THIS WEEK’S FLASHBACK Friday continues the James Wan theme in recognition of his current movie, The Conjuring 2 in cinemas as we write this article.

Dead Silence would see Wan collaborate once again with Saw co-creator, Leigh Whannel and would be his second feature in the director’s chair.

There would also be the all too familiar signatures that Wan brings to the screen, the obvious one in this instance would be in the puppetry, substituting Jigsaw for Billy, but let’s not forget his strong use of light and shadows combined with the strong build up of tension to play on the minds of the viewer.

Whilst still not his strongest movie, there are some delights to have along the way as he harnesses his skills and sharpens his tools in order to bring some more than adequate scares along the way.

Starring True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten as Jamie, who at the head of the film loses his wife in a brutal attack by the afore-mentioned doll, Billy.

This leads Jamie to venture homeward bound where he unearths the grisly truth of her 101 dolls.

A must-see for horror fans and a director at the start of what would be an impressive upward trajectory into the bloody genre and putting out all the stops to make this a confident if not perfect psychological thriller.

– Paul Farrell