1984’s Silent Madness opens in a mental hospital in New Jersey. In order to cut down on costs, the hospital’s administrators have been giving early release to some of their patients. Dr. Joan Gilmore (Belinda Montgomery) has only been on staff for a few months but even she knows that there’s a risk that a truly dangerous patient could be released. Dr. Gilmore’s worries come true when a homicidal patient named Howard Johns (Solly Marx) disappears from the hospital. Apparently, a computer errors led to Howard being released instead of a patient with a similar name.
Oh, someone screwed up big time!
Or, at least, that’s what Joan believes. In a scene that has to be seen to be believed, the arrogant Dr. Kruger (Roderick Cook) attempts to convince Joan that Howard Johns actually died a while ago and that’s why he’s not in the hospital anymore. Joan demands to see a death certificate. Dr. Kruger is like, “Oh, I don’t know where it is. We’ll have to look for it.” Yeah, that’s the same thing I used to say in college whenever I was running behind on my paying my credit card. “Really? I never received that bill. Can you send it again?”
Knowing that Howard was imprisoned after committing several murders at a sorority house in upstate New York, Joan theorizes that he’s heading back to the college so that he can pick up where he left off. Pretending to be a former member of the sorority, Joan meets the aging house mother, Mrs. Collins (Viveca Lindfors). Mrs. Collins — who often refers to younger women as being “whores” — tells a story of how a hazing ritual gone wrong led to handyman Howard grabbing a nail gun and wiping out a pledge class. When Joan actually spots Howard on campus, she tries to get the sheriff (Sydney Lassick) to do something about it. The sheriff replies that Joan must be seeing things because the hospital called and reported that Howard is deceased. The sheriff than has a beer because he’s the best character in the entire film.
Howard, needless to say, is not dead. He’s hiding out in the sorority house and he’s continuing in his murderous ways. We don’t really learn much about Howard. As the title suggests, he’s a silent killer. That works to the film’s advantage. A silent killer is far more intimidating than one who spends all of his time coming up with bad puns. Because Silent Madness was originally filmed in 3D, Howard enjoys throwing axes and firing nail guns, often straight at the camera.
Silent Madness is a thoroughly ludicrous film but it’s enjoyable as a product of its time. It’s hard not to smile at the thought of a theatrical audience ducking as Howard throws an axe at the camera in 3D. Howard is a properly intimidating killer but the film is totally stolen by Roderick Cook, Viveca Lindfors, and Sydney Lassick, three veteran actors who knew better than to even try to be subtle while appearing in a film like this. Lassick’s performance as the cowardly sheriff is especially enjoyable. We all know that law enforcement is useless in a slasher film. Lassick’s sheriff seems to understand this as well. He’d rather just stay in his office and who can blame him?
Silent Madness is silly and kind of dumb but it’s undeniably entertaining.
Directed by the legendary Monte Hellman, China 9, Liberty 37 is a revisionist take on the western genre. Fabio Testi plays Clayton Drumm, a legendary gunslinger who is about to be hung for murder. At the last minute, men from the railroad company show up and arrange for Clayton be released. They want him to kill a rancher who is refusing to sell his land. Clayton agrees but, before he leaves for his mission, he gives a brief interview to a writer from “out East.” Cleverly, the writer is played by director Sam Peckinpah, to whose films China 9, Liberty 37 clearly owes a huge debt.
Catherine loves Matthew but resents his rough ways and feels that he treats her like property. One night, she and Clayton go for a nude swim and then make love. When Matthew finds out, he strikes his wife and, in self-defense, she stabs him in the back. Believing Matthew to be dead, she and Clayton go on the run.
As a western, China 9, Liberty 37 is more interested in its characters than in the usual gunfights. There are no traditional heroes or villains and Monte Hellman emphasizes characterization over action. Even while he is relentlessly pursuing Clayton and Catherine, Matthew admits that he does not blame Catherine for leaving him. As for Clayton and Catherine, they are both consumed by guilt over their affair. This is one of the few westerns where the main character often refuses to fire his gun.
Director Monte Hellman is as well-known for the films he did not get to make as for the ones he actually did make. (Originally, Quentin Tarantino wanted Hellman to director Reservoir Dogs. When Tarantino changed his mind and decided to direct it himself, Hellman was relegated to serving as executive producer. A lot of recent film history would be very different if Tarantino and Hellman had stuck to the original plan.) Like a lot of the films that Hellman actually did get to make, China 9, Liberty 37 was only given a sparse theatrical release and was often shown in a heavily edited version. It has only been recently that the full version of China 9, Liberty 37 has started to show up on TCM. It is an interesting revisionist take on the western genre and must see for fans of Monte Hellman, Jenny Agutter, and Warren Oates.
Through the Shattered Lens 