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Good concept, poorly executed.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Coed Scotty (Balding) is in desperate need of housing before the semester starts. She eventually settles on a room at a seaside estate with some other students. She is creeped out by the house owner Mrs. Engles (Yvonne De Carlo) and her nerdy son Mason (Rearden) but is attracted to fellow border Jack (Doubet). After a night out drinking the borders go to the adjoining beach to party when Peter (John Widelock) is left behind and is brutally stabbed by an unseen assailant with a large knife. Lt. Sandy McGiver (Cameron Mitchell) is called in to investigate. He soon finds out that the Engles oldest daughter Victoria (Steele) spent time in a mental hospital due to stabbing someone and an attempted suicide. Someone is indeed lurking in the attic of the house as the family's well-kept secret is slowly revealed. Director Denny Harris uses good atmosphere and a few memorable shots (like the hands coming through the cob-webbed slats in the walls) to distract you that not much happens in this movie until its later reels. A slasher film at heart, the film is low on gore and body count but genre favorite Barbara Steele as crazed Victoria is certainly a highlight. Her off balanced take on Victoria is simply chilling and gives this good looking movie its chills. The Police in this movie are silly and come straight out of 1970 TV cop shows. The movie goes all in on the slow reveal of who is doing the creepy stalking and killing, but it could have used some more punch in earlier scenes. See it for Barbara Steele's great performance.

A better than average cast helps to make this horror film a decent watch, along with a reasonably good script (written by brothers Jim & Ken Wheat and Wallace C. Bennett) that has some memorable twists. It's graphically bloody at times but also has fine atmosphere, and a healthy nod to "Psycho" in its use of an imposing beach side house.College student Scotty (Rebecca Balding) is in desperate need of a place to live and ends up at this house, owned by a weird family, the Engels. Unfortunately, Scotty and her fellow roommates won't know just *how* creepy this family is until it's almost too late. When one of the kids is murdered, a subplot develops with two detectives (Cameron Mitchell, Avery Schreiber) investigating the case.The cute Balding is an appealing lead in this story, given effective theatrical treatment by commercial veteran Denny Harris (in his only feature credit). Helping a great deal is a grandiose music score by the under-rated Roger Kellaway, who also composes a period style song for the show. There is some good suspense and many ominous shots of the house and its interiors. The shocks are well realized, as well.Yvonne De Carlo is also among the familiar faces appearing. Mitchell and an effectively serious Schreiber are fine as the detectives. In addition to Balding, Steve Doubet and Juli Andelman are similarly likable. Brad Rearden is great in the role of the nerdy Mason Engels, the films' one true tragic character. And horror genre icon Barbara Steele is a treat to watch in a non-speaking role.Lovers of the horror films from this period should find a fair deal to enjoy here. "The Silent Scream" is enjoyable stuff that deserves a viewing from them.Seven out of 10.

This film was made twice when everyone was brought back to re do scenes. It didn't help much.A few college types decide to rent a huge castle/mansion near the ocean when the dorm housing gets full. Except there's an evil presence hiding there.It seemed to capitalize on the sudden attacks so "no one had time to scream." But the build up was so bad it almost wasn't worth it. Seeing Barbara Steele and Yvonne (Lily Munster) DeCarlo was nice. And the Cameron Mitchell-Avery Schreiber cop team was worth a look for the weirdness alone. But these names basically showed up for a few days and did their scenes before going back to their bigger jobs. Most of the other actors were newbies trying to earn their stripes. They gave their all. And if you look....you'll catch Schreiber reading his lines off his notepad.Strangely enough....despite the ravaging this took from the critics....and the fact that it really hasn't aged well...it did gross between 10 and 15 million. But the 80's video boom and the distance horror has come since probably made it valuable only to collectors or vintage 70's film buffs.

Relatively cheaply-made and not-so-hotly directed by one hit "wonder" Denny Harris, The Silent Scream came out at the beginning of the slasher flicks boom following John Carpenter's Halloween in 1978. This film and Friday the Thirteenth came out in 1980. The Silent Scream seems to have been somewhat lost though it really is way better than the other and its entire franchise. We get a very creepy old house by the sea and a group of college students in need of rooms to rent. Mason Engles, the young nerdy boy of the family handles the business as his mother stays cooped in her room in the attic. Soon young people start getting butchered. First one man by the surf, another in the laundry room - no need for a laundry list here. The murders are not particularly grizzly - certainly not by today's standards, but the acting believe it or not is miles ahead of much of the dreck in films of this ilk since. No wonder as we have Yvonne De Carlo as Mrs. Engles, Barbara Steele in a truly bizarre role of a mentally frustrated psychopath who dresses as an adolescent but is in her forties(and still beautiful I might add), Cameron Mitchell doing a workmanlike job in a small role as a cop along with Doritos pitchman and comedian Avery Scrieber playing it straight as a detective. Rebecca Balding is our heroine and she is refreshing and lovely. The house is very eerie and we get back corridors and all that plus a basement and attic to die for(okay, to die in). The story is trite, hackneyed, predictable, or any word you would like to use that means something we have all seen a hundred times, but the acting and the atmosphere are pretty good. that is quite a complement, because I didn't think much of the direction especially that stupid slow-motion beginning of Mitchell and Scriber coming in the house and seeing the murders. You wonder first if the house has some history of murder, but then just wonder why the director went that route at all. An intriguing film especially in the context of when it was made.