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Silent Madness [1984]


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LOUD RASPBERRY!
Review date: 2008-03-08 Rating: 2 out of 10

I felt compelled to write a review of this film because most of the other reviews have been favourable and I JUST DON'T GET IT!.
This version has had the sides cut off (never a good look),the picture quality is murky and so dark at times you have to squint, huge chunks have been cut out so that whenever a killing is to occur you have to guess what happens next because you never get to see it! then it's edited back together with what must have been a hammer.
The plot is released psycho goes on killing spree, my main problem with this film (and I have many) is with said psycho Mr SOLLY MARX, yes, you read correctly, Solly Marx the brother they never spoke about, Solly Marx (thats the actors name - not the psycho's) is the worst psycho killer EVER!,he looks like our postman, in fact he acts like our postman (rushing from kill to kill on an apparently tight schedule) he is also the films stunt co-ordinator so Solly gets the chance to show us his skills in a painfully protracted punch up between himself and two degenerate orderlies.
Belinda Montgomery is the only person in this film I recognised, she was in 'The Man from Atlantis' and that's where this film should be , in a safe at the bottom of the ocean. Miss Montgomery wears the pained expression of someone who's been duped (like mine) and the one star I have to award goes to her for what she had to endure.
I believe the original version ran for 93 mins in a 3-D format, this version runs for 85 mins but I don't think an extra 8 mins and a pair of green and red goggles would change my opinion of this dirge.
Apparently this film is 'Extremely rare',... GOOD!.





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Reviews


Oops, we accidentally released the Sorority Slaughter killer
Review date: 2007-10-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

I don't think it's worth a herculean effort to track down, but this rather hard-to-find slasher film from 1984 isn't bad at all. It does feature a couple of relatively creative kills, even though there's not a lot of blood and gore on display here (and rumor has it that the important few seconds of one particular scene were cut from the DVD release). Don't get too excited about the fact that the murders take place in a sorority house, though, because the murders takes place over fall break, so you only have a handful of coeds on hand - and they certainly aren't throwing any slumber parties. Interestingly, though, Silent Madness was apparently shot and originally released in 3-D, which explains why some scenes feature deadly implements being hurled directly at the camera - it's just a shame that there's really no way to experience these 3-D effects on video or DVD.

Seventeen years ago, Howard Johns was locked away in the Cresthaven mental institution after carrying out the murders dubbed the Sorority House Slaughter. Now, thanks to a "clerical error," this dangerous psychopath has been accidentally released back into the world. No one seems to care (or even notice) except for Dr. Joan Gilmore (Belinda Montgomery), an idealistic young psychiatrist who investigates the matter herself. Sleazy Dr. Kruger (Roderick Cook) and his L-ward lackeys Virgil (Dennis Helfend) and Jesse (Philip Levy) try to cover up the mistake by claiming Johns died, but Dr. Gilmore doesn't trust any of her colleagues (especially after she sees the conditions of the L ward for herself). She heads out to the scene of Johns' barbarous crimes, trying to find the psychopath before he kills again. The wormy little sheriff (Sydney Lassick) is no help to her, but Mark McGowan (David Greenan), the newspaper guy, comes up with a plan for Dr. Gilmore to learn about the original murders by spending the night in the sorority house (as if the current sorority sisters can give her all the details of a massacre that happened when they were all crawling around in diapers). Needless to say, Dr. Gilmore does find Johns (actually, it's more like Johns finds her), at which time her lack of a plan for actually subduing him reveals itself quite painfully. As if that isn't enough, Dr. Kruger has sent Virgil and Jesse, both of whom are basically subhuman monsters themselves, to cover up the whole "we accidentally released a psychopathic killer" mistake by catching Johns and then taking care of Dr. Gilmore, for good measure. There's sort of a two-pronged twist at the end, which works well since one of those surprises is not completely unexpected.

The film does have a couple of oddities, such as a security guard roaming around the sorority's boiler room. And speaking of that boiler room - Freddy Krueger would be jealous of these digs, as this sorority house boiler room is of TARDIS-like proportions. It's huge; not only is it absolutely sprawling horizontally, it even develops different vertical levels in time for the big chase scene at the end. On the plus side, though, Howard Johns is a pretty creative killer. Like any good psychopathic murderer, he has a fondness for your standard old-school implements, but when he has sufficient time, he's a regular MacGyver of malicious mayhem, adapting whatever materials are at hand to send someone to their eternal reward with quite a story to tell when they get there.

There are a number of forgettable 1980s slashers, but Silent Madness isn't one of them. Don't knock yourself out trying to find it, but it's certainly worth picking up if you happen to run across it.

Better than I expected
Review date: 2007-08-20 Rating: 8 out of 10

The one line reviews do this film an injustice. Saying something like "A pyscopathic killer escapes from an asylum and goes on a killing rampage at a sorority house that echoes a day of slaughter that occurred 20 years earlier" does sum up the plot quite well but this film is NOT the Halloween/Friday 13th/etc copycat that you might think it is.

The plot starts of rather outside of normal slasher territory by introducing our heroine, Joan Gilmore who is actually a doctor at an asylum. Lots of the initial running time is devoted to the internal goings on at the institution, and the corruption uncovered makes quite a fascinating subplot that I could have watched develop as a story in it's own right. But the reason for it all is really to set up the fact that a mentally unstable patient is released by mistake, and while the senior staff try and cover up the fact, the honest Dr Gilmore realises that she's going to have to go it alone to track him down and get him back. What follows is an intrigueing (well, for a slasher movie!) turn of events as Dr Gilmore traces the original sorority house where the patient commited the murders that got him committed, and poses as a previous "sister" to gain access to the house and try and trap the killer. Aided by a local news reporter, she soon finds out that she was right, and the killer has returned, but he's not about to give up and come quietly without a few corpses piling up!

I'll mention why I think this film is worthy of some note. First off, the main heroine, as played by Belinda Montgomery is not a young virginal beauty but a working doctor, and while attractive enough, she's certainly no average teen heroine, rather a resourceful intelligent woman. Secondly, the film sets up the killings in a very clever way, with a few girls being in the house falling victim to the killer in surprisingly brutal ways, as well as a seemingly random couple who get attacked in a camper van near the start actually turing out to be relevant to the plot later on. The film also throws in a couple of brutish hospital attendants who are dispatched by the other doctors (when they realise that the cover-up is not working) to catch the killer. These two thugs also have sexual designs on Dr Gilmore and decide she's just as much a target as the killer when they make their way to the sorority house armed with tranquillizers and cattle prods(!). At this point the film develops a unique three-way dynamic in which Dr Gilmore, the two thugs and the killer all have to square up to each other, and it's hard to know whether to root for the attendants or the killer, as they are a very repugnant pair and played with great sleazy excess by the two actors. The final scenes work very well as these three parties try out-manouvere each other to gruesome effect, while Dr Gilmore tries to avoid falling into the clutches of either. Dr Gilmore gets to scrabble and dodge through many hair-raising predicaments, including the menace of being tied under a power drill at one point, and the climax is pretty well done.

The film is fairly low budget, but well filmed. The murders are all filmed rather cruelly, as the killer seems to purposely choose a very unpleasant way for each victim to die. The film was originally shot in widescreen, but sadly the version I have seen (the old rental VHS) ruins things with terrible pan and scan. Plus, it's also made in 3-D! Well you don't get to see it in 3-D here, but lots of objects get poked and wiggled into the camera and it must have looked great in the cinema, as the use of the 3-D medium is wisely limited to moments that actually contribute something to the mayhem, rather than showing us people using yo-yos or blowing bubbles.

I recommend this movie - although I have read that the DVD releases are CUT so be warned - there's a scene in which an industrial drill gets up close and personal with the back of someones head which is quite graphic, and while other murders are less intense, there are several shots of gory wounds and sharp impalements. So it would be a shame if any of this has been removed. For my part, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and if I could be sure the DVD releases were uncut I would buy one just to see it in wide-screen...shame about the 3-D, but you can't have everything!

A bit dated....
Review date: 2001-09-17 Rating: 6 out of 10

Would have been good when it was first released, but by todays standards it is very very tame. Along the same lines of Halloween, but without the chilling suspense factor. Also, the surprise ending isn't really that surprising...

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Viveca Lindfors
Belinda Montgomery
Solly Marx
David Greenan
Sydney Lassick

Creators:
Belinda Montgomery (Primary Contributor)
Viveca Lindfors (Primary Contributor)
Simon Nuchtern (Writer)
Bill Milling (Producer)
Bill Milling (Writer)
Bob Gallagher (Producer)
Gregory Earls (Producer)
Bob Zimmerman (Writer)
Nelson DeMille (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Pegasus Entertainment
Manufacturer: Pegasus Entertainment
EAN: 5050232701782
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2003-01-06
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Running time: 85 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1984-10-26
Language: English (Original Language)

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