James Wan has become one of the biggest names in horror. The filmmaker has defined the genre’s landscape in the 21st century through commercially and critically successful franchises like Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring, which wrapped its main series with the release of The Conjuring: Last Rites in September. Known for his mastery of scares, inventive cinematography, and prioritization of atmospheric horror, Wan has become a new king of the genre, but that doesn’t mean every movie has been a success, and one of his most underrated movies is about to leave Peacock and streaming altogether.
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Three years after Wan and Leigh Whannell were put on the map with Saw, the pair reteamed in 2007 for Dead Silence, a commercial and critical flop that has since amassed a deserved cult following. The movie centers around a young widower who returns to his hometown to find answers following his wife’s death only to unravel the legend of the ghost of a ventriloquist named Mary Shaw. The film, which never quite got the attention it deserved, is set to exit Peacock in the near future. The film doesn’t have an exact departure date but is listed in the “leaving Peacock this month” section, a list of titles typically tagged for an end-of-the month departure or early-next-month exit.
Dead Silence Is an Underrated Horror Gem Despite Its Poor Reception
Horror fans and critics had pretty high standards for the Wan/Whannell team following the influential success of the Saw franchise, but Dead Silence unfortunately missed the mark for them. The movie flopped at the box office with just a $22 million gross total against a $20 million production budget and overwhelmingly received negative reviews, earning just a 21% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. But the movie is actually pretty good and is a successfully unnerving film that delivers on the scares.
Wan created the film as a deliberate shift away from the torture-based horror of Saw and as a loving homage to the genre, and in that respect, it works incredibly well. Wan’s passion for the genre is impossible to ignore and seen in virtually every aspect of the film, from its atmospheric horror created through shadowplay and a gloomy score from composer Charlie Clouser to its twisty plot and world-building, such as the decaying town of Raven’s Fair and Mary Shaw’s lair. The movie is incredibly well-crafted and relies on a slow, tense build-up to deliver genuine scares, ones that will actually give you goosebumps.
Dead Silence ultimately laid the foundation of Wan’s future work, serving as a testing ground for elements that would define his career in movies, including a distinct visual style that was later seen in Insidious and the use of haunted objects, particularly dolls, which became crucial to The Conjuring Universe.
Where to Stream Dead Silence After It Leaves Peacock?
Wan’s fans will be hard-pressed to find Dead Silence on streaming after it exits Peacock, which is a shame given how scary the movie actually is. The film currently doesn’t stream outside of the NBCUniversal streamer, and it is not included in any of the major streaming service’s December roundups, meaning that it seems Dead Silence is set to leave streaming altogether come December 1st. Horror fans will still be able to rent or purchase the movie online, and it’s possible the film could eventually transition back to a streaming home, but for now fans will want to fit in a final watch while they still can.
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Courtesy of Netflix
