FILM · 2007 · CANADA
Dead Silence
15 archived facts 1 topic 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (15)
- #001
At around the 1 hour 10 minute mark, in the storage area containing all 101 dolls, you can see the Jigsaw puppet from the Saw films sitting on the floor and Edgar Bergen's puppet Charlie McCarthy on one of the shelves. The doll Detective Lipton throws over his shoulder in this scene is a replica of ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson's puppet Danny O'Day.
- #002
Leigh Whannell was so unhappy with the finished product due to studio interference that he decided to write all his future screenplays on spec, rather than pitching an idea to a studio and then being paid to write the script, as happened with this film.
- #003
There are two different versions of the "Mary Shaw" poem. In the film, the poem goes: "Beware the stare of Mary Shaw. She had no children, only dolls. And if you see her in your dreams, be sure you never, ever scream." In the trailer, it read: "Beware the stare of Mary Shaw. She had no children, only dolls. And if you see her scream, she'll rip your tongue out at the seam."
- #004
Edward Ashen's overall appearance signals that he has been dead all along and is being used as a human puppet. He is so pale that he never blinks, and whenever he speaks, Ella's hand is always behind him.
- #005
"Billy" is not only the name of one of the puppets in this film, but also the name of the puppet used by the Jigsaw killer in the Saw films created by Leigh Whannell and James Wan.
- #006
The film was turned into a haunted house at Universal's "Halloween Horror Nights" in Florida in 2007.
- #007
Although the flashback scene implies otherwise, Billy the Puppet was never alive in the film. Today, only Mary Shaw's vengeful spirit gives him life. According to director James Wan, Mary Shaw is an experienced ventriloquist who has mastered her craft, which is why on the theater stage she could switch so well between her normal voice and Billy's voice that they seemed to be speaking almost simultaneously.
- #008
Since every main character dies in this film, the only survivor is the supporting character Marion Walker, who never encounters Mary Shaw. However, she comes close to seeing her when she finds Henry's body, killed by Mary Shaw.
- #009
Due to the film's failure at the box office, tentative plans for a sequel were abandoned.
- #010
Amber Valletta plays a vengeful spirit for the second time. The first was in What Lies Beneath.
- #011
The film is dedicated to producer Gregg Hoffman. He died 2 years before the film's theatrical release.
- #012
Not counting Mary Shaw's earlier victims, the number of bodies seen in the film is six: Jamie Ashen, Det. Lipton, Henry Walker, Edward Ashen, Michael Ashen and Lisa Ashen. Counting Lisa's unborn baby and Mary Shaw brings it to eight. Including the guard Bos and Ella Ashen makes ten (the bodies are only shown in a deleted scene).
- #013
The name of Donnie Wahlberg's character (Detective Lipton) shares the same surname as his character in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) (2nd Lieutenant Lipton).
- #014
This is the second Whannell and Wan film to star Donnie Wahlberg. The other is Saw II.
- #015
Other films about disturbed ventriloquists include The Great Gabbo (1929); the Twilight Zone (1959) episode The Dummy (1962) and its Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) counterpart, The Glass Eye (1957); the low-budget British production Devil Doll (1964); and the ambitious but overwrought Magic (1978). For many people, however, the outstanding example is the 1945 British anthology film Dead of Night (1945), in which Michael Redgrave gives an unforgettable performance as the tormented ventriloquist Maxwell Frere and as the puppet Hugo Fitch, who will haunt your nightmares.
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