The Silent Scream (1979)

During her first semester at college, a co-ed finds housing at a seaside mansion where, following the death of a fellow-student, she becomes entangled in a murder mystery surrounding the property and it's secretive tenants.

Director:

Denny Harris

Writers:

Ken Wheat, Jim Wheat

Stars:

Rebecca Balding, Cameron Mitchell, Avery Schreiber

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rebecca Balding	...	Scotty Parker
Cameron Mitchell	...	Lt. Sandy McGiver
Avery Schreiber	...	Sgt. Manny Ruggin
Barbara Steele	...	Victoria Engels
Steve Doubet	...	Jack Towne
Brad Rearden	...	Mason Engels
John Widelock	...	Peter Ransom
Jack Stryker	...	Police Chief
Thelma Pelish	...	Housing Lady
Tina Tyler	...	Victoria at 16
Yvonne De Carlo	...	Mrs. Engels
Juli Andelman	...	Doris Prichart
Annabella Price	...	TV Rape Victim
Joe Pronto	...	TV Rapist
Jason Zahler	...	Mason at 3

Storyline

Scotty moves into Mrs. Engels' seaside mansion where three other college students are boarding. Mrs. Engels prefers to stay in her room in the attic, but her son Mason helps the students get settled. Soon one of the students is killed. The policemen on the case begin uncovering the Engels family secret as the remaining students become endangered.

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Plot Keywords:

sex scene | villainess | knife | psychopathic killer | serial killer | 

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Taglines:

Terror so sudden there is no time to scream.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 January 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Silent Scream

Filming Locations:

Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Denny Harris

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Over the course of filming, three different locations were used for the laundry room scene: a real basement, a small basement set and a smaller set for the dark corner next to the furnace and hidden staircase.

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Goofs

When Doris shouts "You asshole" at Peter, her mouth actually says: "You're crazy!"

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Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)

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Soundtracks

I Love You Baby, Oh Baby I Do
Words and Music by Roger Kellaway
Vocal Solo by Ken Barrie

User Reviews

Family comes first.

Let it begin. Post-Halloween slashers are in force. But this just made it in before the major onslaught, and admirably it's a above par entry. Actually it probably has more common with "Psycho" , and touch of "Black Christmas", than most brain-dead slashers. The one-note story is quite typical and fairly bare on building much in the way of sub-plots, but it's the dreary, underlining atmosphere that smothers the gloomy seaside mansion and invokes a real unsteadiness of slow-burn tension. Even the performances lend well, and the central outlook on a dysfunctional family (who rent out spare rooms in their mansion to students) grows incredibly eerie. A silently steely Barbara Steele is memorably striking in her support role, while Rebecca Balding is competently fine as the main heroine. Cameron Mitchell and Yvonne De Carlo also show up. There's a subtle stylishness to Denny Harris' direction in many effective sequences, where obviously his less concerned about a body count and ghastly shocks. The feel is more like an old-fashioned Gothic-tale, with psychotic-drama currents. A problem though, would that there happened to be many flat (or dead-air) moments. Dead silence, and believable actions aplenty. It's low-budget shows, and minimal scope gives the film a tight, dank and creaky vibe that works. Even the vast, forlorn coastal location choices, and shadowy, cob-web house-bound settings are nailed down to perfection. Roger Kellaway's hysterically sombre music score had that familiar sound to it, but Michael D. Murphy & David Shore's murkily prying cinematography really sneaks up onto the viewer. Even within the empty passages, it still emit's a spine-tingling ambiance and workably solid performances by the cast.