By Melissa Garza
How does a movie with a good premise, scenes that scare and decent acting still fail to deliver? Watch “Dead Silence”, and you’ll know. It opens with Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) receiving a strange package on his doorstep with no explanation. Inside, is Billy, a scary ventriloquist dummy that frightens him more than his wife Lisa (Laura Regan). As Jamie exits to pick up take-out, Lisa prepares a frightening little scene to make Jamie scream. She places Billy on the bed and begins to ready herself when she is brutally murdered and has her tongue torn out of her mouth Jamie arrives all too late with the food, and hears his wife beckoning him. He enters the bedroom expecting something romantic but instead finds a bloody mess and Lisa very much deceased.
Detective Jim Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) brings Jamie in for questioning and is unimpressed with his claim of the doll delivery right before the demise of Mrs. Ashen. Still, Lipton does not arrest Jamie, which gives the widower a chance to return to his hometown of Raven’s Fair, dummy in hand. He vaguely recalls a poem his mother had read to him as a child about a ventriloquist named Mary Shaw who had dolls instead of children. Believing that the tale may have some relation to the death of his wife, he ventures back to find out more.
What once was a prominent upscale town was now desolate and rundown. The few residents left never even speak of Shaw’s name, in fear of what may come after them. Though she had died in 1941, her legacy was still very much alive and the turmoil she caused very well known. Finally, between Henry, the town mortician (Michael Fairman) and Jamie’s father Edward (Bob Gunton) he hears the entire story.
Years ago, long before Jamie’s birth, when the town was in the best shape it had ever been in, there was a theater opened to celebrate the success of Raven’s Fair. Mary Shaw would get on stage and with Billy on her lap deliver a show to the delight of the audience. One day, a small boy, who saw her lips move told her so, much to the chagrin of the old woman and the dummy. Billy and Shaw begin to argue back and forth and even talk over one another. At this point, there is no doubt, that the doll had a mind other than that of the old woman’s.
Soon, the annoying child that interrupted the show turns up missing, and the residents knowing that the ventriloquist was to blame, cut her tongue out and kill her. Since then, the decedents of those who silenced the old woman are massacred in the same way, even to the last generation. Admittedly, this back story to Mary Shaw does have massive similarities to Nightmare On Elm St. After all, in both movies there is an evil child- murdering villain mowed down by disgusted townspeople only to have the wicked one return after death and punish the relatives of those who took the law into their own hands. The difference is that Nightmare On Elm St. knew exactly what it was. It didn’t try to throw shock value in because it could stand on its own as a great horror flick. Sadly, “Dead Silence” may have been able to as well, but instead there are too many holes in the plot and unanswered questions posed momentarily but never returned to.
For example, as stated before on a single occasion the viewers witness life in Billy before Shaw’s death. Now, we are told that the spirit of Mary enters the dolls which is what brings them to move and cause terror. Okay, that’s fine, but then why the scene that implies Billy is his own thinking entity? Why lead the audience to accept this only to completely ignore and dispel it later on?
Moving beyond that, the mortician states that when Shaw was buried she asked to be made into a doll and to be buried with all 101 of her “children,” and for whatever reason they comply. Again, it’s odd, but I can break from reality enough to say that the town is going to grant this sociopath’s dying wish of becoming a dummy, however what is completely disregarded is that Shaw’s spirit can only live via the dolls. When Jamie has Billy, he is told by one of the residents to bury it and so its eluded the only way to rid the town of this curse is to keep the dolls underground. So, why would Mary who can only use the dummies as a gateway want this to be done? It doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t it be safer and more convenient to stored them in different locations? In fact, since the story states that Shaw’s spirit can live as long as a doll remains intact and she was made into one, wouldn’t that suffice? Couldn’t she live within her own corpse? If not, then why the request?
There are a quite a few more inconsistencies and oversights that I would love to bring up, and which are quite more apparent than those listed above, however since it would include spoilers, I cannot discuss them.
Notably, Donnie Wahlberg seems to be coming into his own. His character in Saw II was awful, however this time while portraying a cop he stays away from the bad cliches. Lipton is sarcastic, cocky and definitely not the brightest officer, however the part is played well, and I think his NKOTB pals would be proud. Also, veteran Michael Fairman excelled in the role of Henry. If any character stood out and maintained a level of depth throughout the picture it was the mortician. His emotions always drew the audience in and kept them on their toes.
Making a movie complex and multi-layered can produce groundbreaking features that force people to think and see things differently. “Stir Of Echoes,” and the original “Saw” prove that, but what those pictures so easily captured is miserably and completely lost in “Dead Silence.” While the former films may have the viewers pondering scenes and questioning certain explanations, the moviegoer still walks away with a concrete understanding of what they watched. With “Dead Silence,” it is impossible not to leave the theater confused because of the constant contradictions that lie within the plot alone.
“Dead Silence,” is superior to the sequels of Saw and to quite a few modern horror films. It has it’s frightening moments, it’s over-the-top dialogue, and great death scenes, but it just could have been so much more had it just stayed simple. Not every great scary movie needs to have a surprise ending or multiple twists. At times, and with this movie, it’s like the creators throw together a conclusion that will shock even if it doesn’t make sense. They may as well put a dancing monkey on screen and be happy because noone would see that coming! Having a crazy dead nutcase possessing dolls and murdering everyone in sight is enough when it terrifies and provides well-developed characters. The dancing monkey as eye-popping as it may be ruins the whole production.
Scared Stiff Rating 6/10.
