After his wife meets a grisly end, Jamie Ashen returns to his haunted hometown of Ravens Fair to find answers. His investigation leads him to the ghost of a ventriloquist named Mary Shaw who... Read allAfter his wife meets a grisly end, Jamie Ashen returns to his haunted hometown of Ravens Fair to find answers. His investigation leads him to the ghost of a ventriloquist named Mary Shaw who seems to have ties to his entire family treeAfter his wife meets a grisly end, Jamie Ashen returns to his haunted hometown of Ravens Fair to find answers. His investigation leads him to the ghost of a ventriloquist named Mary Shaw who seems to have ties to his entire family tree
- Billy
- (voice)
- Clown
- (voice)
- Michael Ashen
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Bos
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- Trivia(at around 1h 10 mins) During the climax, in the storage area with all 101 dolls, you can see Jigsaw's doll from the "Saw" films sitting on the floor, and Edgar Bergen's doll Charlie McCarthy on one of the shelves. The doll that Detective Lipton throws over his shoulder in this scene is a replica of ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson's doll, Danny O'Day.
- GoofsJamie states that in his hometown, receiving a ventriloquist dummy out of nowhere is a bad omen. If so then why didn't he get rid of it when it arrived at his doorstep?
- Quotes
Children's Rhyme: Beware the stare of Mary Shaw / She had no children only dolls / And if you see her in your dreams / Be sure to never ever scream.
- Crazy creditsThe 1930s Universal Pictures logo is used in the opening credits.
- Alternate versionsUnrated DVD contains the following extended shots which were omitted from the "R" rated version.
- Mary Shaw has a creepy, disgusting, long tongue.
- A gorier death for Henry, as Mary Shaw is shown eating Henry's tongue and saying "I now have your voice, Henry."
- The tongue comes out and licks Jamie after the clown admits the "secret" to him about his wife.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Oh, We Review!: Dead Silence (2012)
- SoundtracksLet It Go
Written by Bob Mair, Dino Soldo
Performed by Bob Mair, Dino Soldo
Courtesy of Black Toast Music
The story's intriguing enough. There just aren't enough horror films these days about menacing old ventriloquist ladies that are buried with their creepy dolls, who have come back from the dead to seek vengeance on the families that put her in the grave, by tearing out their tongues. The atmosphere is heavy, the creepy music is provided by SAW'S Charlie Clouser, the colors are washed out, and the sets are surreal.
Many will dismiss it as a formulaic, clichéd horror film. The SAW creators, who are huge horror fans, have fun making their own version of the American horror film by throwing in plenty of classic tropes such as the wise-cracking detective (Donnie Wahlberg) and the crazy old lady that knows more than she should.
I was pleased that the film didn't shy away from gore: it wasn't gratuitous, but it did enhance the horror. Most ghost stories tend to be separate from the gore flicks (I'm a fan of both), but I always enjoy seeing them combined. Another aspect that was interesting was the "silence" mode that signaled the presence of evil.
It's got plenty of horror elements to provide scares: aged film, folk tales, singing children, antique furniture, voice recordings fading out, flickering lights, dead loved ones beckoning from beyond the grave, photographs of dead families, cackling old women, wide-eyed dolls, billowing curtains, plenty of thunder and lightning, open caskets, dank crawlspaces, and a pervading sense of evil throughout.
Critics won't dig it, but I've shown it to two groups of friends and the majority were terrified and claimed it to be one of the scariest movies they'd seen. If you're a fan of atmospheric horror that aims to creep you to the bone, you should be more than pleased.
- MessyStinkman
- Mar 16, 2007
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- El títere
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $20,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $16,809,076
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,842,725
- Mar 18, 2007
- Gross worldwide
- $22,382,047
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1