13 Nights of Hallowe'en: Night #6 Dead Silence

While tonight’s movie is a more recent release it
is not hard to classify it as a classical kind of horror. It hearkens back to an earlier time in horror. At the same time it is a modern film. The movie starts, as some of the most interesting ones do, with a local legend. There is even a nursery rhyme associated with the legend. This is another movie that is not a remake of anything and has no immediate point of comparison. Don’t let the director’s name be a red herring, or the front of the box promotional text. James Wan is indeed the writer/director on “Saw”. Wan has two more movies beside “Saw” and tonight’s movie, “Dead Silence”. Don’t let “Saw” influence expectations for this movie; it can only lead to frustration. This movie taps into a different vein of horror.

“Dead Silence” has the best kind of examples of what moviemakers are doing right with CGI and green screens. There is a lot of negative talk about CGI in horror movies. They say it disrupts people staying engaged in the movie. Bad effects aside, they say the CGI makes them remember it’s a movie every time there is a scene that would be impossible without it. This is somehow worse than other effects. “Dead Silence” has CGI scenes that people will not notice until the bonus features tell them otherwise. Parts that seem completely normal in the movie were not fully real. Another great thing done in “Dead Silence” is how the supernatural is bound by rules, which is always fun. It is a great way to create tension and anticipation, by actually keeping the audience in on things.

Mood: creaky.
Music: How Can I Live by Ill Nino off of Freddy Vs. Jason Soundtrack.