James Wan pre-Insidious, clearly the man was still testing waters. After much success with 'Saw', Wan turned his nightmare inducing mind to a more supernatural state with this small flick. Having walked into his apartment with his wife dead, the son of a rich family goes back to his hometown to investigate who could be the culprit. Problem is, and deep down he knows, that the killer is a ghostly old ventriloquist named Mary Shaw. She had no children, only dolls. And if you ever see her, do not scream otherwise she'll rip your tongue out. The conception and execution of the Mary Shaw ghost story is the most memorable aspect to this horror flick. Her and her army of puppets, marionettes, dolls and anything else that has eyes. Wan is exceedingly skilled at creating an atmosphere, he can muster up suspense like a fly slowly going towards an electric lamp. Far too many good examples, such as the slow rotation of Billy the puppet's eyes or the silencing of background noise whenever something terrifying is about to happen. Speaking of the latter, incredibly effective and really pulls you into the screen. The scares were frequent albeit just loud noises and the tension was palpable at times. And for the final time, if an ominous clown doll demands you to come closer so it can whisper something...be the smart one and run away. Stupid characters do ridiculous things, and unfortunately these characters are lifeless. Expendable, dull and just a means to further the story. The acting was mediocre, Ryan Kwanten (yeah...me neither) was one of the most boring lead actors I've seen. Also the final twist felt too much like 'Saw'. It literally made no sense and left me more confused than anything. Even the explanatory flashbacks felt like 'Saw'. However, Dead Silence just about pushes itself in the creepy factor to be classed as good. Only just though. Should've got better actors and written more developed characters.

I've watched over hundreds of horror movies while on my quest to find the perfect horror film. I wanted to give up so many times because they weren't scary at all, even the ones with the good ratings. So I didn't expect much from this movie, but boy was I surprised. The first horror movie in more than 6 months of searching which was actually scary. It wasn't like cheap jumpscare scary, but there were a lot of thrilling moments. This movie kept me on the edge of my seat and I think is a great film for horror fanatics. I absolutely loved it and can't wait to find more real scary movies!

Movie Review: "Dead Silence" (2006)After the immense success of a low-budget short-film-turns-feature production "Saw" (2004), director James Wan gets the engagement with Universal Studios to realize his follow-up picture, again written together with fellow Leigh Whannell. The screenplay concerns a female ventriloquist in a U.S. small town who gets marked on stage in front of a major audience by a boyish audience member in the 1930s, who then disappears to forge a curse that will haunt a family of main character Jamie Ashen, performed uneventful, no memorable-beat-given by miscast leading actor Ryan Kwanten. Director James Wan creates some decent shots of ambiance horrors with cinematographer John R. Leonetti, which then gets completely disarranged by editor Michael N. Knue in an editorial that just does not want to balance itself; too pretentious seem the super-imposing, double-layering, fast-zoom push-ins and repetitious slow eyeball-pull outs that not one scene seems to interconnect with the next. Nevertheless the talent of the director, who made fair use of his promotional-raised production budget from 1, at the "Saw" production in Season 2003/2004, to 20 Million U.S. Dollar with Universial Pictures in Season 2005/2006, lets unmistakably underline the fact that the filmmaking Horror genre also needs a director's final cut decision-making to maintain the intended suspense-screw-driving to maximize high-tension shocker effects.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Dead Silence is a horror film directed by James Wan, so you automatically know it's going to be good. James Wan just does great work, simple as that, and dead silence is no exception. This movie did not receive good reviews from film critics and I can't figure out why. This had everything anyone would ever look for in a quality horror movie. First of all, it actually pretty good acting, which is actually something that isn't terribly common in this kind of movie. I especially like Amber Velleta in her role, very fine performance on her part. The script suffices, it may not be the best script for a horror movie you've ever seen, but it's not bad. Not at all. It has plenty of scary scenes that involve a strong creepy factor. The dolls were the main contributing factor that created the creepy feel throughout the film. Even the very first opening sequence features a very scary event that occurs to someone the lead knows. I suggest this horror film for anyone and everyone who enjoys this kind of movie. No it's not on a paranormal activity or insidious level, but it's pretty entertaining and scary. 8/10.