Dead Silence

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"Dead Silence" (2007). Directed by James Wan and starring Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta & Donnie Wahlberg, this title is released by Universal Studios in Australia.



My review

"Dead Silence" is James Wan and Leigh Whannell's follow up horror effort after introducing us to the "Saw" franchise. The film is an interesting horror which relies a little more heavily on atmosphere than it does in delivering non-stop scares. Ryan Kwanten of "True Blood" fame stars and delivers a solid acting performance even if the character he plays is a little 2 dimensional. Donnie Wahlberg is also solid as Detective Lipton though the dialogue of his character comes across as being written to be hard as nails and Wahlberg doesn't quite deliver the intensity and hardness to back it up. Still, along the way there are plenty of revelations and interesting moments to keep you paying attention and the film succeeds for the most part by delivering an immersive experience. It's an above average horror which bests many of it's contemporaries by looking to deliver more than just cheap scares. 3.5/5

Video
"Dead Silence" features a highly stylised look with an extremely desaturated palette. At times the film is almost monochromatic save for splashes of red and an overarching general blue tone. This intended look gives the film a dark and dreary appearance which helps with the atmosphere being created. Being such a dark and dreary film it's a surprise to see that the video quality is quite good. Grain for the most part is fine and intact, though occasionally it is a little splotchy though this could be due to the processing used to achieve the desired look. Fine detail is apparent in a number of shots such as the threading in the doll's suit. Black levels are generally quite good however towards the end of the film when all the scenes are set in darkness the black level does stray somewhat and there are instances where it appears gray-ish. All in all though, I could not detect any overzealous meddling via DNR or EE and the film retains it's intended look quite nicely. One of Universal's better catalogue transfers of recent times. 4/5

Audio
As with most horror films, they can either live or die by their soundtrack. Fortunately for "Dead Silence" the soundtrack lives up to the challenge and supplements the visuals quite nicely by delivering a very effective and atmospheric experience. The scare moments have excellent dynamics whilst the various effects (creaking doors, whispers etc) are delivered with some precise directionality. The track features good use of the LFE in select moments to supplement the more intense scares and on the whole dialogue is delivered consistently with good clarity. All in all the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is quite effective and works well in conjunction with the image on screen to deliver a great overall experience. 4/5

Extras
As one of Universal's cheaper catalogue releases this title unfortunately does not have any special features. 0/5

Overall
Whilst not the best horror to come out recently, "Dead Silence" scores marks for attempting to take audiences on a ride and deliver atmosphere in spades. In this way it succeeds even if it is a little light overall on the scares. With solid video and audio, if you don't mind overlooking the missing special features this one is well worth a rental or a purchase considering it is one of Universal's budget range of catalogue titles and can often be picked up for around $10. 3.5/5

Please note: Title is region free.