DEAD SILENCE is one of the best movies from the "killer doll" sub-genre of horror films since MAGIC or DOLLS.
A ventriloquist dummy named "Billy" is mysteriously left on the doorstep of Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) and his wife one evening. After he gets back from picking up some take-out Chinese food he goes back to his apartment to find the love of his life horribly murdered--and it appears as if the evil looking dummy is somehow responsible. He knows, however, that this has to do with the story of Mary Shaw, an urban legend from his small home town. She was a well-known ventriloquist who was buried with her 100 dolls when she died.
He goes back to the deserted looking home town to bury his wife--and uncovers why the dummy was sent to him. It's revealed by the local undertaker that murders similar to his wife's have been happening since Mary Shaw's death in 1941. She was murdered by the locals for a crime they thought she committed and her ghost has been getting revenge on those people responsible, as well as all of their descendents.
The movie is far more suspenseful and creepy than it is gory, and the effects, primarily of the murdered people, are horrific. The ghost of Mary Shaw is also one of the nastiest villains I've seen in a long time. She also reminds me of that old blind woman from the original HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (which I'm sure is the inspiration for this), which scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.
DEAD SILENCE is one of the best movies from the "killer doll" sub-genre of horror films since MAGIC or DOLLS.
