If you’re from my generation and anything like me, your favorite Goosebumps tale is “Night of the Living Dummy.” When your parents would take you to the fair, you would always try to win the giant Chucky doll. The names Jester, Blade and Tunneler are probably kept close to your heart. Dolls have always evoked a strange fear in us as children but even more so as adults. Their eyes always reflect an innocent, yet, judgmental and sinister glare that can chill us to our core. Director and “Splat-Pack” member James Wan (creator of the “Saw” franchise) and writer Leigh Whannell (writer and actor of the “Saw” franchise) apparently understand this better than most. Their latest horror venture, “Dead Silence”, is filled with enough creepy puppets and ventriloquist dolls to get Dolly Dearest moist. But this movie isn’t always a perfect act. Unfortunately, once in a while, you can see its lips moving.

The film’s story revolves around a small town called Raven’s Fair and the late Mary Shaw, a ventriloquist who has been said to haunt the town since her brutal murder. Jamie Ashen and his wife Ella, have since moved away and have started a life free from folklore and lives plagued by fear. When a package arrives at the couple’s apartment, they are surprised to find a ventriloquist doll inside. Though it reminds them of the legend they had heard as children, they think nothing of it. But soon, Ella is viciously murdered in their apartment and Jamie is forced to return to Raven’s Fair to confront his past and sever his connection with 70-year-old ghost story. There he finds his father, now crippled, in the care of his new and beautiful young wife. Jamie doesn’t take kindly to his father or his new stepmother and focuses all of his attention on solving Ella’s murder. Also hindering his investigation is the snooty Detective Jim Lipton (Saw II’s Donnie Wahlberg), who is under the impression that Jamie murdered his wife. But soon the town is plagued by death and dolls as Mary Shaw’s revenge begins to manifest itself once more.

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of “Saw”. The only one I thoroughly enjoyed was “Saw III”, because it had the least amount of plot holes and a convincing storyline. So it’s safe to say I was bit nervous about “Dead Silence”, a film that (from the previews) looked to be another “Darkness Falls” or “Boogeyman”. Instead, I sat back and found myself thoroughly entertained and even spooked a few times. You could say it made my wooden jaw drop wide open (Sorry, I had to).

The cinematography is gorgeous and along with the color scheme of the film, creates a pale but historical world, similar to “Batman’s” Gotham City. Characters look almost as bleak as the dolls and grey hues slather the woods, lakes and houses, shrouding a thick mist over a town plagued by mystery. The dolls themselves are something to behold. If you’re terrified by dolls, then you’ll probably want to sit this one out. There are enough doll eyes and heads turning on their own to give you a coronary if you can’t take that sort of thing. The now infamous “clown scene” (which had the theater crooning loudly) is a gorgeous sight to behold in all of its Barnum & Bailey creepiness.

The acting for the most part is respectable, but it’s Wahlberg who gives a surprising performance. Twice he had me laughing aloud with lines like “If you say ‘I told you so’…I’ll shoot you,” during a tense and eerie scene where he’s proven wrong by Jamie.

The film’s main flaw is its over-thinking. When the final plot twist is delivered, a series of flashbacks (a la “Saw”) is shown to help the more simpler-minded understand what’s going on. Though the final twist seems like it’s falling into M. Night Shyamalan territory, it really isn’t. It’s only in the film’s lack of story that makes this twist feel rushed and forced on the audience. Had there been a little more time for some character development and back-story, this twist would actually be quite creative for a modern horror flick. But for those fans of “Saw” who thought its ending was genius, then “Dead Silence’s” ending will give them an aneurism.

All in all, “Dead Silence” is a nice throwback horror film that proves that director Wan refuses to be pigeonholed in the shock-and-torture genre. After seeing how stylish this film was and how well he handled a different type of horror/thriller, I’m very eager to see his Kevin Bacon revenge-thriller, “Death Sentence”. Though “Dead Silence” may lack in fully developed story and characters, it makes up for it in atmosphere and creepiness and will probably go down as a modern cult classic.

The Hidden Message: You can’t ditch your roots, baby. Those with a keen eye will be able to spot the famous “Billy” doll from “Saw” hiding in the movie.