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Dead Silence Review

Movies.com Critics

4.0

Dave White Profile

… consistently surprising. Read full review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 2.0
    34

    out of 100

    Metascore®
    Generally unfavorable reviews
    based on a weighted average of all
    critic review scores.

  • 0

    out of 100

    Los Angeles Times

    A conflation of the horror genre's laziest tropes, plot angles and shorthands, this inept creation isn't so much a film as it is a smorgasbord.

    Read Full Review

  • 30

    out of 100

    The New York Times

    The director, James Wan, and the writer, Leigh Whannell (the team behind the controversially brutal "Saw" series), deliver the mandatory shocks and gross-outs, backed by dissonant bursts of music and made almost elegant by the cinematographer John R. Leonetti's desaturated images.

    Read Full Review

  • 30

    out of 100

    Variety

    Only those in a cold sweat for their weekly horror fix will bother with this formulaic and rather lazy exercise in booga-booga scare tactics.

    Read Full Review

  • 40

    out of 100

    Village Voice

    Dolls are innately unnerving, but the movie's semi-menacing Charlie McCarthys never live up to their potential. As creaky nonsense goes, though, this is chock-full of corny goodness down to its hilarious sense-shredding "twist," which the movie reveals like a magician proudly unveiling a dead rabbit.

    Read Full Review

  • 50

    out of 100

    Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

    Terrified of puppets? Enjoy being scared? Then you'll be half-satisfied with Dead Silence, a rote horror pantomime.

    Read Full Review

  • 50

    out of 100

    The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

    Boasts nothing new under the sun, but it does provide a few decent scares.

    Read Full Review

  • See all Dead Silence reviews at Metacritic.com

For Families provided by Common Sense Media

Iffy for 15+

A Nightmare on Dummy St. from Saw creators.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this horror movie shows grotesque image of corpses with mouths open and tongues torn out. The violence is shown in quick, nightmarish flashes (it's a ghostly curse doing it, after all, not human handiwork), and is very intense. A young boy is prominent among victims. Other imagery plays on people's worst fears of creepy ventriloquist dummies, dolls, mannequins, marionettes, and clowns -- this could definitely give smaller kids and other sensitive viewers nightmares.

  • Families can talk about the movie's retro horror style with the use of dry-ice fog, nearly black-and-white cinematography, the exaggerated cop character -- even the absence of swearing and sex in the film. Ask your kids why they think the filmmakers decided to hearken back to this more innocent era? How does the movie compare to old Universal Pictures horror movies with Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, Dracula, and others? Why are people creeped out (or not) by dummies and dolls?

The good stuff
  • message true0

    Messages: None of the characters are terribly well developed, but the main character is evidently a good husband trying to get justice for his slain wife. His good intentions don't prevent a downbeat fate. His aged, invalid father has married repeatedly, lately settling (apparently) for much younger bride.

What to watch for
  • violence false5

    Violence: Victims of the ghost have their tongues torn out -- though the gory deed happens in "supernatural" bursts of speed, so (usually) the worst we see are quick glimpses of the ghastly corpses that result. One victim vomits up blood. Others fall from great heights through floorboards. There is a quick-cut of a lynch mob about to kill and mutilate a woman with a razor. Dead bodies include children.

  • sex false0

    Sex: Some very mild innuendo between young marrieds.

  • language false3

    Language: "Hell," "ass," and the very beginning of an F-word.

  • consumerism false0

    Consumerism: None, except a quick inside-joke reference to the Saw movies.

  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0

    Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue

Fan Reviews provided by

5

DEAD SILENCE IS HOOD by hoeface111
SEE IT !!!

2

Not Happenin by Gonza21
The previews are definitely decieving, i walked in thinking i was gon piss my pants, and i walked out wanting a refund.

5

creepy by r-boy
I'm not really scared of anything but this movie scared the crap out of me

1

by fbihemi23

2

by julieannchurch

1

by scapparelli

3

by Bighurtcorp

3

by Digitaldevil7

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