Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Coventry 80s Slashers for Dummies. I don't know if such a book really exists, but if yes then "Silent Madness" surely followed it word for word! Admittedly most contemporary teen slasher movies suffer from a lack of originality, but Simon Nuchtern's film is truly an amassment of clichés, stereotypes, predictable plot twists and trite killings. It's like our director first watched a dozen of other movies and took notes. We need a mental asylum, a sorority house with a bunch of underdressed coeds, a black-and-white flashback of a massacre that took place twenty years ago, a cocky news reporter and a deadweight sheriff. The funniest thing about "Silent Madness" is, in fact, that the lunatic didn't escape from the asylum, but that he was accidentally released following the dumbest administrative error in history. The release papers were signed for tame patient John Howard, but instead they let go the paranoid and dangerously insane Howard Johns. Two decades ago, he killed several college girls with a nail gun and now promptly heads back to campus to finish his work. There's a reasonably interesting sub plot about the head doctors at the mental institution being deranged psychopaths themselves, and they are even sending creepy goons after the one good-hearted shrink who's trying to correct their mistake! Maniacal Howard murders a handful of pledge sisters and hides in the basement of the sorority house, which is - hands down - the biggest basement I've ever seen. This basement looks more like an underground steel factory! Regardless of how hard the film tries to be special, it's a suspenseless and unmemorable horror effort. The 3D effects (quite the hype around the time of release) are poor and derivative, while most of the murders are uninspired. I am afraid, however, that I watched a cut version since the amount of gore was very limited and the running time was nearly six minutes shorter than indicated on IMDb. The beautiful Belinda Montgomery gives away a likable performance and there are neat supportive roles for veterans like Viveca Lindfors ("Creepshow") and Sydney Lassick ("One Flow over the Cuckoo's Nest"), but they all deserved a better screenplay. The foreseeable climax even shamelessly rips off the mother (pun intended) of all eighties slasher movies!

lifesoboring I was considering giving this film a rating of 6 stars as I was watching it, up until the second half began. Then it started losing interest, becoming slow and lifeless and without suspense or tension. The one exception was the Sheriff character (he's the highlight of Silent Madness); he was hilarious, his lines were so funny and outrageous. Other than him, it is a boring, not-worth-watching second half. The sorority girls are really annoying, the house mother's acting is uncompelling, the scary scenes not real scary (but yes, the manner of some of the killings was unique and well-done). I presume the title of the movie refers to the killer's not ever uttering a single word the entire time. His looks and facial expressions don't come across as particularly psychotic or creepy. The lead male (newspaper editor) is a nothing-special character and his acting is mediocre. The two thugs are ridiculous and unreal characters. (Although the hospital parts at the beginning are pretty good). The secret "backroom" of the hospital where they are holding some patients in isolation and doing evil stuff to them (what are they doing exactly?) is not sufficiently explained. And the leading lady's motives for going up to the town and sorority house, and police station, to try to look at files to get background information on the killer also are not explained--and don't make sense. She is not there with the thought of hunting him and bringing him back--she does not suspect he is going to be there--he just happens to show up. So what was her point in trying to find out more facts about him and the original murders? What did she hope to do with this information? Finally, the twist ending was nothing to write home about. And the romantic interest aspect between the leading lady and newspaper editor was just tacked on. Never quite seen a movie like this where the first half was watchable and enjoyable and the second half just went to heck-- except for the Sheriff, really. With all this said, maybe you still want to watch it to see if you agree with my assessment of it.

Toronto85 Silent Madness is another obscure horror film from the 80's that has never found it's way into DVD. It was originally shot with 3-D "graphics", but I don't think it ever made it to theatres for it to be shown in that format. The plot is about a mental patient named Howard Johns who gets released from the hospital accidentally due to a computer error. When a psychiatrist Dr. Joan Gilmore discovers the mistake, she tries to alert the hospital's senior staff about it. However, they do not want to tarnish the reputation of the hospital so they cover it up and make it look like Howard Johns is dead.Our main character Dr. Joan Gilmore makes her way up to the sorority house where the murders took place years prior and, with the help of a local newspaper reporter, manages to stay the night at the estate with a few girls. Her goal is to capture Howard Johns before he murders again. Eventually a few people are murdered, nothing really shocking or special about the kills. This movie for the most part has no gore at all. It's a very tame slasher flick compared to others. We also know who the killer is right away, so it takes away any sort of mystery or suspense. The best part of the whole film is the big chase scene at the end between Joan and the killer. There is also an interesting twist at the end which I could see coming early on.Silent Madness is sort of a rip off of the original Halloween. The story involves a psychiatrist (like Dr. Loomis) who goes out to find a mental patient (like Michael Myers) who has been let out of the mental hospital . The acting in Silent Madness is pretty good, especially from Belinda Montgomery. But their are very little scares to be seen. I give credit for the unique idea of having it not just be "main girl v.s killer", but "main girl v.s hospital staff". Joan having to fight off deranged hospital attendants who are determined to cover up the release of Howard Johns adds a bit more to the movie and makes it different from your average eighties slasher.5/10

cameraman_mike_2000 SILENT MADNESS (1984) ** (out of 4*'s) Director: Simon Nuchtern. Belinda Montgomery, Viveca Lindfors, Sydney Lassick.Mental patient is accidently released from the hospital and instantly goes on a violent killing spree. Sound familiar? The patients doctor tracks him down to a sorority, his old home!Familiar on all levels. Shown in 3-D in the theatres. For fans of the genre. NOTE: this film is extremely rare!