30 Best Hidden Gem Horror Movies Perfect For Halloween

30. Dead Silence

At present, there is no bigger name in horror than James Wan. Not only is he responsible for kickstarting three of the most successful modern horror franchises - the Saw, Insidious, and Conjuring series - but he also runs one of the genre’s most profitable production companies, Atomic Monster. Yet, for a brief moment, he was seen as a one-hit wonder.

After taking the world by storm with his debut, Saw (2004), Wan and collaborator Leigh Whannell attempted to step away from the graphic “torture-porn” craze of the mid-noughties they helped popularise, making a double bill of films with a very different tone that both flopped. One was the cracking Death Sentence, an ode to grimy Death Wish-style revenge thrillers, and the second, Dead Silence, a slow-burn, old-fashioned chiller that leans into Wan’s love for creepy ghost stories and the visual aesthetics of Argento and Bava.

The plot follows True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten, who receives a ghoulish ventriloquist’s doll in the mail and, in a gripping opening sequence, becomes a widower soon after. What follows is a return to his ominous hometown to figure out what has pulled him into this dark vortex. Thick atmosphere, tense set-pieces, and elaborate visuals ensue, capped by an absolute killer final twist.