So far, James Wan & Leigh Whannell’s INSIDIOUS has pulled in close to $27 million domestically, and after the movie’s $13 million opening weekend, it held strong during this past weekend at the box office, earning another $9 million and coming in at number five. That’s already better than Wan & Whannell’s previous collaboration, DEAD SILENCE, a film that suffered from studio interference and a troubled production. While DEAD SILENCE was much maligned during its initial release, the film does have its fans. Here’s Chris Haberman’s review of that 2007 picture.

Ventriloquists and their dummies usually only frighten two types of people: those who believe that the art can evoke dangerous variations of schizophrenia within the artist, and those who worry about inanimate yet lifelike objects supernaturally coming to dangerous life to harm the living. But what of those who lie awake in bed at night, fretting over the notion that somewhere, the vengeful ghost of a humiliated ventriloquist may be sending out her haunted dummies to help her rip out the tongues of those who once dwelled in her hometown? Those are the poor souls who will rent or purchase DEAD SILENCE in the hopes of finally confronting their lifelong obsession once and for all, in order to lead a fruitful and normal life in which the only real fears permeating their dreams are those of illness and financial instability. What an oddly soothing disappointment it will be when they realize their worst nightmare ain’t all that scary, after all.

Written and directed by SAW’s Leigh Whannell and James Wan respectively, DEAD SILENCE has many hallmarks of the first in that trilogy. The music is serious, hip and big, thanks to the return of composer Charlie Clouser. The visuals are highly stylized, this time offering cold blues and blood reds instead of SAW’s nauseous greens and infectious rust. A multilayered story is also in place, which eventually climaxes with a sharp cut to black for the end credits, immediately after a neck-breaking series of flashbacks which help us cope with a devastating final-reel plot twist. Yet in spite of the familiarities of the young duo who brought the original and reckless SAW to lucrative life, DEAD SILENCE damnably evidences the big-studio influence that Whannell himself admitted to feeling clutching his shoulder while writing the script.

So who is to blame for the film’s failure to become a potential staple of Halloween-season viewing? Whannell and Wan have repeatedly confessed that they wanted to recreate the nostalgic chills of Hammer films, and DEAD SILENCE’s inclusion of dusty lanterns, crazy cobwebs, rolling fog and desecrated buildings certainly proves that they did their aesthetic homework. But who caused the main character to be such a dullard? Was it a conscious decision by Whannell, or was there a mandate by some Universal honcho insisting that Jamie (Ryan Kwanten), the film’s hero, be so numb as to:

1.) Not weep more than a single tear after discovering the brutalized corpse of his adoring wife

2.) Not shriek a combatant remark at the wiseass cop who insists that he was responsible for his wife’s murder

3.) Not allow his eyes to open wide enough to see the whites of them, no matter what kind of natural or supernatural insanity is taking place before him?

If the protagonist of a scary movie ain’t scared, neither are we. Someone forgot to put that in the creative brief here. As far as the DVD goes, someone also forgot to include an audio commentary—by far this disc’s biggest disappointment.

On the upside, viewers are treated to a gorgeous widescreen transfer and sparkling 5.1 soundtrack. To make up for the missing talk track, there is a silly alternate opening that feels too rushed, an alternate ending that could’ve really been a ka-pow! moment if it weren’t so perplexing, three justifiably deleted scenes, a music video from rock band Aiden and a few behind-the-scenes documentaries.

“The Making of DEAD SILENCE” is only 15 minutes or so, but it’s enough to upset anyone who feels the movie could’ve packed a harder punch. The set seems to buzz with creative integrity and energy, as everybody on board gushes about their ambitions to make a great-looking, old-fashioned ghost story. It’s almost romantic to see the crew’s encouragement and support of Wan, whose enthusiasm for making films shines through so much that your fist might curl up again thinking about that missing commentary.

“The Secrets of Mary Shaw” offers a brief look at actress Judith Roberts’ makeup process and approach to her character. More set design tricks are revealed, providing more proof positive that everyone involved was having a good time taking their work seriously. “The Evolution of a Visual FX” may have a grammatically incorrect title, but it is sorta fun in a ’90s kinda way to see a CGI scene go from the rough stages on a computer to the finished product seen on screen.

This last feature actually haunted me a bit (no pun intended). Clouser’s music for the film’s opening credits accompanies our CGI journey, and I had to hit the Rewind button several times to hear one fantastically eerie moment. The piece moves from a “Tubular Bells” kind of twinkle into a sickening decline of strings, and it’s enough to raise hairs on all sorts of body parts—until action-flick percussion jumps in to spice things up. It was then that I realized what bummed me out the most about the flick in general: Big FX and energetic scores can really do a number on a film that’s envisioned, promoted and anticipated to be quiet, creepy and personal.

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