Sneak Peek: 'Dead Silence'

The horror genre is a funny thing, and no, I don't mean that literally. It's just that there's no other film milieu, except maybe romances, that so precariously dances between ridiculousness and legitimacy. Directors want to go with what works, but also desperately try to avoid the awful clichés that can define the genre. Dead Silence is stuck somewhere in the middle as it demonstrates some interesting tweaks to old formulas but ultimately is just mediocre.

Dead Silence is brought to you by the makers of the Saw series. At the least, the Saw series exhibited some refreshing, albeit gruesome, twists on the horror genre, and one can see similar influences at work in Dead Silence. The scoop is this: There's a creepy, small town that suffered the murder of a child. The suspected killer was the typical old maid who was a ventriloquist by trade. Well, a mob gets together and does what it does best, killing her and, naturally, burying her dolls with her to keep her company in hell. Invariably, people start dying, and the dolls might be involved.

The main actor, some scrub named Ryan Kwanten, plays a guy whose wife suddenly dies. He feels that her eerie death was connected to Mary Shaw, the doll lady. More people start dying, and things start getting out of control. Donnie Wahlberg plays a detective out to crack the case before more victims arise.

Let's look for the good in Dead Silence. Maybe it is original if you ignore the fact that it's akin to a version of Chuckie that takes itself seriously. Here's my advice: If you're of legal age, drink a lot and proceed to check it out. You may end up enjoying an accidental comedy.