A bizarre tale jammed packed with too many storylines, Dead Silence is far from a bad film, but it's too much of a mess to be a good one either. I feel like Dead Silence would much better work today as a small limited series on Netflix or HBO, someone with the budget to handle it, and the lack of studio interference that so obviously corrupted this film. The worst thing about Dead Silence is that it could have been a great film, there are quite a few good moments at opposite ends of this film, but sadly it's just rather bland. The cinematography is a bland gray all the way throughout, and the CGI we see towards the end is absolutely horrendous. The makeup, and special effects with it (when its not using CG) is absolutely excellent- and we have some truly great moments of imagery and costume design which I largely credit to the designer- who of course is a Cronenberg. The performances vary from mediocre to odd, no one really sticks out, and the film never truly decides how it wants to portray its characters- except for that of Mary Shaw. The flashback scenes containing her are fascinating, and the opening scene with our main character's wife is fun and terrifying. There is some fun to be had with the film, some delightfully creepy moments throughout. However, this is largely overshadowed by the films mundane way of telling its story, dragging out so thin it can be painful to watch. It's also full of cliches and awkward lines that you can tell just don't sit right. It feels unfinished, and it feels rushed, and I know Wan and Weighnell certainly didn't intend it to be that way. In the end, Dead Silence is a studio mishmash that will most likely be forgotten- but hopefully in the future, better things will come for it- in one reboot I wouldn't mind seeing.
My Rating: 5.3/10.
My Rating: 5.3/10.