I DON'T REMEMBER OWNING THAT? Dead Silence (2007) review.

Have you ever been browsing the collection and you come across something random and be like “Shit. I don’t remember owning that?”. I’m sure a lot of you collectors out there can relate. It’s usually followed by something like “gee, I hope I didn’t spend much on that” or “did someone forcefully lend this to me?”. Anyway, I thought that I’d start a new segment/blog (whatever) about the random films I come across that I had know idea I owned.

I was scoping my horror section looking for something modernish, when I came across James Wan’s sophomore effort 2007’s DEAD SILENCE. I saw this in theatres back in the day, and remember being fairly lukewarm on it, so I was kinda surprised when I came across it in my collection. The only thing I can think of is that it must’ve been cheap, for as much as I like Wan, I’m by no means a completist.

Actress Judith Anna Roberts has wonderful features and is quite effective as the evil? Mary Shaw.

Studio interference and flaws aside (seriously, there's got to be like 2 or 3 pivotal scenes cut), there's still a lot to like here. During this early period of both Wan and Writer Whannell's careers they certainly wore their influences on their sleeves. The locations, set design and cinematography create some nice atmosphere reminiscent of ghost films from the 50's and 60's. And the red car driving through the desolate town gave me total Phantasm 3 vibes, so major props for that.

I wish it was better cast though (the lead anyway). Nothing says "2007 mid budget studio horror" quite like a film starring Ryan Kwanten and Donnie Wahlberg. For as annoying and bumbling as their characters are, I guess they do a respectable enough job? I would even say that believe it or not Donnie "The Right Stuff" Wahlberg is probably the standout here. He's overweight, balding and really leans into the trope of the suspicious but also borderline incompetent detective. So plenty of eating in inappropriate settings etc. Anyway, he's a doofus, but I like him better than his brother.

Actress Judith Anna Roberts is quite effective as Mary Shaw as well. She doesn’t get as much dialogue as I would’ve liked, but looks fantastic and devours what screen time she gets.

It feels like a third of the story is missing, but it is still interesting enough, and the ghost puppet shit is pretty tight. The design of the evil puppeteer "Mary Shaw" especially, and is something that Wan would go on to use more effectively in the Insidious and Conjuring universes. The PG13 rating kind of hinders the film as well. Some over the top gore would’ve really helped its cause. I hear there’s an unrated cut out there now so I’m assuming that ramp it up a notch or two in that version.

So do I have buyers' regret? I’m going with no, as I’m sure I would’ve got it on the cheap and it’s a fairly easy and enjoyable enough watch. So on a scale of I hope I didn't pay more than ?$ for it- I'm a go with $7.