Young college students take rooms in a spooky old house whose live-in owners seem just as spooky.

I’ve seen so many horror films that I had to check to see if I had actually seen Silent Scream. I hadn’t so here goes.

I was pleasantly surprised as this was perfect fare for a night when I was twiddling my thumbs and wondering what to watch. Silent Scream is an atmospheric horror flick with a great locale (think the Bates house in Antonio Bay from The Fog and you’re almost there).

It also boasts a great cast with stars from similar cult fare such as Cameron Mitchell, Yvonne De Carlo and the ever-great Barbara Steele.

The suspense is generated well, the kills are great and there’s a layer of sleaze here which permeates events. The music is reminiscent of Psycho during the kills and also reminds me of the original score to Friday the 13th during others. One thing though is that for some reason, wildly dramatic music is used for less than dramatic scenes which is actually very funny. An example is a scene in which dramatic music leads to a scenes finale which shows…a character eating a sandwich. If only my mealtimes were this fraught.

The ending is also very contrived and unbelievable.

But if you can suspend disbelief then Silent Scream is a good, underrated 70’s horror film that is well worth investigating.

3 out of 5 stars