WARNING: THIS BLOG CONTAINS BODYCOUNT. HIGH RISK OF SPOILERS. ENTER IF YOU DARE.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Spankin' Good Time: Silent Madness (1984)

Silent Scream (1984) (AKA "Beautiful Screamers", "The Nightkillers", "The Omega factor")
Rating: **1/2
Starring: Belinda Montgomery, Viveca Lindfors and Solly Marx

After being institutionalized for literally nailing four sorority girls at the Omega Sorority house some years ago, Howard Johns was accidentally released due to a filing error and he now returns to the scene of the massacre to start anew his rage-fueled killing spree. With most of the asylum doctors covering-up their mistake, the only one who's willing to stop the killer is one Dr. Joan Gilmore, trying to convince the townsfolk of Barrington that history may about repeat itself with to little or no avail. 

That is, until, the mutilated bodies of teenagers start to turn up all over the place, grabbing the horrified attention of the town. By then, however, it may already be too late...

A fact about Silent Madness is that, despite its attempt to look like a strong and solid entry to the slasher fare, it's anything but. Removing the 3D gimmick, which hardly mattered as it's barely recognizable, the story is all but the basic sorority house slasher run with characters that aren't particularly sympathetic nor interesting, save Belinda Montgomery as Dr. Gilmore and Jeffrey Bringham who portrayed the sturdy and yet decent looking killer. The plot itself is dry of any ideas until it scrapes a fairly shocking revelation that showcases a twist that no one certainly saw coming. By building upon the story's ominously growing situation, the limp pacing does help create some of the movie's needed thrills and intrigue, albeit occasionally failing to keep its mood and atmosphere stick due to how hammy the direction can sometimes get.

The final product is a tired yet decent cheese-fest that tried yet failedStill, with an impressive bodycount and a fair laughable moments, I'm sure some readers out there would try their crummy hands on this. I'm not going to stop them, though...

Bodycount:
1 male gets a sledgehammer to the face
1 female gets a (3-D) hatchet thrown at her back
1 female had her head crushed in a vice
1 female scalded to death with steam
4 females shot with a nailgun
1 female knifed (mostly offscreen)
1 female had her neck broken by a thrown rope attached to a dumbbell
1 male drilled through head
1 male gets a crowbar through his chest
1 male found with a knife in his chest
1 male gets a broken glass shard to the back
Total: 14

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