Taglines: You scream. You die.
Every town has its own ghost story, and a local folktale around Ravens Fair is about a ventriloquist named Mary Shaw. After she went mad in the 1940s, she was accused of kidnapping a young boy who yelled out in one of her performances that she was a fraud. Because of this she was hunted down by townspeople who in the ultimate act of revenge, cut out her tongue and then killed her. They buried her along with her “children,” a handmade collection of vaudeville dolls, and assumed they had silenced her forever.
However, Ravens Fair has been plagued by mysterious deaths around them after Mary Shaws collection has returned from their graves and have come to seek revenge on people that killed her and their families. Far from the pall of their cursed hometown, newlyweds Jamie and Lisa Ashen thought they had established a fresh start, until Jamie’s wife is grotesquely killed in their apartment. Jamie returns to Ravens Fair for the funeral, intent on unraveling the mystery of Lisa’s death.
Once reunited with his ill father, Edward, and his father’s new young bride, Ella, Jamie must dig into the town’s bloody past to find out who killed his wife and why. All the while, he is doggedly pursued by a detective who doesn’t believe a word he says. As he uncovers the legend of Mary Shaw, he will unlock the story of her curse and the truth behind the threat from a rhyme in his childhood: if you see Mary Shaw and scream, she’ll take your tongue. And the last thing you will hear before you die…is your own voice speaking back to you.
Dead Silence is a 2007 American supernatural psychological horror film directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, the creators of Saw. The film stars Ryan Kwanten, Judith Roberts, Donnie Wahlberg, and Amber Valletta.
In the United States, as of April 16, 2007, the film’s total gross has been worth US$16.5 million (according to Box Office Mojo), and screenings of Dead Silence were ceased in most theatres sixteen days following its release; the film’s estimated production budget was US$20 million. As of April 1, 2009, US$5,408,331 has been generated globally. Tentative plans for a sequel were abandoned.
Dead Silence (2007)
Directed by: James Wan
Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Bob Gunton, Laura Regan, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Judith Roberts, Keir Gilchrist, Steven Taylor, Shelley Peterson
Screenplay by: Leigh Whannell, James Wan
Production Design by: Julie Berghoff
Cinematography by: John R. Leonetti
Film Editing by: Michael N. Knue
Costume Design by: Denise Cronenberg
Set Decoration by: Christina Kuhnigk
Art Direction by: Anastasia Masaro
Music by: Charlie Clouser
MPAA Rating: R for horror violence and images.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: March 16, 2007
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