Dead Silence

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Posted By: Kirk Siddals - 01/07/2007 13:40:43

 

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Beware the stare of Mary Shaw.
She had no children, only dolls.
And if you see her, do not scream.
Or she’ll rip your tongue out at the seam.

—1940s Children’s Rhyme from Ravens Fair

From the writer and director of the international phenomenon Saw comes an experience on the razor’s edge of fear.  Spinning a haunted tale of supposedly long-dead ancestors and age-old grudges, director JAMES WAN and writer LEIGH WHANNELL take their trademark knack for scaring the hell out of their fans and bring it to the horror Dead Silence. 

Every town has its own ghost story—a local folktale that’s whispered around campfires or an incantation chanted by nervous kids at a sleepover that can summon the victim of a brutal murder.  And when those kids get old enough, they share the tale with the next generation, passing along the legacy of terror and keeping alive that town’s own myth of massacre and the ghosts it leaves behind.  Except, in some towns, those scary stories aren’t just imaginative tales told to amuse adults and terrify children.  Sometimes, they’re real.

In Ravens Fair, the story is about Mary Shaw, a ventriloquist who went mad in the 1940s.  Accused of the kidnapping and murder of a young boy who labeled her a fraud, she was hunted down by angry townspeople who—in the ultimate act of revenge—cut out her tongue and killed her.  They buried her along with her “children,” a handmade collection of vaudeville dolls, and assumed they had silenced her forever.

Since that time, Ravens Fair has been plagued by mysterious deaths.  The ghastly dolls from Mary Shaw’s collection have gone missing from the grave and reappeared over the decades in the most unlikely of places.  In the still of night—wherever her children are glimpsed—families are found gruesomely murdered…with their tongues torn out at the seam.

Far from the pall of their cursed hometown, newlyweds Jamie (RYAN KWANTEN, television’s Summerland) and Lisa Ashen (LAURA REGAN, television’s Saving Jessica Lynch) thought they had established a fresh start.  But when his wife is grotesquely killed in their apartment, Jamie cautiously returns to Ravens Fair for the funeral, intent on unraveling the mystery of Lisa’s untimely death. 

Once reunited with his ill father, Edward (BOB GUNTON, The Perfect Storm), and his father’s new young bride, Ella (AMBER VALLETTA, Premonition), Jamie must dig into the town’s bloody past to find out who killed his wife and why.  All the while, he is doggedly pursued by a detective (DONNIE WAHLBERG, Saw III) who doesn’t believe a word of Jamie’s alibi.  As he uncovers the legend of Mary Shaw, the town’s wayward son will unlock the story of her curse and the truth behind the threat from a rhyme in his childhood: if you see Mary Shaw and scream, she’ll take your tongue.  And the last thing you will hear before you die…is your own voice speaking back to you.

The behind-the-scenes team on the horror film includes cinematographer JOHN R. LEONETTI (The Scorpion King), production designer JULIE BERGHOFF (Five Fingers), costume designer DENISE CRONENBERG (Dawn of the Dead) and editor MICHAEL N. KNUE (The Ring Two).  Music is provided by CHARLIE CLOUSER (Saw franchise).

Dead Silence is from a story by Wan &Whannell.  It is produced by GREGG HOFFMAN, OREN KOULES and MARK BURG, with PETER OILLATAGUERRE serving as executive producer.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Waking Evil:
Wan and Whannell Tell Ghost Stories

During the editing process for their groundbreaking horror film Saw, James Wan and his writing partner, Leigh Whannell, approached producer Gregg Hoffman with an idea that would become their next experiment in terror.   They proceeded to tell the filmmaker an eerie story about the ghost of a ventriloquist who rips people’s tongues out from their mouths and steals their voices forever.  Intensely bothered by the pitch, Hoffman became curious to bring this haunting tale to the screen.

After their experience creating and filming the surprise mega-hit Saw, Wan and Whannell hoped to try something different and return to a more traditional form of horror storytelling.  “Leigh and I wanted to make an old-fashioned ghost story…one that played with the theme of ventriloquism,” explains Wan.  “People are so used to contemporary horror films that we wanted to give the audience something unexpected.”

The story of the ghost of a murdered vaudeville-era performer who wreaks vengeance on the townspeople who rejected (and dispatched of) her struck a chord with Hoffman and his partners, Mark Burg and Oren Koules.  Not only were they impressed with the original tale, they loved the many twists and turns of Dead Silence, enjoying that nothing in the world of Ravens Fair was what it appeared to be.

The response of their producers was exactly the reaction for which Wan and Whannell had hoped.  “We felt that the theme of ventriloquism hadn’t been very explored because people aren’t familiar with it,” notes the director.  “Other than some films of the 1940s, not many movies in the genre have touched on this subject matter.  We felt that this was a new way to create tension and fear.”

Wan continues, “There is something so primal and creepy about ventriloquist dolls.  A great ventriloquist could instill so much life into the doll, that when the doll is left alone you’d expect it to still be alive.  That’s what makes it scary!”

The ensuing critical and commercial success of the Saw franchise made it easier for Wan, Whannell and the producers to book appointments at the studios.  The pitching process ended after Universal Pictures responded to Wan’s directorial vision on Saw and bought the idea for Dead Silence. 

Executive producer Peter Oillataguerre was there for the pitch.  “The story caught me immediately,” he relates.  “And more so when we met with James.  He had a very clear vision of what he wanted to present.  Instead of following the current format of horror films, he wanted to buck the trend and go back to an old-school classic horror.”

With the project finding its home at Universal, Whannell and Wan spent the next nine months fleshing out the story of the denizens of Ravens Fair.  Their aim was to write a script that was macabre and creepy.  “We wanted to make a film we love…similar to those from the ’50s and ’60s, like the British Hammer and the Italian horror films made by Mario Brava,” says Wan.  “These are films that don’t rely on blood and guts but are more about an atmosphere dripping with dread—like a creepy episode of The Twilight Zone.” Adds producer Oren Koules, “So many of the recent horror movies are effects-driven.  James didn’t want a slasher movie with only blood popping out of some amazing effects.  He wanted to achieve a creepy feel throughout the film.”

The two-man team believes that if something scares them, chances are that others will also find it frightening.  According to Wan, “Leigh and I try to scare ourselves first.  One of the things that I’m terrified of is waking up in the middle of the night, looking around my room and seeing someone in the corner watching me sleep.  Little elements like that creep me out, so I put them in the films I make.” 

During the concept and writing stages, Wan and Whannell’s collaborative process relied on their individual strengths.  Shares Wan of their working style: “Leigh and I come up with ideas together.  Our work becomes a story, and I leave him to write the screenplay.  The actual putting pen to paper is all Leigh.  He gets into the characters.  What I add is a directing point of view.”

Producer Koules summarizes their unique partnership: “James and Leigh wanted to make a very creepy ghost story.  They didn’t want to make some Friday night popcorn movie that the audience forgets by Saturday afternoon.  They want to make a movie that people remember.”

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