Whether its snakes, spiders, heights, or water – everyone has something that they are afraid of. One of my biggest frights is one I’ve had with me since childhood, and one that reigns near the top of all irrational fears. Referred to with multiple scientific names; Automatonophobia, pupaphobia, and pediophobia. In layman’s terms, the fear of dummies, puppets, and dolls (oh my). A viewing of “Child’s Play” as a kid didn’t help. Nor did the ridiculously creepy lot of porcelain dolls my mother collected (which still send shivers up my spine when I visit). Dolls and the like have always made for great horror fodder, from classic episodes of “The Twilight Zone” and rolling through countless movies.
Often, the doll or puppet itself is far scarier than the movie turns out to be. With a subtle horror, piercing eyes, and lifeless stares, dolls are just plain frightening.
In 2007, James Wan and Leigh Wannell (creators of “Saw”) teamed up for the horror movie “Dead Silence.” One watch of the trailer filled my spine with tingles; a horror movie focused on a ventriloquist’s dummies. It was the perfect makings for a perfect thriller.
If I were rating “Dead Silence” as a regular movie, I would flunk it outright. The acting is borderline pitiful. The lead in the story is Ryan Kwanten who plays Jamie. As the movie opens, Jamie receives a mysterious package from an unknown sender that contains a sinister looking dummy named Billy. Like any horror movie, the main characters are senseless fools, and rather than discard the puppet they bring it into the house where it promptly slaughters Jamie’s wife.
Donnie Wahlberg plays an unbelievable police detective who follows Jamie. Apparently he doesn’t believe the story that Billy killed the wife. Jamie embarks on a trip to find the source of the curse, returning to the small town where he grew up, of course named Ravens Fair. Jamie pieces together a mystery that involves his wheelchair bound father (Bob Gunton) and his beautiful young wife (Amber Valletta).
Separating itself from gore filled slasher films, “Dead Silence” succeeds in its creepiness by using good old fashioned suspense. When the subject matter is a lifeless dummy once owned by a ventriloquist who was crucified at the hands of the entire town, its pretty easy to build tension. Billy himself is a thing of true horror. I dare you to sit him next to you on the couch and watch TV for the night. The opening sequence when Billy arrives is a token of classic fright.
The plot is a decent one, and more or less succeeds in tying together the whole story. Unfortunately, the dolls eventually take a back seat to the primary haunt, but the scares are still there, and scattered from start to finish. I would have liked to have seen more from the ventriloquists collection of grisly “friends.” There is a scene near the end in which they are displayed, and one of the more terrifying images I have watched in a movie. But rather than have more meaning to the film, they seem to be just an afterthought with a limited time on screen.
As I said earlier, if “Dead Silence” was any other film, it would be awful. But as a horror movie for Halloween, it does what it has to do. If you have a fear of dolls, I urge you to check it out. Its not something that’s going to stay with you forever, but its a fun horror watch.
by – Matt Christopher
