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Silent Rage (1982)

Dir: Michael Miller

John Kirby (Brian Libby) is a bit of a nutter. To prove this to us we open the film with him blowing a fuse and taking an axe to some noisy neighbours.

Sheriff Dan Stevens (Chuck Norris) is called to the scene and after a frightful mess crazy Kirby is mortally shot by the Cops.

Doctor Tom Halman (Ron Silver , “Blue Steel”) was Kirby’s psychiatrist (nice job Doc!) and takes him to a private hospital where he Kirby supposedly dies.
In reality the hospital is home to some shadowy Genetic Engineering experiments being carried out by Halman’s crazy boss, Dr. Phillip Spires (Steven Keats, “Death Wish”), who has injected Kirby with a new serum that means Kirby can heal even the most would-be fatal wounds almost instantly.
Halman tries to tell Spires the risks he is taking, but in true Scientist fashion he ignores the warnings… “Get the fuck outta here! Now”!

Meanwhile we learn that Stevens just happens to be dating Halman’s Sister Alison (Toni Kalem), though almost all their screen time is spent arguing.
Sure enough though Kirby does eventually escape and the Sheriff, with the less than helpful help of Deputy Charlie (Stephen Furst, “National Lampoon's Animal House”), has to track down a killer he thought already dead….

 

Oh dear. I came to “Silent Rage”, following some good word of mouth (and a cheap DVD), with high hopes and a little spring in my step for the full-on fun that only an 80’s cheese, Martial Arts mixed with Horror, movie fest can deliver.
What a letdown!

The opening axe murder set-up (as Kirby slowly loses it) is very well done, as we follow Kirby from out of his room, down to the garden, to collecting the axe in a very matter of fact fashion, without any real edits. It’s unusually done and points to possibly good stuff to come.
When Chuck arrives though his look around the opening murder house is so slow and methodical it looks more like an Estate Agent’s video, “now lets takes a look at the house’s ample storage space”.
In fact the following fight/arrest is also shot in a similarly methodical and sedate way, due to a total lack of background music and only a few, very quiet, sound effects, and it all makes for a really weird, even dreamlike atmosphere to the opening of the movie that just does not fit.

After the opening we have to spend what seems like forever in the company of a very tired looking Chuck and the dumb as a box of rocks Deputy Charlie.
Charlie is the World’s most ineffectual Cop (when we first meet him he nearly shoots Sheriff Stevens by mistake) and spends the rest of the movie walking into door frames, nearly crashing the car, staring inanely at bared breasts, grinning stupidly and eating as many hamburgers as possible. He’s pointless and annoying. Much like most of the film he’s in.

The first half of the film is also packed with ‘super sci-fi’ medical visuals that might (might!) have looked slightly impressive in 1982 but now look delightfully quaint at best, especially the ancient computers, Certainly there is nothing thrilling here to be experienced, even on a cheesy level.
The score, by Peter Bernstein and Mark Goldenberg, has some effective moments but is rarely heard, as almost all the fights are played without any kind of background music which (like the opening) means the movie feels very strange even during its all to brief moments of action .

Talk of action brings up a very desperate attempt to try and keep us all from falling asleep with the aid of a ‘nothing to do with the plot’ biker gang (including a denim clad piece of white trash with tattooed cleavage on display) who appear in the local diner causing trouble. They are promptly kicked out by Chuck and one of them shouts back, “This ain’t over yet sucka”!
Sure enough, to pack in some ass-kicking while we patiently wait for Kirby to escape, the biker gang returns with a few more friends to cause mayhem in Chuck’s peaceful town.
Chuck does some average Martial Arts and sorts it all out with ease, and we once again settle down in the vain hope of something interesting happening.

Just over 50 minutes in and Kirby eventually goes on a mini rampage (and it’s just in time as we have had to endure far too much of the pointless romance between Chuck and Alison (as a truly dire song plays over their bed rolling), more stupidity from Deputy Charlie and even some needless ‘home life’ scenes with Dr. Halman), but even then there is little life here.
The “Halloween” style ‘where be the killer?’ moments, as a would be victim creeps around the house , are as strung out as Sheriff Chuck’s search of the cupboards during the film’s opening and just as suspenseful, as in…not very.
In fact whole chunks of the film are spent on below average ‘Slasher’ set-ups as Kirby shuffles around trying to find someone to do in and we seemingly have to endure it all in real time.
The fact that Kirby keeps popping back up after being supposedly killed is also shown endlessly, almost as if the director still expects the audience to be shocked by it even after the third or forth time it‘s been shown.
Basically this is most certainly a movie in no hurry, at all, to get anywhere. This sucker drags!
70 minutes in and we’re still listening to scientist’s waffle and Chuck pull ‘I love you’ faces to Alison as we have to make do with a pitiful ‘2’ on the body count score, and no run-in’s with Chuck at all, as far as Kirby’s supposed ‘rampage’ goes.
75 minutes in and we have another body, but just as it looks like things are improving we have yet another time-out period to concentrate on thrilling things like Charlie looking at a blackboard, Charlie doing bad De Niro impressions in front of a mirror and carrying cookies and mad Doc Spires drowning his sorrows in scotch and looking like he wants to give Kirby a big wet kiss.

Even during the finale Michael Miller decides he will spend ages following Alison around as she creeps about trying to dodge Kirby. It’s drawn out ‘Slasher’ movie tedium (with no slash) yet again, right when we should have been in the middle of a kick-ass smack down between Chuck and Super Psycho.
“I’m sure the smack down when it appears will be worth the wait though” I hear you all cry. Well no, not really.
Chuck shoots Kirby. Kirby gets up and Chuck looks shocked. Chuck flees. Kirby is supposedly taken care of but gets up and Chuck looks shocked again. Chuck hits Kirby a few times without any real Martial Arts on show…film ends in an abrupt and cliché fashion.

A flop as a Horror film, a flop as a Sci-Fi film and even a flop as a Chucky Norris fight fest (he basically does very little in a very bored fashion) “Silent Rage” is likely to bring out some very loud moments of rage from anyone unfortunate enough to have splashed out good money on buying it.
Even for 80’s cheese fans there is nothing here to enjoy. Avoid.