a ghost story with several cards to play, primarily represented by a dreamlike and rarefied atmosphere and a series of truly unsettling dolls. After a not particularly promising start, with a prologue where the always excellent Laura Regan ("My Little Eye"; "They") faces the wrath of Mary Shaw and her doll Billy in a lengthy and somewhat unoriginal sequence, the film takes off with Ryan Kwanten's ("Flicka") arrival in his hometown—a sinister place shrouded in a morbid air of death. The evocative cinematography by John Leonetti and the compelling soundtrack by Charlie Clouser do the rest. The special effects department shines in showcasing creepy dolls, led by Billy, reaching the peak of macabre suspense in the old theater scene. The makeup for Mary Shaw is also quite effective, although in some scenes she slightly resembles the Bloody Countess seen in "Stay Alive." Whannell's screenplay, despite some clichés (the well-worn story of vengeance beyond death) and a few plot holes (why must one not scream when Mary Shaw's specter appears?), manages to deliver a fairly successful final twist. In conclusion, "Dead Silence" may not be the film of the year and certainly doesn't reach the level of Wan's previous work, but it offers a spectacle of macabre fright, showcasing the disturbing figure of the malevolent doll. Highly recommended!