Donnie Wahlberg is a terrible cop, he also really likes movies about dolls. That being said, by the end of Dead Silence, he’s the only one with any sense.
Beware the stare of Mary Shaw. She had no children, only dolls. If you see her in your dreams, make sure you never ever scream, or she’ll cut your tongue out at the seam.” Jamie Ashen and his wife are settling down for an evening when a package arrives at the door. When they open it, they are confused by its contents. With no return address, and no way of knowing who sent it, they find a ventriloquist dummy inside. Lisa (Jamie’s wife) makes a joke about it, and when Jamie leaves to get some take-out, she sets up a scare for him. While Jamie is out, his wife is viciously murdered and he is the prime suspect. He believes the doll either did it, or had a role in his wife’s murder. Now Jamie must try to figure out who sent the doll to him, and clear his name. Dead Silence is a decent movie, it’s even better if you live in a world where James Wan hasn’t already made a movie about puppets starring Donnie Wahlberg as a cop. I get that directors like certain actors. I get that writers usually write what they know, but this is kinda silly. ANYway… Once Dead Silence really got going, I enjoyed it. Yes there was some cheese to be found, but overall, it was pretty good. James Wan really likes his grainy, gritty style of editing and filming, but it works here. After years of watching hundreds of horror movies, you learn to spot the jump scares before they happen, in Dead Silence, they count on you knowing it’s coming to really let them sink in. I don’t hate that this trope is here, I just wish they didn’t go so heavy handed on the build up. Granted, it’s canonical to the story, so I’ll give it a pass. Not a lot of literal surprises in this movie for me personally, except for the fact that a movie about (basically) a killer ventriloquist dummy isn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. Watch it for a fun romp through murder-town, but stay for the slick way they figure out to kill Sgt. shaves-a-lot.
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