James Wan is best known as the architect of several multi-billion dollar franchises, having co-created Saw with former collaborator Leigh Whannell, before going on to launch the highest-grossing horror property in the history of cinema via The Conjuring Universe.
Outside of his preferred genre of choice, he also steered Fast & Furious 7 to a record haul of over $1.5 billion, while Aquaman additionally saw him helm the most commercially successful DC Comics adaptation ever made. All told, the filmmaker has been on quite the run, but one of his earlier efforts has largely slipped under the radar in the wake of his subsequent success.
Wan and Whannell re-teamed for 2007’s Dead Silence, with the former directing and the latter writing the screenplay, although both took story credits. The plot follows a man who returns to his hometown following the death of his wife, to unravel the mysterious circumstances of her demise.
He soon discovers the legend of murdered ventriloquist Mary Shaw, who continues to haunt the town to this day. Dead Silence just about scraped back its $20 million budget from theaters and wound up with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 21%, so it’s not one of Wan’s best. However, spooky season is now upon us, so fans might be willing to check it out now that the movie is finally available to stream on Peacock.
Published: Oct 13, 2021 11:28 am