haildevilman This film was made twice when everyone was brought back to re do scenes. It didn't help much.A few college types decide to rent a huge castle/mansion near the ocean when the dorm housing gets full. Except there's an evil presence hiding there.It seemed to capitalize on the sudden attacks so "no one had time to scream." But the build up was so bad it almost wasn't worth it. Seeing Barbara Steele and Yvonne (Lily Munster) DeCarlo was nice. And the Cameron Mitchell-Avery Schreiber cop team was worth a look for the weirdness alone. But these names basically showed up for a few days and did their scenes before going back to their bigger jobs. Most of the other actors were newbies trying to earn their stripes. They gave their all. And if you look....you'll catch Schreiber reading his lines off his notepad.Strangely enough....despite the ravaging this took from the critics....and the fact that it really hasn't aged well...it did gross between 10 and 15 million. But the 80's video boom and the distance horror has come since probably made it valuable only to collectors or vintage 70's film buffs.

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....

Woodyanders Spunky college student Scotty Parker (winningly played with disarming sweetness and vitality by cute and appealing brunette Rebecca Balding) rents a room at an old house located down by the shore. Scotty and her three fellow boarders discover that the ramshackle abode harbors a very dark and deadly secret deep within its grimy cobweb-strewn walls. Director Denny Harris, working from a smart and absorbing script by Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, and Wallace C. Bennet, relates the simple and involving story at a gradual, yet steady pace, does an expert job of creating and sustaining a mysteriously creepy atmosphere, and pulls out all the stops for the picture's rousing and hair-raising conclusion. The able cast of genre veterans helps a lot: Yvonne De Carlo does well as the stern and remote Mrs. Engels, Cameron Mitchell as the weary Lt. Sandy McGiver and Avery Schreiber as his jolly partner Sgt. Manny Ruggin are likewise excellent, and 60's Gothic fright feature goddess Barbara Steele delivers a remarkably intense and frightening tour-de-force mute pantomime performance as the deranged and dangerous Victoria Engels. Better still, the youthful protagonists are well-drawn and genuinely engaging: Balding shines in the perky lead, with fine support from Steve Doubet as charming hunk Jack Towne, Juli Anderlman as the chipper Doris Prichart, and John Widerlock as the amiable Peter Ransom. Brad Rearden is also solid and credible as weird and neurotic bespectacled nerd Mason Engels. Roger Kellaway's elegantly eerie orchestral score does the blood-chilling trick. The stylish cinematography by Michael D. Murphy and David Shore gives the movie an attractive polished look. The spooky seaside house evokes a powerfully unsettling sense of vulnerability and isolation. Moreover, the plot offers some nice tweaking of the standard slice'n'dice conventions: the killer turns out to be a woman with a tragic and poignant back story, the heroine saves herself at the end, and the murder set pieces are effectively brutal and shocking without ever becoming too gory or disgusting. Highly recommended for 80's low-budget indie horror fans.

saint-21 This is coming to code red DVD soon. I saw this on cable back in the early 80's.. Another slasher/college kids theme but never the less, creepiness. Rebecca balding who use to be on a t.v. show called soap and later to star in another cult horror film The Boogens, is our main star here. She can't seem to find housing at a local college so she shacks up in an old house with a horror history. Yes , a creepy house with webs and creeping floorboards. I remember seeing the t.v. spot back in 1980 and it scared me. So, i wont give away too much, but granted, if you haven't seen this 25 plus year old film yet. maybe you might on DVD. Btw. this was filmed sometime in 1979, so it really isn't an 80's horror film,, just the January release date... good luck. some interesting chills though. And overall a campy slasher...