Movie Review: Dead Silence

Dead Silence (2007) 

Directed by James Wan

Written by Leigh Whannell

Starring Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Bob Gunton

Release Date March 16th, 2007 

Published March 15th, 2007 

James Wan and Leigh Whannell shot to fame as the team behind the Saw movies. Wan directed and Whannell wrote the script for the original Saw and their originality and clever twists kept audiences reeling all the way to over 100 million dollars worldwide. Since then James Wan has consulted as producer on Saw 2 & 3 while Whanell wrote the screenplays and kept their vision and guidance on the films intact.

Now, Wan and Whannell are out with their first post-Jigsaw horror film, a creepy puppet flick called Dead Silence. And thankfully, once again, Wan and Whannell hit another home run. Dead Silence is skin crawlingly creepy, ironic and smart with great twists and inventive gore.

There was a woman named Mary Shaw who, in 1941, in the town of Ravens Fair, was murdered. Her tongue was ripped out, an ironic means of death as Shaw was a ventriloquist. Unfortunately, for her killers, Mary Shaw did not stay dead. Year after year the people of Ravens Fair have turned up dead in a similar fashion to Mary Shaw.

Ryan Kwanten plays Jamie, a newlywed whose family was born and bred and Ravens Fair; though he himself left years ago. One night as he and his wife Lisa (Lauren Regan) are pondering take out food, a package arrives and inside is a reminder of the legend of Mary Shaw. Inside is Billy, a creepy looking ventriloquists dummy with frighteningly realistic eyes and an air of menace that is inexplicable.

When Jamie runs out to get food he returns to a true horror scene, the doll is on his bedroom floor and his wife is in bed dead, her tongue ripped out. Taken in by the cops, Jamie tells detective Jim Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) all about the legend of Mary Shaw and why he must go to Ravens Fair to find whoever killed his wife. The detective is convinced that Jamie is the killer but without evidence all he can do is tail Jamie to Ravens Fair and hope he gives himself away.

To reveal much more about the plot of Dead Silence would be to reveal to much. The twists and turns of this plot are not quite as intricate as director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell's debut picture Saw, but as far as scares go, Dead Silence is everything you would hope for from the guys who invented Jigsaw. Creepy, gory, atmospheric, Dead Silence is an honest to goodness scary movie that you will take home with you in your nightmares.

So what makes Dead Silence more creepy and clever than the dozens of horror films that have preceded it in this decade? It comes directly from the talents of director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell. The scenarios they set in motion combine logical storytelling with strong suspense filmmaking and keep us in the audience in a constant state of alert, sitting on the edge of our seat, unable to predict what is going to happen next.

Wan and Whannell never retreat to the typical horror cliches to achieve their scares. There are no unnecessary shock cuts, no red herrings and no abuse of bombastic musical scoring to tell audiences when to be scared. Where so many modern horror films are utterly predictable, the Saw pictures, all written by Whannell with producer credits for Wan on Saw 2 and 3, and now Dead Silence avoid predictibility by employing great staging and scene setting. The audience is so busy covering their eyes in anticipation of the next scare, they simply don't have time tp predict what comes next.

Dead Silence isn't completely unpredictable, near the end; the film falls victim to Roger Ebert's legendary law of economy of characters. That law states that there are no extraneous characters and Dead Silence has one character that you have no doubt will be important later; whose plot isn't wrapped up when the rest of the movie seems to be. This oversight by Wan and Whannell is forgiven because the ending delivers big time on the fate of this extraneous character.

Dead Silence is a visceral horror experience with real scares and edge of your seat thrills. James Wan and Leigh Whannell prove once again why they are the pre-eminant artists of this genre. Combining the talents of Wes Craven and Clive Barker with a dash of Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling, Wan and Whannell bridge the gap between gory, blood-soaked horror and intellectual, atmospheric horror.

And, of course, they have creepy puppets. What more could you ask of a horror movie.

Movie Review: Annapolis

Annapolis (2006)

Directed by Justin Lin

Written by Dave Collard 

Starring James Franco, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese 

Release Date January 27th, 2006

Published January 27th, 2006 

Annapolis is a real anomaly as a film. On the surface it's the story of a lower class kid fighting his way into the toughest military academy in the country. However, on the way to being a coming of age story the film lapsed into a boxing movie? Huh? James Franco stars in Annapolis as Jake Huard a wrong side of the tracks kid working hard not to end up like his miserable father working forever in the Baltimore shipyards. Jake's dream is to get into the the Annapolis naval academy, literally across the tracks from where Jake is now.

After pestering a United States Senator for months on end Jake gets his shot at Annapolis but finds that his dream is not so easily achieved. On the one hand Jake meets Ali (Jordana Brewster) a superior officer who takes an immediate shine to him. On the other hand he runs smack dab into the toughest drill instructor since Louis Gossett Jr. in Lt. Cole (Tyrese Gibson) who hates Jake on sight. Cole picks on Jake from day one and when Jake shows an interest in the Academy boxing program Cole throws down the gauntlet, go one on one with the Lt. and maybe, just maybe, Jake will have a shot to survive Annapolis.

What! Where does boxing have anything to do with military service. What does boxing have to do with anything in Annapolis. Director Justin Lin and writer David Collard shift gears from coming of age story to rote sports movie for seemingly no reason. Well there may have been a reason, as indecipherable as it may seem. I think that Lin and Collard quickly realized that the coming of age stuff wasn't working. The romance between James Franco and Jordana Brewster was lifeless and limp leaving only the boxing scenes with any real juice, all provided by the fiery presence of Tyrese Gibson who deserves a far better film.

Yes, the film does get some steam from the boxing scenes thanks Franco's training sessions with the surprisingly effective Donny Wahlberg playing his mentor and trainer. Franco and Gibson have good chemistry in and out of the ring as well. What makes Annapolis too ridiculous for words are the faux drama of the coming of age portions of the film, Franco versus his downtrodden daddy plays like bad after school special stuff as Franco whines and moans and daddy says he's never gonna amount to anything, yada yada yada. These scenes are even more tedious than they sound.

Director Justin Lin has been in a tailspin since his exceptional debut feature Better Luck Tomorrow. While I must admit that he did more than competent work on Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, there is no arguing that films artistic merits or lack thereof. Annapolis is inexorable. A shiftless, rhythm less tone free snoozer of sports clichés and coming of age hokum. One of the worst films of 2006.

Movie Review: Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatcher (2003) 

Directed by Lawrence Kasden

Written by William Goldman 

Starring Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Donnie Wahlberg

Release Date March 21st, 2003

Published March 20th, 2003 

For once Stephen King is publicly saying he likes a movie made from one of his books. Always his work’s harshest critic, King claims to never have been fully satisfied with any screen adaptation. However, the newest King adaptation, Dreamcatcher, has earned his seal of approval. That is likely because it is the most too-the-word adaptation of any of King's work. Dreamcatcher seems to go out of it's way to be faithful to King's vision, some might say that’s a good thing, some like myself disagree.

In Dreamcatcher we meet four guys, friends since childhood, who share the unique ability to communicate telepathically and read people’s minds. This ability stems from a childhood incident when they saved a retarded boy nicknamed Duddits from a group of bullies. Now adults, the four friends, Henry (Thomas Jane), Jonesy (Daniel Lewis), Beaver (Jason Lee) and Pete (Timothy Olyphant) planning a trip to a shared cabin in the woods. The trip is called off when Jonesy is nearly killed in a sick looking car accident.

Cut to six months later and the friends finally make it to the cabin. Jonesy, having survived the accident, seems normal but tells his friends that the accident was caused by a vision of their childhood friend Duddits. He doesn't blame Duddits for the accident but cannot explain the strange vision and especially how he survived the horrific accident.

This setup is very intriguing with good chemistry among the four actors and the character development and the use of the telepathy is very engaging. It entices the audience into what one hopes is an examination of these characters and theie abilities. Unfortunately, this is where Dreamcatcher flies off the rails and turns into yet another sci-fi/ horror schlockfest.

It is at this point that we meet Morgan Freeman and his insane General Kurtz. Kurtz is tracking the crash of an alien ship that contains aliens intent on spreading a virus that could wipe out humanity. As Kurtz searches for the ship, our four friends are witnesses to some freaky stuff. While Henry and Pete go on a beer run, Jonesy and Beaver take in a hunter who was lost in the woods. The hunter is very ill, as the number of loud farts coming out of him attest. It's not long before Jonesy and Beaver find out what's wrong with the guy, in a scene that makes John Hurt's ET indigestion in Alien look tame.

Now with Morgan Freeman in the film it would seem impervious to being bad, but oh how wrong you are. In fact, it is Freeman who provides many of the unintentionally funny moments of the film. Woefully miscast as a crazy man, Freeman should be playing the good guy role that went to Tom Sizemore. After all, who could possibly play crazy opposite Tom Sizemore? It’s worth noting that naming Freeman's General Kurtz is a cute little allusion to Apocolypse Now.

I mentioned just how faithful Dreamcatcher is to it's source material and though I haven't read it, I'm sure it is. What so many people don't realize about Stephen King's writing is, is how blatantly uncommercial it is. Oh sure it sells millions of copies, but that doesn't tell you how many people bought the book and were unable to make it all the way through it. This is the problem in faithfully adapting a King novel because most of his novels are far more gruesome than anyone would ever want to film.

Dreamcatcher, in being faithful to the original, took a risk that the disgusting elements of the writing and the outrageous plot twists would cause audiences to turn away or even walk out. Props for taking the risk, however it failed miserably.

Apparently Dreamcatcher isn't one of King's best because if this is a faithful adaptation it's an absolute mess. From ridiculous looking rejects from the Alien movies, to the cringe inducing dialogue, Dreamcatcher is at times a painful moviegoing experience. Schlocky sci-fi/horror on par with Resident Evil and Jason Goes to Space, or whatever the hell they called that Friday the 13th dud.

It's a real shame because the opening 35-40 minutes are pretty good and Director Lawrence Kasdan does a good job of building suspense throughout the beginning of the film. Why he drifted into horror movie cliches and sci-fi nastiness at a certain point in the film is maddening. It's a shame Kasdan decided to remain faithful to King when a director of his skill could have taken the strong start and taken the story in a more interesting direction.