Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Micransix Crappy film

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Scott LeBrun A better than average cast helps to make this horror film a decent watch, along with a reasonably good script (written by brothers Jim & Ken Wheat and Wallace C. Bennett) that has some memorable twists. It's graphically bloody at times but also has fine atmosphere, and a healthy nod to "Psycho" in its use of an imposing beach side house.College student Scotty (Rebecca Balding) is in desperate need of a place to live and ends up at this house, owned by a weird family, the Engels. Unfortunately, Scotty and her fellow roommates won't know just *how* creepy this family is until it's almost too late. When one of the kids is murdered, a subplot develops with two detectives (Cameron Mitchell, Avery Schreiber) investigating the case.The cute Balding is an appealing lead in this story, given effective theatrical treatment by commercial veteran Denny Harris (in his only feature credit). Helping a great deal is a grandiose music score by the under-rated Roger Kellaway, who also composes a period style song for the show. There is some good suspense and many ominous shots of the house and its interiors. The shocks are well realized, as well.Yvonne De Carlo is also among the familiar faces appearing. Mitchell and an effectively serious Schreiber are fine as the detectives. In addition to Balding, Steve Doubet and Juli Andelman are similarly likable. Brad Rearden is great in the role of the nerdy Mason Engels, the films' one true tragic character. And horror genre icon Barbara Steele is a treat to watch in a non-speaking role.Lovers of the horror films from this period should find a fair deal to enjoy here. "The Silent Scream" is enjoyable stuff that deserves a viewing from them.Seven out of 10.

ferbs54 An object lesson to all college students who choose to procrastinate in getting their off-campus housing, as well as a tale of a truly tragic American family, 1980's "The Silent Scream" is a solid winner on both fronts. Released shortly after John Carpenter's "Halloween" ushered in the era of the psycho-slasher-vs.-horny-teenagers film but before all the succeeding wannabes, the picture is far more than, and for superior to, the average adolescent slice-and-dicer, including that same year's "Friday the 13th." In the film, pretty Sonny Parker, desperate for lodging, rents a room, along with three other college kids, at an elegant old Victorian house by the sea. The home's owners, Mrs. Engels and her son Mason, are both decidedly odd, but the rooms seem clean enough and, at only $50 a month, quite the bargain. Too bad, though, that a knife-wielding maniac soon begins to make quick work of the fun-loving teens....In one of the interview extras on this Scorpion Releasing DVD, the film's director, Denny Harris, mentions that his favorite horror picture is "Psycho" (mine, too, by the way), and that 1960 classic leaves its imprint all over "The Silent Scream." From the use of staccato strings on the soundtrack to add jolt to those knifings, to the peeping Tom behind the wall hole, to the decidedly Bernard Herrmann-like music in other spots, the film really does play like an homage to Hitchcock's scariest masterpiece. Harris, primarily a director of TV commercials, excels here in this, his only film, while Roger Kellaway's background music, as mentioned, is often quite nerve racking; in addition, the rock and roll tune that Kellaway wrote for the film, "I Love You Baby, Oh Baby I Do," is quite catchy and is used to supercreepy effect. The film features an excellent cast of both old pros and newcomers, and all give winning performances. Rebecca Balding--who this viewer only remembered as Billy Crystal's hateful girlfriend, Carol David, on TV's "Soap," although others may recall her from 1981's "The Boogens"--stars as Sonny and easily carries the lead role here; she comes across as sexy, spunky, smart and admirable. In a small but crucial role, former sex symbol Yvonne de Carlo underplays nicely as Mrs. Engels (those viewers who only know Yvonne as Lily Munster might want to check out some of her really "vamp" roles from the 1940s, such as in "Criss Cross"), while Cameron Mitchell and former funny man Avery Schreiber (hey, baby boomers: Remember the comedy team of Burns & Schreiber?) make for an unlikely yet likable pair of cops. And then there is Barbara Steele, who, without a single line of dialogue, absolutely, uh, steeles this movie, despite her short screen time. The initial look at Babs (accompanied by music that is reminiscent of the scene in "Psycho" in which Lila Crane explores Mrs. Bates' bedroom) is chilling in the extreme, and the actress is able to generate subsequent shudders with just her facial expressions alone. Just look at the gleam in her eyes! As I've said before, not for nothing has Barbara Steele been dubbed "The Queen of Horror"; she galvanizes every scene that she appears in here. To my delighted surprise, "The Silent Scream" turns out to be essential viewing for any Barbara Steele fan!A final word about this Scorpion Releasing DVD itself: It is a superb presentation, with an excellent print of the film and over an hour's worth of interview extras with Balding and the Wheat Brothers, Jim and Ken, in which the film's writers detail how they recast Harris' original film, rewrote and reshot entire chunks, and emerged with a superior work. To the Wheat Brothers' credit, "The Silent Scream" emerges as much more than your average gore fest. The teens here are likable and have differentiated personalities--we care about them--and the Engels family tragedy at the film's core is an affecting one. Another fascinating extra: an audio-only interview with Denny Harris, recorded shortly before his death, that gives further insight into the making of this surprisingly artful film. In all, a superior DVD presentation of a picture that is well deserving of a new audience....

Scarecrow-88 I wonder if Ti West watched "Silent Scream" as inspiration for his cult hit, "The House of the Devil". "Silent Scream" is one of those "spooky house with sinister secrets and creepy denizens" kinds of horror movies. The setting is a giant house on the hill overlooking an ocean and beach with deliberate camera work taking us into the hidden portion of a cob-webbed basement where someone obviously dangerous is buried away, seemingly locked in a room for a reason yet understood. Young tenants preparing for another semester of college are unaware of what lies ahead for them..certain peril.This early slasher resembles the movies that would arrive not long after. College kids falling victim to a knife-wielding maniac, except the backdrop isn't a campus or camp, but an eerie boardinghouse with suspicious owners. I believe the house itself might give this little known slasher movie some credo.A strike against it might be the span of time between knife murders. Like the aforementioned "House of the Devil", "Silent Scream" takes it's time establishing the quiet menace that is palpable within the boardinghouse..I mean the lead heroine, Scotty(Rebecca Balding) her new boyfriend, Jack(Steve Doubet;also a boarder in the house)and traumatized fellow boarder, Doris(she was with the first victim just prior to his sadistic demise, having left his drunk ass lying on the beach after growing frustrated with his active hands trying to fondle her)all seem to find their current residence rather uneasy, attempting to adapt accordingly, despite the fact that someone they had just recently met suffered such a grisly fate.Barbara Steele fans, stay faithful because even though you have to wait about an hour to see her, it's certainly worth it because she has a knack for depicting madness effectively. I know I keep bringing it up, but "Silent Scream" even favors "House of the Devil" and other films of it's ilk, in how the heroine investigates throughout the house, planted in our minds is the question on where evil dwells. The "house of crazies" theme I must admit feeling partial to..I enjoy movies featuring lunatics gathered together as a family, especially with so many rooms echoing quite a history to the viewer. The only one oblivious to the strange atmosphere of the place is Jack.Poor Rebecca Balding is tied to a coat rack as a gun is going off shortly after we are privy to family revelations. The finale is more than a bit chaotic, but I guess such events were bound to erupt eventually when you have such a dysfunctional family as the Engles. Seeing a loony Steele coming at you with a long, sharp, glimmering butcher knife is quite the image a slasher fan can appreciate more than the casual horror fan.Cameron Mitchell and Avery Schreiber have thankless parts as police detectives on the case of the murdered rich kid, Peter(John Widelock) feeling the pressure to find some sort of lead, clue, or evidence that can help them solve the mystery behind his savage death. Balding is a doll in the lead, a cute girl who makes an attractive couple with Doubet who searches for her when she's held hostage by Mama Engles,(Yvonne De Carlo), mop-haired son Mason(Brad Reardon, quite good as the polite, but weird and anti-social, misfit, his mania bubbling underneath the surface), and Steele whose lobotomy while in the mental institution has left her with little more than the mind of a child(that is until violent impulses take over). Juli Andelman has a nice supporting part as Balding's quirky pal, Doris, who never is able to recover from Peter's murder.

udar55 University student Scotty (Rebecca Balding) finds campus housing is full so she secures a room in a creepy house overlooking the beach. She makes quick friends with the other three students there but is a bit creeped out by teenager Mason and his mother Mrs. Engels (Yvonne DeCarlo). The night she moves in, one of her newfound friends is murdered on the beach. While the police investigate, Scotty stays in the house to fall in love with Jack, unaware that the killer is lurking between the walls.For some reason, I never saw this early slasher flick despite a pretty wide video release on the Media label. Checking it out 27 years after its debut, it is a pretty effective little horror film that mixes the old dark house scenario with the popular slasher trend of the time. The first hour or so is pretty standard stuff. It is in the last half hour that the film really makes it point. Once Scotty discovers the hidden path in the walls, it is a pretty good freak out with a deranged family. Best of all, you have a wonderfully deranged (and wordless) performance by Barbara Steele as the psychotic killer Victoria. Despite her character having a lobotomy, she is still hot! Cameron Mitchell and Avery Schrieber (!) have small supporting roles as the cops investigating the case. Director Denny Harris handles the scares well with the end in the attic being rather suspenseful. Sadly, this is his only feature to date. Composer Roger Kellaway delivers a really nice score as well. Writers/producers/brothers Jim and Ken Wheat went on to direct EWOK: THE BATTLE FOR ENDOR and the horror anthology AFTER MIDNIGHT. They then took sequel writing duty, churning out THE FLY II, parts of ELM STREET 4, THE BIRDS II, THE STEPFORD HUSBANDS and IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE II. They also wrote what eventually became PITCH BLACK.