10 Horror Movies You Didn’t Know Were Connected

4. Dead Silence & Saw

Dog Soldiers woof!
Universal Pictures

Despite both of these films being collaborations between James Wan and Leigh Whannell, Saw and Dead Silence could not be more different in terms of their tone and style.

Where the Saw series started its life as a grisly procedural thriller, before transitioning into a gore-hound's wet-dream, Dead Silence is a much more reserved and sinister supernatural affair that was more reliant on mood and suspense to get under the audience's skin.

And yet, in spite of them being worlds apart from one another, the two films seemingly take place within the same universe.

Whilst exploring the house belonging to deceased ventriloquist Mary Shaw, protagonist Jamie, and Detective Lipton discover Mary's doll collection. As the camera creeps throughout the room, we can see Jigsaw's puppet pal Billy propped up against a support beam in the center of the room.

There's little to no context as to how or why Billy found his way into Mary's collection, but he certainly looks at home amongst all the other creepy dolls that she had amassed over the years. Images and drawings of Billy have shown up in other James Wan films, but Dead Silence still remains his only physical appearance outside of the Saw franchise.

Contributor
Contributor

UK based screenwriter, actor and one-half of the always-irreverent Kino Inferno podcast. Purveyor of cult cinema, survival horror games and low-rent slasher films.