Occidental Accidental
Silent Scream (1980)
directed by Denny Harris
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
An enjoyable take on the Psycho family dynamic that - like Psycho - makes the house itself enough of a character to keep the crazy mom off-screen without compromising the weirdness factor. This particular Pacific-side mansion (filmed in Highland Park) utilizes at least three sets of stairs (the main stairwell, a hidden stairwell, and a rickety wooden walkway to the beach) to inspire fatigue in its co-ed boarders and a surprisingly confined sense of space in the audience at home. When already narrow passageways are blocked by tides, cobwebs, or bodies, claustrophobia sets in, and the rational mind that should head out the door finds no place to go but up or down.
The other thing I liked was the three and a half minutes of slow motion that opens Silent Scream. After Race with the Devil, it's the second creative use of a rarely well-utilized effect in as many weeks. In an extra, Ken and Jim Wheat - screenwriter brothers with matching beards, matching guts, and plenty of down-list sequels to their name - get to the bottom of their own efforts with the film: Rebecca Balding was happy to get naked "at the drop of a hat." That and five minutes worth of reminiscing about Vin Diesel in Pitch Black makes you wonder why one-time director Denny Harris wasn't available to defend a more or less admirable credit. Unless the DVD was released post-2007, in which case he was dead.
directed by Denny Harris
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
An enjoyable take on the Psycho family dynamic that - like Psycho - makes the house itself enough of a character to keep the crazy mom off-screen without compromising the weirdness factor. This particular Pacific-side mansion (filmed in Highland Park) utilizes at least three sets of stairs (the main stairwell, a hidden stairwell, and a rickety wooden walkway to the beach) to inspire fatigue in its co-ed boarders and a surprisingly confined sense of space in the audience at home. When already narrow passageways are blocked by tides, cobwebs, or bodies, claustrophobia sets in, and the rational mind that should head out the door finds no place to go but up or down.
The other thing I liked was the three and a half minutes of slow motion that opens Silent Scream. After Race with the Devil, it's the second creative use of a rarely well-utilized effect in as many weeks. In an extra, Ken and Jim Wheat - screenwriter brothers with matching beards, matching guts, and plenty of down-list sequels to their name - get to the bottom of their own efforts with the film: Rebecca Balding was happy to get naked "at the drop of a hat." That and five minutes worth of reminiscing about Vin Diesel in Pitch Black makes you wonder why one-time director Denny Harris wasn't available to defend a more or less admirable credit. Unless the DVD was released post-2007, in which case he was dead.
posted by NPK at 6:28 AM
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