Throwback Review of the Week: Dead Silence

By Kevin A’Hern

Who’s The Dummy Now?

“Beware the stare of Mary Shaw / She had no children only dolls / And if you see her in your dreams / Be sure you never ever scream.”

In honor of his 11th directed movie having just come out a week ago (Conjuring 2), we take a look back at one of James Wan’s first film’s in which he not only directed but also co-wrote.

In 2007 James Wan brought us Dead Silence which tells the eerie old school style ghost story of Mary Shaw (Judith Roberts). Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) returns to his hometown of Ravens Fair after the gruesome death of his wife. But lurking in the shadows of the waning town are a series of mysterious deaths thought to be the work of a murdered ventriloquist out for revenge against the families who murdered her.

The positives of this movie are that it’s filled with jump scares, a few humorous lines and moments, and a ghost story that will make you never want to scream again. The biggest negative is that it is a very slow moving movie. Although it has you rattled from the get go, the story as a whole progress’s at a very slow pace as it takes until about thirty minutes in to really pick up a head of steam. You might be drawn in too much to realize this, but this was something picked up by this reviewer.

If you are looking for a good way to spend an hour and a half and you have a craving for something scary, this would be near the top of the list if not occupying the number one spot.

And with each throwback movie we review, we want to express the lesson we learned from this week’s movie in a bit called Throwback Lesson for Everyday Use (TBLEU).

Throwback Lesson: Never tell a ventriloquist you can see their lips moving and if you see Mary Shaw in your dreams (or behind you right now) “Be sure to never ever scream”.

ROASTED RIPPER SCORE – B+