Dead Silence

After a glut of horror films that seem as if the only goal they have in mind is to recreate the blood-washed halcyon days of the Roman Coliseum, Dead Silence is a welcome relief. Not that it’s very good, because it isn’t. But it isn’t about cutting toes off or gouging eyes, so that makes it a bit of a breath of fresh air … even if it is recycled. It’s a throwback to the old-school style of horror with spooky shenanigans ensuing in an old, dark house. As such, it’s fairly well done (directed by James Wan, who with Saw arguably set off the aforementioned wave of torture horror), but it’s limited by the premise: a vengeful haunt of an old woman sets her collection of ventriloquist dolls off to whack the cast. It’s as silly as it sounds, but is redeemed with a nifty little ending.