Everything you need to know about DEAD SILENCE …and how it relates to you and the world around you. Includes info on the actors, director, with news, reviews, and photos. Visual Review visual review by david bruce visualhollywood.com

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 SHORT SYNOPSIS Movies Contain the Essence of Being Human

DONNIE WAHLBERG (Detective Lipton) KEY ACTORS BOB GUNTON (Edward Ashen) JUDITH ROBERTS (Mary Shaw) The Cinematic Arts Have the Power to Transform

JAMES WAN (Director and Story) KEY TALENT LEIGH WHANNELL (Story and Screenplay) JULIE BERGHOFF (Production Designer) Our Artists Are Our Liberators

ARTIST HIGHLIGHT RYAN KWANTEN (Jamie Ashen) He was most recently seen in the 20th Century Fox film Flicka, opposite Tim McGraw and Alison Lohman. He recently completed production on the independent film Don’t Fade Away, opposite Mischa Barton for director Luke Kasdan. Kwanten resides in Marina Del Rey, California, and spends his free time bike riding and surfing. This multifaceted actor also competes in triathlons, and he qualified for the world championships in Sweden last August. Actors are Liberators in Masquerade

ARTIST HIGHLIGHT AMBER VALLETTA (Ella Ashen) Valletta was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Shortly thereafter, her family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Booker T. Washington High School. She got her start in the fashion industry when her mother enrolled her in modeling school at the age of 15 at the Linda Layman Agency. She has since gone on to act in several films, been on the cover of magazines and in advertisements for Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein and Versace and hosted MTV's House of Style with friend and fellow supermodel Shalom Harlow. AMBER VALLETTA (Ella Ashen) Valletta was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Shortly thereafter, her family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Booker T. Washington High School. She got her start in the fashion industry when her mother enrolled her in modeling school at the age of 15 at the Linda Layman Agency. She has since gone on to act in several films, been on the cover of magazines and in advertisements for Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein and Versace and hosted MTV's House of Style with friend and fellow supermodel Shalom Harlow. Actors help us: laugh, be happy, cry, get angry, and even think

ARTIST HIGHLIGHT JAMES WAN (Director/Story by) Saw was Wan’s first feature film as a director. The film, starring multi- awardwinning Danny Glover, Cary Elwes and Monica Potter, was invited to the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in 2004, where it became a hit with festivalgoer. Saw was picked up by Lionsgate prior to the festival and was released in October 2004, resulting in a gross domestic box office of over $55 million and a worldwide theatrical of over $100 million. Filmmakers are Revolutionaries

EXTENDED SYNOPSIS 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. 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. Stories are Transforming

EXTENDED SYNOPSIS 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. All Kids are Born Artistic What is Natural is Essential

EXTENDED SYNOPSIS 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. Stories Embody the Essence of Being Human

EXTENDED SYNOPSIS 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. Cinematic Story Telling is a Profoundly Humanizing endeavor.

EXTENDED SYNOPSIS 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. Film making is a Community Event.

LIFE CONNECTIONS Actions have consequences...first rule of life. And the second rule is this - you are the only one responsible for your own actions. --Holly Lisle, Fire In The Mist, 1992 Art is a Liberating Force Consequences are “the dead” that do return and speak If the people who make the decisions are the people who will also bear the consequences of those decisions, perhaps better decisions will result. --John Abrams, The Company We Keep:

CRITICAL OPINION Director James Won has fans derived from his famous Saw series. This film, therefore, sparked interest as it was being made. Before its release, however, there were no early screeners for critics. So… The Free Speech Discussion of the Arts is a Mark of a Free Society

FILM REVIEW FROM VISUAL HOLLYWOOD Every decision and subsequent action have corresponding consequences. It is the ancient idea of “you reap what you sow” In this film death was the action and death was the consequence. “They that live by the sword will die by the sword.” And more. What this film points to is the uncomfortable and haunting reality that consequences may be reaped by others, and even by future generations. What is Gobal Warming, for example? Why do Sunnis and Shiites continue in age old bloody disputes? What does the Iraq War mean for America’s future generation? The dead do speak and they can return violent ways. It’s called Dead Silence! Art is the Language of Liberation David Bruce

FINDING TRUTH IN THIS PARTICULAR STORY BECAUSE THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES: HOW THEN SHOULD WE LVE? “Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.” --Albert Einstein “Practicing the Golden Rule is not a sacrifice; it is an investment.” --Author Unknown “Love others as you love yourself” --Ancient Hebrew Law Society is only as free as its arts. Art is the voice of human freedom.

TRIVIA AND NEWS The film had 2 previous names before "Dead Silence" was decided on, (1) "Shhhh..." (2) "Silence" with some suggestions from the writers and directors including "The Doll" and "Mary Shaw” Dead Silence was completed in 6 months and 17 days. The puppet on the film's poster is named Billy. This is a reference to Billy the Jigsaw Puppet. In this movie Donnie Wahlberg's last name is Lipton, just like his character in Band of Brothers. Movie Making is the Convergence of Many Talents and Art Forms

WHY MOVIES ARE SO IMPORTANT "The meaning of life is the most urgent of questions" --Albert Camus (Existentialist thinker. "The meaning of life is the most urgent of questions" --Albert Camus (Existentialist thinker). In “Movies and the Meaning of Life” author Kimberly Blessing points out that movies can help us reflect on five of life’s most important questions: 1) What is reality and how can I know it? 2) How can I find my true identity? 3) What the significance of my interactions with others? 4) What’s the point of my life? 5) How ought I to live my life? The idea behind Visual Hollywood is that Movies can and must play an essential role helping us explore the meaning of our existence and our life together. No other quest is more necessary or important. Movies are powerful. Movies bring personal meaning, and can contribute to a peaceful world. Cinematic story telling can be a transforming event. Visual Hollywood takes an existential approach to life. We celebrate with human freedom. We use movies and the arts as a means of understanding the human condition and our collective relation to the world around us. Our basic quest is: 1. To know what it means to be human in the world. 2. The pursuit of human freedom. To Restrict Creativity is to Restrict the very Nature of the Creator

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