Silent Scream

Imagine a time before now. A time where university registration was done not through handy online services, but in crowded gymnasium hallways, with elderly, obese and surly women taking down your student information. Welcome to 1980.

Scotty (Rebecca Balding) has just missed the bus on getting on-campus housing, and after several wasted efforts at renting a room near the university, she finally finds salvation in the form of the Engels house; the oldest, creepiest looking, Victorian-gothic looking mansion you could ever imagine. But...it has a beach in the backyard. Yay! Beach! Things continue to look up when she hooks up with the other boarders: Peter (John Widelock), Doris (Juli Andelman), and Jack (Steve Doubet), and a dinner date opens up the chance of a romance with Jack.

Unfortunately, such things were not meant to last, and one of the quartet is viciously stabbed to death the same night. Hindered by a lack of evidence and motive, the police investigation makes little progress, leaving the killer ample oppurtunity to strike again; and before the night is through, the deepest, darkest secrets of the Engels family will be cast into the light...

As I've stated with other reviews, this ain't exactly unfamiliar territory. However, one of the things that elevates this above other similar slash-and-stalk entries is the strangth of the preformances. Everybody here comes off as normal, sympathetic human beings, something that is particularly refreshing in the age of characters having to look like the 'after' pictures of people who have lost weight and buffed themselves out to an unbelievable degree. For example, one of the characters, Doris, is (GASP!) rather plain looking, but gives a very naturalistic, likeable preformance. Same can be said for all the major roles; you aren't going to be checking your watch, counting down the minutes until these people fall under the killer's knife. You will actually care about whether these people survive the night, and to fine one's self so emotionally invested in the characters of such a film is truly high praise. Furthermore, the secondary leads turn in fine preformances: from Cameron Mitchell playing a detective who looks like he's itching to knock skulls together in almost all of his scenes, to the stern Engels matriarch and her socially inept son. Finally, even though other critics have freely given away the identity of the killer, I'm going to spare you such a spoiler (don't say I never do anything nice for you guys), but I will say this. He/she gives an absolutely hair raising portrayal of a severely emotionally damaged psychopath, and the preformance will stick with you long after the credits have rolled.

If you're going in expecting bloody, lurid murders, then you're going to be sorely dissapointed. If anything, the film is more about the build-up to the murder, with the actual violence being largely implied. Considerable suspense is to be found in these moments just before the deaths, and lends the movie a certain sense of...well, classiness, I suppose, that exists in other films such as Halloween, Psycho, and Black Christmas. Not to say that Silent Scream reaches the same level of importance as those three (though personally, I enjoyed this more than Psycho and Halloween), but overall, it does stand out as a more polished, finely-crafted work than its contemporaries (it is well worth noting that the score does contain several riffs that were more than likely inspired by Pysycho , as well as a murder that is a deliberate homage to the shower scene of the same film).

Director Denny Harris displays a sure, confident hand in making the mansion as threatening and claustrophobic as possible; indeed, this movie simply oozes atmosphere. The suspense scenes are handled remarkably well, with the climax in particular full of white-knuckled tension.

The only real flaws come during the climatic downpour of hideous family secrets near the end; not that the subject matter becomes any less believable, but a couple of the preformances begin ranging from admirably understated and believable to a tad too melodramatic for my liking. Then again, giving the gothis, "it was a dark and stormy night" mood throughout the proceedings, it doesn't stand out all that much.

So, there you have it. If you have even a passing interest in the slasher sub-genre, be sure to check out this formerly-lost 80's gem