Silent Scream is noteworthy as being one of the first slasher films, though it’s largely been forgotten. Made by an aspiring director, Silent Scream was a troubled production, but the film was ultimately a commercial success, leading to the rise of slashers in the early ‘80s. It’s also quite good.

Silent Scream was a project conceived by Denny Harris, a first-time filmmaker. Harris was an award-winning director of commercials and wanted to branch out into motion pictures. He created his own production company, and working on a low budget, Harris shot his horror movie in the summer of 1977. Once it was complete, Harris came to the conclusion that film needed an overhaul and brought in two screenwriters, brothers Ken and Jim Wheat. The Wheats had the crazy idea that Harris re-shoot most of the picture. Though seemingly an extreme approach, the director/financier actually agreed it was the best option.
 

 
With the Wheats’ new script in hand, filming resumed in March 1978. A number of veteran actors were brought into the fold, including Yvonne De Carlo, best known today as the matriarch on The Munsters, and Barbara Steele, who first gained fame as the lead in the Italian horror classic, Black Sunday (1960). One of a handful of actors to appear in both versions of the film is Rebecca Balding, who had previously worked in TV. Balding plays the central role of Scotty Parker. The character is an early example of a “final girl”, sharing some of the same traits, including an androgynous name and appearance. There’s debate in film circles over whether the “final girl” is meant to appeal to young males or young females (or both), but in this case, the Wheat brothers have stated that the Scotty character was designed to attract female audiences. They believed—as do others within the movie industry—that when a male/female couple have decided to go the movies, the picture they end up seeing is usually selected by the female partner.
 

 
Much of the film takes place at a creepy house on the hill—an actual Victorian home in Los Angeles, part of what is known as the “Smith Estate.”
 

 
Harris spent $450,000 on the first version of the picture, with only 15% or so of the initial footage shot making it into the finished product. There were further delays before it was ever shown on the big screen.
 

 
Considering the issues this production had, Silent Scream is a surprisingly good psychological horror film. The plot concerns a group of a young people living in a boarding house, which is owned by a secretive family. As would become standard in slasher films, the young people are offed, one by one, by a mysterious killer using a large knife. There’s blood spilled, for sure, but there’s not much in the way of gore here. Highly influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s proto-slasher Psycho (1960), Silent Scream is suspenseful and well-acted, and the Wheats’ murder mystery keeps the audience guessing. Composer Roger Kellaway went big with the score, recalling Bernard Hermann’s work in Psycho and Cape Fear. The spooky dwelling, which evokes the Bates residence, adds to the “haunted house” vibe.
 

 
Harris proved himself to be more than capable as a filmmaker, and there’s one scene, in particular, in which his skills behind the camera are on full display. As one of the boarders is murdered in the basement of the house, two others are having sex upstairs, with Harris intercutting the simultaneous acts to great effect. It’s both the highlight of the film and a highpoint in slasher cinema.

At the risk of revealing spoilers, I won’t disclose more about the plot. If you’re a fan of slasher films, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with Silent Scream.
 

 
In November 1979, Silent Scream made its public debut for test screenings. The strong returns made from these screenings indicated the film had box office potential. It was subsequently picked up by American Cinema Releasing, and the company began distributing the picture regionally in January 1980. From the get-go, Silent Scream did quite well, earning around $15.8 million, total, by the end of the year—not too shabby for a low budget independent movie. Its success was noted throughout the film industry, as it was the first slasher after Halloween (1978) to become a hit, demonstrating that movies of this type had legs. This led to the proliferation of slasher films in the early 1980s, beginning with Friday the 13th, which was released in May 1980.

Denny Harris died in 2007. Silent Scream is the only film he ever made.

We’ve included the original theatrical trailer below, but if you plan to watch Silent Scream soon, I’d skip it—for now, at least. It is interesting, though, to look back and see how this slasher was marketed, the main purpose being its attempt to sell female audiences on the Scotty character.
 

 
Silent Scream has been released on DVD and Blu-ray. The DVD is out of print, but a few sellers are currently offering it on Amazon, where you can also rent or buy the film digitally. The Blu-ray isn’t listed on Amazon, but you can probably find it on eBay.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Black Christmas’: The groundbreaking 1974 slasher film that paved the way for ‘Halloween’
‘It’s not cranberry sauce!’: Thanksgiving-themed ‘80s slasher film is gory good fun
Edgar Wright’s brilliant fake trailer for ‘Don’t’ spoofs exploitation films of the ‘70s & ‘80s