 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Dead Silence
- Review Date: June 24, 2007
- R
- Genre: Horror
- 2007
Common Sense Media says
A Nightmare on Dummy St. from Saw creators.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
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.
What's the story?
A young wife is murdered, with her tongue torn out. Police detective Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) immediately suspects the husband, Jamie (Ryan Kwanten), of the crime, mocking the young man's story that back in the town of Raven's Fair, where the couple grew up, there was a legend of a twisted lady ventriloquist named Mary Shaw. Her ghost supposedly pulls your tongue out if you scream when you see her in a nightmare. And Jamie and his wife had just received a mysterious package from Raven's Fair containing an antique dummy. To prove his innocence and bury his late spouse, Jamie goes back to Raven's Fair. Jamie tries to break the curse by burying the dummy in the cemetery with Mary Shaw, but it's not that simple.
Is it any good?
The filmmakers behind the grisly hit Saw and its sequels also made DEAD SILENCE. Even with intense scenes of hideous corpses, the violence isn't as nasty as Saw's sadistic torture. Expect gruesome makeup effects and digital hauntings in an otherwise old-school chiller, complete with smoke-machine fog and cobwebs that look like they came straight from a magic shop. Even the Universal Pictures logo at the beginning of this is the black-and-white antique one, not the modern version.
If your teens are already watching and loving horror movies, Dead Silence is probably OK for them. The big question is whether horror-hardened youth will forgive a fairly predictable "trick" ending. Not to mention a ghost who's an obvious takeoff on the more interesting dream-haunting demon Freddy Krueger. Some of the scary stuff is just fleeting glimpses of Mary's ghost, reflected in a mirror or in deep shadow. Dead Silence actually gets less frightening when the filmmakers apply the fancy CGI special-effects or reveal Mary Shaw in full. It's far more ominous just to show the dummy's staring eyes or grinning face suddenly turned in a different position than the last shot.
Explore, discuss, enjoy
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?
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Teen, 15 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
i would deflinty buy this movie
really good movie
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Kid, 12 years old
December 27, 2010
AGE
crappy
this movie is scary only if your a priss or you've been watching sponge bob all your life
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Kid, 12 years old
May 20, 2011
AGE
Iffy For Preteens and Scary!
I thought this movie was pretty scary. There is no sex. Not that much violence except for people shown with tongues ripped out and a puddle of blood. Iffy for preteens and maybe up to 13.
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Teen, 15 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
THIS MOVIE WAS VER BORING
When I went to see this movie I thought it was going to be good but I slept the whole time in the theatre.Boring. Go watch another movie. Not woth the R rating.
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Adult
April 9, 2008
AGE
Why does junk like this make into theaters?
Oh, I remember...because producers are greedy and could care less about the damage they do to children. Stay away.
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Teen, 15 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
AAAAHHHAAAA! DUMMIES! :D
Ok, so I had to sneak into the theatre with my friends to see it, bt it was worth it... I was so scared, I actually had to slep with a NIGHTLIGHT on! LOL. I'll never
look at dolls/dummies the same way ever again...
Gory and very nightmarish, but it's supposed to be scary, right?
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Kid, 10 years old
August 5, 2009
AGE
SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
those frigin dolls scared me they are SOOOOOOOOO creepy.
What other families should know:
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Kid, 12 years old
January 28, 2011
AGE
Great but Freaky!
I saw it a couple of years ago... me and my guy friend liked it, though we thought it was HORRIFYINGLY CREEPY we still enjoyed it. We're kinda freaky that way... But honestly... if you don't want your child exposed to that kind of movie than don't buy/rent/borrow a movie from the same people who made the gory slasher films 'Saw'...
What other families should know:
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Kid, 11 years old
March 15, 2009
AGE
I screamed so many times!
That movie was so scarier than I thought it would have been! This one seen where an old man is looking for his wife, because he heres noises in the basement, he goes down into the basement and still heres crying but its not her, so he is on his knees holding a flashlight searching. When he finally gives up the door slammed shut really hard! He started freaking out. When he turnes around he sees Mary's hand all white and stuff and bloody, thats when his panic attack starts. Then the hand disappears. The old man gets scared, oh and by the way its really quiet too, so he turns his head to the left and sees the dead woman who rips peoples tongues out! She is smiling at him and then rips his tongue out really fast but you can still see it and the afterpart.
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| Studio: | Universal Pictures |
| Director: | James Wan |
| Cast: | Bob Gunton, Donnie Wahlberg, Ryan Kwanten |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Run time: | 90 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | March 16, 2007 |
| DVD release date: | June 26, 2007 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | horror violence and images |
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