——A review of the 2007 American horror film "Dead Silence"
American horror film "Dead Silence", directed by James Wing, written by Ray Warner, Donnie Wahlberg, Amber Valletta, Ryan Kwanten, Michael Fellman, Bob The thriller horror movie starring Gunton, Laura Regan, etc., was released in the United States in March 2007.
The story of "Dead Silence" was conceived by James and Li. Although the two of them were young, they both became popular because of a "Chainsaw".
This time, they joined forces to film "Dead Silence", and they still used the previous cooperation method to think about the story together. James was responsible for the director, and then thought about the whole story with Li, and finally Li wrote the entire script independently. These two young people who have a soft spot for horror movies originally wanted to make a horror story about ventriloquist puppets. After they communicated their initial ideas with the producer, they didn't know whether the producer really liked the story or watched it. In the "money way" of these two people, anyway, they promised to make this movie and asked them to finish the script as soon as possible.
James and Lee stayed in the small house, thinking about how to frame the horror story in flesh and blood. The two of them have only one requirement for the story, that is to scare themselves first, so they put what they think is the most terrifying plot into the script. For example, James was most afraid of waking up in the middle of the night and suddenly found someone staring at the corner. The plot was used in this script.
The duo also tried their best to differentiate the film from the Saw franchise style in the process of writing the story, and this time they decided to bring the new film back to the traditional horror genre, similar to that of their favorite Italian horror film. The style does not rely on bloody scenes to be scary, but only relies on the creation of the atmosphere of the story to create this horror film.
For the film "Dead Silence", it is actually a story about revenge and puppets, and the horror elements are all concentrated on puppets. Personally, I don't think the whole plot is particularly scary, and the ending has a 5-minute reversal meaning. Compared with other horror movies in the United States, it is far less intriguing than the ending of "Master Key", and there are no details of "Frightening Island" that need to be repeatedly experienced. But the themes and emotions expressed from the film are worth watching a second time. The following author divides several modules to introduce the film. It will involve spoilers, so the little cuties who have not seen the main film can watch the main film first.
A plot analysis.
Every small town has its own ghost story. The theme of the story generally does not leave "someone who was brutally murdered but haunted". When these children grow up, they will share this ghost story with their own children, continuing the little secrets that only belong to this town and the potential ghosts behind them in a unique form. However, in some towns, those terrifying legends are not imagined out of thin air, nor are they used to delight adults and scare children, and sometimes they all happen... just like this song in "Dead Silence" Ballad:
“Beware the stare of mary shaw
She has no children only dolls,
And if you see her in your dreams,
Be sure you never ever scream。”
Chinese meaning is:
"Beware of stares from Mary Shaw;
She has no children, only dolls;
If you see her, don't scream;
Because when you scream, Mary Shaw rips your tongue out. "
At the beginning of the film, the audience is first introduced to a word - ventriloquist. What follows is picture after picture about making a perfect puppet.
At the beginning of the main film, the male protagonist David and his girlfriend Lisa are preparing for dinner at home. Lisa tells her boyfriend who is repairing the water pipe that he wants to order takeout. When I was about to go to buy food, the doorbell rang and I received an anonymous courier. After the male protagonist took it into the house, he opened the package and found that it was a strange-looking puppet. But the two of them didn't think much about it, thinking who sent it wrong. Then the heroine laughed and told a ghost story from her childhood - that nursery rhyme. Then she put the puppet on the sofa, the puppet looked straight at the two people, and suddenly its mouth opened, the two were at a loss and didn't think much about it. Then David went out to buy food, leaving the hostess at home alone. The hostess put the puppet on the bed in the bedroom and went to boil the water, and suddenly turned around to see the puppet staring at him. The frightened girlfriend covered it with a white cloth and tried on the clothes on her own. All of a sudden the radio in the house, the clocks stopped, and the kettle that was boiling water started beeping. The girlfriend was afraid but approached the puppet to death. As she screamed, her tongue was torn off by the puppet, and the death was terrifying.
After her boyfriend returned home, he was distraught when he saw the scene, and the police also participated in the investigation of the case. According to various signs, the male protagonist became a suspect in the murder of his girlfriend. The unhappy David told the police about the horror legend of the puppet, but the police did not believe it, so David planned to solve it by himself and avenge his girlfriend. Going home and looking at the information on the puppet box, I learned that the puppet's name was "Billy" and that it was related to my hometown, so I drove home to find out.
When he got home, it was his stepmother, Ella, who opened the door to greet the male protagonist. Ella stood next to the male protagonist's father and told the male protagonist that his father had a stroke and could only live in a wheelchair. He knew the nursery rhyme when he asked the question again, but his father denied it, saying that it was only used to scare children. Ella wanted to keep the male lead but was rejected.
The male protagonist went to the cemetery to handle his girlfriend's funeral, and after a few words with the forensic doctor Henry, he went back to the hotel to rest. In the meantime, he was holding the puppet, and its terrifying figure flickered. Forensic doctor Henry was also very surprised to see the death of the male protagonist's girlfriend. After the funeral, the male protagonist saw Henry's wife nervously saying that Mary Shaw was here, and Henry came over and took her home. The male protagonist found Mary Shaw's grave in his narration. So he planned to drive the puppet and bury Mary Shaw together. The sudden turn of the puppet during the burial also startled him. Even saw the phantom of the puppet in the car window.
After finally burying the puppet, it was dug up by the policeman, thinking that the male protagonist destroyed the evidence. The two argued for a while, and the puppet was taken away by the police. The male protagonist stole the puppet back and buried it again, and saw the Henry and his wife again. Henry took the puppet and told him Mary Shaw's story, because Henry was one of the participants—
Mary Shaw, a former ventriloquist actor, spoke to a puppet she made on stage, and Henry watched her perform as a child. Just when Mary Shaw was performing, a talkative boy under the stage said that he saw her lips moving, which meant that ventriloquism was unqualified. Mary Shaw used ventriloquism to argue with the boy with his puppet, and finally stared at the boy and said, "Now who is the dummy?" The boy disappeared after that, and the villagers believed that Mary Shaw killed him. He was also murdered and had his tongue ripped off. In Mary Shaw's will, she was asked to be buried with her puppet, and she was also asked to be made into a doll herself. Henry's father was the forensic doctor in charge of Mary Shaw's burial at the time. Henry accidentally walked to the autopsy room and found her doll's body and flickering ghosts. When Mary Shaw was buried, people in the village were killed one by one, and the tongues were ripped off from the bodies, and the male protagonist's girlfriend was the closest one. In order to avenge his girlfriend, the male protagonist went to the theater where Mary Shaw was performing at that time despite the danger.
After walking around the theater for a few times, ghosts appeared in the mirror a few times, and the hero who rummaged through boxes found a book about how to make the perfect puppet. It matches the beginning of the movie.
At this time, Henry's wife chatted with the puppet, and Henry immediately took the puppet and put it in the dissection room. Then came the voice of his wife from the cellar. Henry went down to find his wife, but found Mary Shaw's ghost. He was so frightened and screamed that his tongue was also torn off by Mary Shaw.
The male protagonist who came out of the theater came home again, but this time the male living father told the truth. It turned out that the male protagonist's family forced Mary Shaw to scream and cut off her tongue. From then on Mary Shaw began to take revenge. People in their family died one by one, and the father let the male lead go far to get rid of the curse. But the death of the male protagonist's girlfriend proves that the curse cannot be shaken off. The male protagonist planned to continue the investigation, but ran into the police when he went out. The police wanted to arrest the male protagonist and go to the Public Security Bureau. At this time, the stepmother took the phone and said that someone was looking for the male protagonist. He can prove his innocence. The male protagonist, who didn't know Henry's death, went to the theater without hesitation, and the police followed.
When we arrived at the theater, we could only hear Henry's voice but no one could be seen. The policeman and the male protagonist, who had been looking for a long time, accidentally knocked off a red cloth, revealing the talkative boy who was missing at the time - but it was made Marionette. Next to her were all of Mary Shaw's puppets, and suddenly the puppets turned one by one to look at a puppet on the next chair, and Mary Shaw's voice came. Mary Shaw told the male protagonist that she wanted to quiet down all those who made her quiet at the time, and because the male protagonist's wife was pregnant with a child, she also became the target of her attack.
The police, who couldn't stand it any longer, shot the puppet, and Mary Shaw's ghost was transferred in a puppet that had one. In desperation, a fire burned all the puppets. The hero and the police quickly escaped from the theater. Halfway through the police, because they saw the ghost and screamed, they were also brutally murdered. The male protagonist who escaped from the theater and got into the car suddenly remembered that there was a puppet that had not been burnt - that was Billy. So drove to Henry's house to destroy Billy. After arriving at Henry's house, he found Henry's wife crying while holding Henry's body, and said that the male protagonist's father took the puppet. How could my father, who can't take care of himself, come to take the puppet? The male protagonist went home quickly to find out.
When I got home, I found the puppet lying on the sofa. At this time, Mary Shaw's ghost suddenly appeared outside the window. The male protagonist quickly picked up the puppet and threw it at the stove, and Mary Shaw's spirit disappeared. At this time, the male protagonist went upstairs and found a dull-looking father. After approaching, he touched his father and knocked him down. When he saw his father's back, he realized that his father had already died. A doll, always controlled by Mary Shaw, including the phone call from Henry was the voice of Mary Shaw's ventriloquism. The male protagonist had a nervous breakdown and recalled the book he found in the theater. A piece of paper said "to make a perfect doll" and the back was his stepmother's portrait. Turning back quickly, he found his stepmother behind him, and said calmly "Now who is the dummy?"
Second, the outcome analysis.
Regarding the dead ending, it is generally the ending of the theatrical version and the hidden ending that can be seen on the Internet.
To put it simply, the ending of the theatrical version is that the protagonist male protagonist discovers that his stepmother is the murderer behind Mary Shaw's possession, she killed the male protagonist's father and made him a puppet, and the protagonist also screamed in horror because he learned the truth. The taboo of screaming, the curse takes effect, and the tongue is cut off.
The hidden ending is roughly a straightforward account, that is, after the male protagonist's stepmother married into the male protagonist's house, he was treated rudely by the male protagonist's father (the male protagonist's father is a man with a certain degree of domestic violence, which is somewhat in the film). When the male protagonist went home to inquire about his father who was seriously ill—who had actually been killed—because of the strange death of his wife, when he went downstairs, he pointed to a few oil paintings and told him that his biological mother couldn’t stand his father’s death. He was forced to commit suicide because of being treated harshly, and his second wife also left the house for this reason. After they left, they were all erased from the oil painting.) So, we can know that after marrying in, he was often treated with violence, and even more so. When she was pregnant, she was slapped down the stairs by the male protagonist's father, resulting in a miscarriage. She suffered great pain both physically and mentally, so she thought of revenge. Her revenge was used by Mary Shaw's grievance, which led to everything . In the end, she killed the hero and put his body on the bed, lovingly tending to him.
The above is a brief introduction. In the following, we will discuss them separately. According to the chronological order of events, ventriloquist performer Mary Shaw is a genius, of course, only in terms of puppet making and ventriloquism performance. One of her dreams is to make a perfect puppet, and talented people often have some characteristics that are different from ordinary people. Gradually, her designs can no longer just use ordinary materials such as wood paint, and she must start thinking about using people to make dolls to try to be perfect. Just when she was performing a little boy (someone in the family) questioned her and she killed him (on the grounds that he offended herself) in an attempt to make the perfect doll, but she was retaliated by the family and killed by cutting her tongue , but as a genius perverted ventilator and doll maker, she will not die, but keep her grievance and pursuit of "art" in the town, and kill the people in the town in the name of revenge. Their tongues, the main focus of the murder is the male lead family.
Then many years passed, and many people were killed. At this time, the revenge continued to the male lead. Mary Shaw wanted to kill the male lead family. At this time, she resented because of the miscarriage and was used by Mary Shaw. Billy puppets were sent to the male protagonist's house to kill the male protagonist's girlfriend and the baby in her belly, and finally made the male protagonist doom.
3. Detailed analysis.
1. The difference between the male protagonist and the stepmother in the two endings.
I personally think that in the hidden ending of the director's cut, the male protagonist's stepmother was used to retaliate against the male protagonist's father, but she still has a little bit of her own consciousness or ideas in the end, she just got part of Mary Shaw's soul from Mary Shaw That is, ventriloquism and the ability to manipulate puppets, that is to say, this is a kind of inheritance, killing the male protagonist's father to make a puppet, digging up a puppet Billy to kill the male protagonist's girlfriend, these are all done by the male protagonist's stepmother himself, of course, based on Mary Shaw. Inspired by the soul, the relationship between the male protagonist's stepmother and Mary Shaw is similar to the relationship between master and apprentice or in martial arts novels. The film explains that Mary Shaw's materialization relies on puppets, so in the hidden ending version, the male protagonist burns the puppet Billy and all the puppets made by Mary Shaw himself (this does not include the male protagonist's stepmother's male protagonist). The doll of the main father) was destroyed, and Mary Shaw can be regarded as a part of the soul was destroyed by the male protagonist. But the part of the soul that she imparted to the male protagonist's stepmother's ability still exists and merges with the male protagonist's stepmother's own consciousness. At this time, the male protagonist's stepmother appeared, knocked out the male protagonist, and solved the mystery. Finally, the male protagonist's stepmother placed the bodies of the male protagonist's girlfriend and the male protagonist's father, and took a family photo with the male protagonist. At this time, the male protagonist's stepmother is Mary Xiao, she has 2 characteristics, both the ability to kill him when someone screams and grab his tongue, and the mother's love that the male protagonist's stepmother combines with resentment due to the miscarriage of the child (this mother's love is in his mother's love after killing the male protagonist. corpse). Therefore, the male protagonist's stepmother became another Mary Shaw, an heir who came from Mary Shaw but had her own memory. In the generally seen ending of the theatrical version, the male protagonist's stepmother is not used, because she is the perfect doll made by Mary Shaw, that is, Mary Shaw became the male protagonist's stepmother and let her marry into the male protagonist's house for revenge. In the end, when the male protagonist burned the puppet Belgium, Mary Shaw was not eliminated, she just played a little trick, because one of her most proud dolls - the male protagonist's stepmother was still there, when the male protagonist's stepmother appeared, the male protagonist was horrified Yelling, her plan succeeded. In a series of plans, he not only killed the last three generations of the male protagonist's family (the male protagonist's father, the child of the male protagonist and the male protagonist's girlfriend), but also possessed the most perfect doll - the male protagonist's stepmother. Because the puppets made of wood paint (the puppet Billy and more than 100 other puppets) are too simple and rough, the puppets made of corpses (the children of the missing male family and the father of the male protagonist) cannot last for a long time because of the decay of the corpse. Only The male protagonist's stepmother is the most perfect. It's not very clear how the male protagonist's stepmother did it in this ending. Anyway, if Mary Shaw survives, it is against science. It can be understood as Mary Shaw's genius design (in that notebook). Maybe there is a way to record), There is no difference between the male protagonist's stepmother killing the male protagonist and the puppet Billy killing the male protagonist's girlfriend, because they are both dolls. There are at least two points that can be seen. First, the male protagonist recalls the perfect doll in Mary Shaw's notebook. Behind the note is the head portrait of the male protagonist's stepmother. The photos of the dolls (male protagonist, male protagonist girlfriend, police officer, Henry, male protagonist's father and male protagonist's stepmother) can be seen that the mouths of the first 4 people have cracks, while the male protagonist's father is better, but his face is pale, while the male protagonist's father is better. The main stepmother is very beautiful, with no scars and complexion. She is indeed the most perfect doll. 2. Why did Henry not die before, but was killed suddenly later? Personally think it should be because Henry's father helped Mary Shaw (putting her corpse into a puppet) and during the performance, Henry also showed awe, but Mary Shaw was evil, thinking when Henry overturned her coffin as a child He screamed in fright, was stopped, and then stopped doing it until Henry was old, because it was an accident at that time to open the coffin, she wanted to kill Henry on a whim, but it was not a plan, and indeed Henry's father helped. She later killed Henry because she planned to use Henry's voice to lure the male protagonist to the abandoned theater. She needed Henry's voice, and another reason, probably because she wanted to punish Henry, because Henry told the male protagonist something from the past , more likely because of Henry's wife! About her, I will describe in the next article. 3. Speculations about Henry's wife Marianne . (The following part is taken from the Internet) Marianne is a very mysterious character, because in the whole film, only 2 people have lines and are safe in the end, one is Marianne, and the other is the police partner at the beginning - the policewoman. Even the speech of the priest at the funeral of the male protagonist and girlfriend was omitted as usual. It can only be said that although these two people are supporting roles, they are definitely not ordinary. Especially Marianne. The policewoman is the content of the next article, and here is Marianne first. As Henry's wife, I think she played a role in protecting Henry, and she must know something about Mary Shaw. Her subtle connection to Mary Shaw may be evident from the name. Over the years, perhaps because of her existence, Mary Shaw did not kill Henry. However, when the hero found Mary Shaw's back at the funeral of his girlfriend's girlfriend and followed, Mary Ann appeared and said a lot. She warned the hero, saying No one would survive (and in the end, everyone died except herself), and it was precisely because of her warning that Mary Shaw was annoyed and just wanted Henry's voice, so she killed Henry to punish Mary Ann talks too much. Before killing Henry, Mary Shaw also used the puppet Billy to talk to Mary Ann to blame her. Mary Ann said I didn't do anything, but Mary Shaw said you didn't do anything, but you said it! After Henry was killed, the weak Mary Ann said to her. Mary Shaw compromised, which is why the male protagonist burned the theater and then Henry's family looked for the puppet Billy. Marianne lied that the puppet Billy was taken away by the male protagonist's father and the male protagonist's father. The male protagonist's father died long ago and was made into a puppet, It is impossible to come and get the puppet Billy, it should be taken by the male protagonist's stepmother, but Marianne deceived the male protagonist and finally made him fall into the trap. It can be said that Henry's death made her fall to Mary Shaw. But why didn't Mary Shaw kill Mary Ann, because there is a certain relationship between them, whether it is blood relationship can't be speculated, it can only be said that their relationship is extraordinary, and Mary Ann knows a lot about Mary Shaw, and later because Mary Shaw Ann became crazy, she forgot, but Mary Shaw still remembered, so Mary Ann could only warn the male protagonist but couldn't say more information, and Mary Shaw had a conversation with her before she went crazy. If there is "Dead Silence 2", it is estimated that the mystery before Marianne is not crazy will be revealed. 4. Details about the police The policewoman first. The policewoman is a small character, only said a few words, we can only know that she is very capable and knows the policeman very well, so if there is a sequel, the policewoman's status will definitely be higher than this one, maybe she goes to investigate the partner Die, go to the male protagonist's hometown is the theme of 2. In the plot of 1, she doesn't play a big role, but she has lines and positives. You must know that except for the mysterious Marianne, no one has survived with lines. Therefore, either the actress of the policewoman is played by the director, screenwriter, family and friends, or she will have an important role in the sequel. Of course, whether "Dead Silence 2" will appear in the end depends on whether the investors give money, and whether they give money or not depends on the box office and market response of 1 (of course, the box office of Dead Silence is not bad). There are various other factors, but at least I think the sequel in the writer's mind exists and the policewoman has a place. As for the male policeman, he has no doubts about his performance in the plot. It is the investigation resistance of the male protagonist at the beginning, which makes the audience face unknown dangers before the male protagonist, and worry about the suspicion and harassment of the ignorant police later. In the development of the plot, he also There is no suspense to become the male protagonist's assistant. The only thing that confuses me is his electric shaver, it appears repeatedly in the show and there are many scenes of the male cop shaving, and finally when he dies, there is a scene where the razor slips and turns on the vibration, don't know. In addition to its simple expressive meaning, whether the director uses it to imply anything.
In general, although Dead Silence is not as good as "The Chainsaw", "Silent Hill" and other movies, maybe because they are thrillers, and Dead Silence has a little horror element, and the genre is different. But dead silence is not without merit, after all, as the work of James Wan, the talented director of the chainsaw series, his style is still reflected in dead silence. In addition: Regarding whether Henry's wife died, it can actually be seen in two points: 1. Old Henry heard his wife and the puppet talking and was very afraid that the puppet would kill his wife, so he brought the puppet into the operating room, but he heard the puppet under the foundation. He heard his wife's voice, which is very doubtful. Isn't his wife outside? How to get in. It can be boldly guessed that Mary Shaw has killed her and captured his voice to attract Henry to go. 2. Henry's wife said that the puppet Billy was taken by the protagonist's father. This is obviously impossible, because his father's spine is gone, and it is still a problem whether he can walk. The reason why he said that his father took it is because Because this can lead the protagonist to his hometown. After all, his stepmother can quickly guess the problem with the IQ of the protagonist. In addition, there is probably no one alive in this town.
The above are some personal opinions on the movie "Dead Silence". Friends who have seen it are welcome to discuss and exchange.
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