C

Nice atmosphere, Wan has improved as a director, and Clouser's score is great. But it's pretty dull, not at all scary, and the final twist -- which was SO much like Saw in terms of editing I imagined 'Hello Zepp' in my head -- isn't very good at all. It's just, eck. Also, the storyline is a complete rip-off of A Nightmare On Elm Street.

Your horror movie has a problem when the biggest crowd reaction is when they see the Billy puppet from Saw hidden in the corner.

Good movie, more proof of James Wan's talent. A creepy, well-crafted campfire ghost story told on the silver screen. B.

I really agree. It was well polished, but it just felt incredibly slight. The R rating was barely justified with no swearing - and even moments where characters say "What the F..." and trail off - and a minimal amount of gore. Cut down on the red stuff on the faces and I'm sure it could've been PG-13. But even then, I've seen PG-13 horror movies that, while not as stylish, at least were more fun. At least Darkness Falls had a quick pace and much more scenes of ghost terror then this. The one thing I'll give it is that the silence effect was kinda nifty. Definitely a dissapointment, and in retrospect I can sorta understand why Universal dumped this.

Oh yeah and for the record, the trailers - especially the unrated one - give away every single scare in the film.

I liked it. It's not another Saw or anything, although I agree that the directing is definitely improved, and it's not really scary, but it worked. The twist, although somewhat predictable (I knew who would be involved, but the puppet aspect caught me off guard), was fun.

B

Really liked it. Nice atmosphere and score, decent acting, and a fun, bizarrely creative twist. Better than most horror films these days. I liked the throwback to old horror films with the credits, etc.

Grade - A

So I kind of liked it, actually.

I really, really enjoyed the fact that it was a total throwback to Hammer/British horror in general. That was totally unexpected, but positively refreshing. I think any horror fan that is officially fucking sick and tired of torture porn will find some enjoyment here. James Wan has definitely improved as a filmmaker, but he still cuts his compositions down too much. There were several moments in the film where he would present a striking image, only to cut away to a generic insert after a couple of beats. Once he learns patience, he'll be a pretty formidable genre force. The overall look of the film was pitch perfect considering what it was trying to accomplish (it had the expressionism of older horror down perfectly), and although it's never truly scary, it's sufficiently creepy.

As for the twist... I enjoyed it. It did feel sort of forced and misplaced, but I thought the "human puppet" was brilliantly macabre.

On the downside, it does feel rather flat in certain spots, and treads dangerously close to repetition and out and out boredom about half-way through.

Still, I would recommend it just on the basis that it's something different and unique.

Agree with all those points. Aside from J-horror inspired PG-13 films, there haven't been many attempts at making anything near what could be considered atmospheric horror lately. I just have to chuckle when people think the movie looks like a "Child's Play" clone when it is nothing like that series in tone or style. Dead Silence is so much better in the filmmaking department alone it's not even funny. I absolutely loved the musical score for DS along with the old-style touches such as the brief black and white during flashbacks, the opening credits, etc.

This film shows that Wan can actually be a competant filmmaker outside of films where torture and sick death traps are in play. With a few cuts, I'm sure this could have passed as PG-13. In fact, just so it could have been more finanacially successful, I wish it was PG-13.

The twist was, as you said, sickly brilliant in its macabre style. I expected a twist but nothing like what happened.

Ok, so as far as the twist goes, how do you guys explain the wife coming into being? Did Mary Shaw just take over her body? For a movie so dead set on working on a certain rule, it sure didn't have a lot of rules for it's ghost to stick to.

It's not that I'd disagree that the movie was atmospheric or well shot. I just can't believe some of you liked it so much considering how little happened in this pretty little film. Maybe it's the trailers fault for showing every single scare in the film, or maybe horror movies this year have just been so godawful that when one comes along that isn't a total mess, people really like it due to low standards.

Well, I wouldn't say I liked it a lot. To be totally fair and honest, I'd say I liked the concept of what they were trying to do with this film more than the actual film itself. The idea of creating a full blown homage to British horror in the middle of the current state of the genre is incredibly brave and inspired. People are right, this movie could have easily been a PG-13. But I think that is where some of the charm lies. It's not afraid to tone down the excessive gore we've become so accustomed to in our horror in the name of homage. The filmmakers wanted to do this right -- audience be damned. James Wan has clearly studied the look and feel of the movies he wants to emulate here, and while I think he probably misses the mark more often than not, he comes so damn close so often that it's hard to not get excited about it. When I can watch a modern day horror film, and see clear allusions to something like The Woman in Black, I can't help but have a sense of admiration for it, even if it doesn't work as a whole.

I can respect that look at it, and maybe I'd have appreciated it more were my expectations as low as most peoples. Or if there wasn't someone outside of the theater guilt tripping my friends and I relentlessly throughout the film. Admiring it rather than really liking it... Alright.

That said, thaaank you for posting that link to The Woman in Black. From the brief little bits I read about it on IMDB, I think I NEED to rent this right now. Do you think they'd carry it at Hollywood Video?

To complain about something being illogical in a film where dummies come to life seems wrong. It's called suspension of disbelief. I don't go to movies expecting reality. I go to escape from it.

It's a good thing Jamie never stood behind his father.

actually not too bad! it could have used a bit more gore, but it was actually pretty creepy.

B

Laughed when I saw that line. It is sad our expectations have to be low at all, isn't it? In a perfect world, I'd love to see all these movies work.

I'll concur. Nice atmosphere (it deserves an A or B for this), but that's really all the film has going for it. I do see that the creators wanted to create something and I do appreciate effort, but I was "watch checking" and that's always a deal breaker for me. However, this film is lucky when it comes to my rating. After seeing the asinine, half-witted HHE2, my senses were dulled just enough to give this film a passing grade*.

C-

*In all fairness, this film doesn't really belong in the same league with HHE2. I'd go as far as committing the ultimate sin: Not even the original HHE2 (one of the worst movies ever) belongs in the same league with the new HHE2.

Liked it quite a bit. I think getting to the end was a bit rough and boring at times, but once I got there, I was actually quite surprised. In a good way. Not in the same way that Saw shocked me, but a very nice twist.

B+

Well I wasnt really disappointed, just bored. The first and foremost reason of a horror movie is to scare, and they were few and far, and not as effective when there.

I just found it stupid that the character who could stop themselves from screaming, like the lead and the boy (Now old man), that when they finally did, it just was terribly forced in my opinion. Donnie Wahlberg was a terrible cop in my opinion, and I found myself fast forwarding a few parts, just because I was loosing interest. The ending (well the twist) was inspired, but made no sense as how that woman was taken over, and there was some creepiness at times.

I can't really recommend it, horror kind of took a dive this year, with 1408 being the only worthwhile film. Hopefully Halloween can bring it back a little.

D+/C-

What everyone said. Its not the best but its sure entertaining. The twist was OK.

B-

Boring and not very scary. The twist I have to admit, I did not see coming and is really the film's only bright spot, that and finding the Saw puppet. Also, I'm not sure why the poll has me listed as giving it an A, because I'm not even close to that. I've also noticed this on several other films, but anyways......

C

B


I think pretty much everbody here knows how much I love the first Saw film. I think a lot of it can be contributed to Saw's creators - James Wan and Leigh Whannell. I was quite interested in seeing their follow-up to Saw, but Dead Silence never really looked very intriguing or interesting to me.

I must say that I was somewhat positively surprised when I saw this. It turned out to be a small and neat horror flick, very much old school and not relying on cheap scares. The whole thing felt a lot (and that was probably intended) like a good scary campfire story or like a long Goosebumps episode, only for adults and since I like this kind of films, I was very entertained.

The movie never reaches the brilliance of the first Saw flick, in my opinion, but as a stand-alone entry to the genre, it is pretty good and above a lot of the fare produced nowadays. The twist at the very end caught me off-guard and while it was surprising, in the aftermath it seemed as if the makers were just trying so hard to mimic Saw and its twist (hell I even expected the Saw music to start playing when the twist was revealed), so the movie probably would've been better off without the twist. Also, the whole ending part with burning the puppets and escaping from the theatre was when the movie entered its downwards slope. It all just felt too easy for the protagonist and a bit too rushed. I did enjoy most of the stuff before the ending, though. There are several genuinely creepy moments in here (am I the only one who finds ventriloquist dummies like the one in the film very unsettling?!) and some moments of great tension. While it is never truly scary, it creates an atomosphere, something that many horror movies fail to achieve nowadays. I'd say that with Saw and this, Wan is on his best way of establishing his name in the horror genre.