A Thomas Bess review of:
Directed By: Denny Harris
Starring: Rebecca Balding, Yvonne De Carlo, Brad Rearden, Steve Doubet, Barbara Steele, Cameron Mitchell, Avery Schreiber
Run Time: 87 atmospheric, eighties-tastic minutes.
At no point in my life have I ever lived anywhere that could even sort of be described as a boarding house. Part of me is depressed over this as it would be all sorts of cool to have a landlord who is either A) a cranky old man or B) a crazy old lady and a small group of roommates to share the space with, assuming of course that none of them ever wanted to listen to STYX records. And if there was a round, turret sort of room, I’d totally have to call it as mine, ’cause that’s just cool. On the other hand, another part of me is thankful for never living any place so eclectic because there’s a good chance that the more impressive the domicile, the greater the chance that it harbors some terrible, tragic secret that could put you on the pointy end of a carving knife. Such is the plight of a group of college kids in Silent Scream, a mostly forgotten slasher gem from 1980 that’s recently seen its first DVD release. And while it’s not going to topple Halloween or Black Christmas from atop my list of personal favorites, it’s still a damned good slice of moodiness.
Plot is as follows: Scotty Parker (Balding) has recently transferred into some unnamed college and is in desperate need of housing. Ultimately she manages to land a room at the Engels’ Boarding House, a lovely place that combines the best aspect of the Bates family home with a charming summer beach cottage. Her landlords are the dour, taciturn Mrs. Engels (De Carlo) and her pleasant but somewhat odd son, Mason (Rearden). Fellow roomies include Doris, Peter and Jack, three fellow students who’re refreshing in the sense that they don’t look like they were plucked from the pages of the American Eagle fall catalogue. Things are going along pleasantly enough until it becomes clear that someone at Engels is a bit too eager to ventilate their roommates with a carving knife. The who and why of the killer’s revelation would be getting far too deep into spoiler country for my tastes, but rest assured there’s enough violence and intrigue to keep your attention all the way through to the dénouement.
So what’s good? Silent Scream is a movie that’s positively dripping with atmosphere. From the opening tracking shot (a flash forward to show fragments of the violence that will eventually befall the place) to just about every view of the boarding house, this is a flick where it just feels like something bad could or is going to happen at any moment. Not to say that there’s a murder every five minutes because there’s not. This is a story that has a relatively low body count (five in all if memory serves) but because it does a good job of establishing its characters, you’ll actually feel something when they meet a terrible end. Also worthy of note is the cast, Rebecca Balding a worthy Final Girl, (though I wonder at the logic behind naming her Scotty. Is that really considered an androgynous name?) while her roomies react to the deepening mystery in believable ways, with none of the casually flip, too cool for the room one-liners that have so sadly taken over horror dialogue these days. On the more sinister side of the coin, the Engels’ are a suitably creepy clan with Rearden doing a fine job walking a line between making Mason a victim of circumstance and willing accomplice to the carnage perpetrated by the mysterious, knife-wielding someone. And while I can’t tell you who that someone is, they make a delightfully weird, surprisingly mask free murder machine.
What’s not so good? Honestly, I couldn’t find a lot to complain about. That said, adopting the mindset of the casual horror viewer, I’d wager the biggest beef will be that it’s slow or boring. Now I don’t think that’s the case, but for those raised on maniacs who pop up every few minutes to dispatch some poor dope with a power tool or kitchen implement, Silent Scream may try your patience. Along similar lines, there’s not much in the way of variety kill-wise. You’ve got some rather enthusiastic knifings and a shooting or two, but that’s about it AND they’re pretty tame by today’s standards. Not as bloodless as say Halloween, but I don’t think anyone’s going to be getting squeamish over the gore. One other thing that’s kinda irksome upon further consideration, the revelation of the killer comes out of left field and while the motivations are properly insane, it’s just dropped in the viewer’s laps. A little bit more “Dunh, dunh, DUNHHHH!” would’ve made it seem that much more shocking. Not a deal breaker by any means, but it turned a moment that should’ve been “Ahhhhh, it’s all falling into place” to “Oh, okay.”
Should you see it? That really all depends on how much you like slasher flicks from the late seventies / early eighties. If you’re a fan of slow-burn creep-fests that’re more about mood and mystery than buckets of grue, you’ll find a lot to like at the Engels’ Boarding House. But if you’re searching for heaps of the dead and dying, I’d look elsewhere. The screams in this flick aren’t silent by any means, but they are more subtle than other genre efforts of the era.
Til next time, always remember that the calls are coming from inside the house.
Tom Bess has sideburns that are so big they might be considered a beard shaving accident from afar. He blames his current mental state on Stephen King, Mike Nelson, Seth McFarlane and Vince McMahon but bears them no ill will. He passes his time writing movie reviews, but will flee the interwebs forever as soon as Allison Mack starts returning his calls.
