THE SILENT SCREAM

Barbara Steele

THE SILENT SCREAM (1979). Director: Denny Harris.

College student "Scotty" Parker (Rebecca Balding) takes a room in a mansion owned by the strange Mrs. Engels (Yvonne De Carlo) and run by her slightly weird son, Mason (Brad Rearden). Scotty becomes friends with her housemates John (Peter Ransom), Doris (Juli Andelman), and especially Jack (Steve Doubet). But who is the strange figure watching, watching from a room in the attic, and what happens when this person gets out of confinement ...

Steve Doubet and Rebecca Balding

The Silent Scream is an early slasher film that probably got more attention than it deserves thanks to the participation of Barbara Steele, who plays Victoria Engels. Although the final section of the film does have some suspense and excitement, for the most part the direction is too routine to make this much more than a time waster. Rebecca Balding, who has one of the worst names in show business, is cute and adept, and the other actors are okay -- especially Cameron Mitchell as a cop -- but Yvonne De Carlo really sinks to the level of the material. Avery Schreiber, much better known as a comedian, has a straight part as a police sergeant and there's little he can do with it. 

Yvonne De Carlo

Because of the creepy mansion it mostly takes place in, The Silent Scream has some atmosphere, but attempts to create a Psycho-like ambiance through music cues and the like fall flat. The stabbing sequences are portrayed without any particular panache. Some revelations about the inter-relationships between members of the Engels family have no real resonance and add nothing to the movie. This is a barely acceptable post-Psycho pastiche but little else. 

Verdict: Steele is always fun to watch but this is hardly one of her more memorable roles. **1/4.