Silent Madness
The film begins in a mental hospital where Dr. Joan Gilmore (Belinda Montgomery) is checking up on patients. Soon, she's notified of more patient releases that have been occurring a lot lately. After looking up on one of the more recent releasings, Dr. Gilmore discovers that the staff has made a mistake by releasing Howard Johns (Solly Marx), a patient believed to be very dangerous.
As soon as Johns is let go, he begins a bloody rampage aided by bad 3-D effects, his motive explained by a flashback involving a cruel prank by sorority girls. Dr. Gilmore is desperate at uncovering the strange happenings involving cruel patient experiments and Johns's whereabouts, but the staff informs her that Johns is deceased.
Ignoring their obvious lies, Dr. Gilmore disguises herself as a former sorority girl at Theta Omega, her desperate attempt to track down Johns. The sisters are all getting ready for a vacation, but barely any of them leave the sorority house when Johns brutally attacks and murders them all one by one. As the body count rises, Dr. Gilmore tries desperately to stay alive when Johns moves to her, not to mention the demented doctors out to kidnap her...
Directed by Simon Nuchtern, this entertaining slasher from 1984 is a good example of how far filmmakers go to make a 3-D film. The 3-D effects are hilarious and very unrealistic, especially the animated hatchet the killer hurls at a running girl, who lowers her back right in front of the camera after getting hit!
The overwhelming amount of cheese and bad 3-D effects are definitely the highlight of the film, along with the many noticeable co-stars. Viveca Lindfors (also in Creepshow, The Sure Thing, and The Exorcist 3, who died in 1995 of rheumatoid arthritis complications) makes an appearance as Mrs. Collins, the eccentric housemother, with Sydney Lassick as Sheriff Liggett (from Carrie and The Unseen amongst many others). Two Sleepaway Camp stars, Katherine Kamhi and Paul DeAngelo, and b-movie queen Elizabeth Kaitan can also be spotted.
The film also features a pleasing body count and a few tense scenes. At one point, a character is shown playing the game Dragon's Lair, which was recently re-released on a playable DVD. All '80s retro stuff is definitely apparent throughout the film. Silent Madness is worth a look for '80s horror movie and gore fans, along with an overall amusing time. Re-released to DVD in the UK. aka Beautiful Screamers, The Nightkillers, and The Omega Factor
Watch a video clip of Silent Madness
