Spooktober Day 22 SILENT MADNESS!!!

Da 22

Silent Madness

We are getting into the heavy hitters of the hard to find and reputably horrible now. It’s been a journey for sure. For those who have made it this far, rats off to ya. It hasn’t been easy, I can imagine. Now we get to a large, and I do mean learge chunk of craziness.

If ever a film wanted to carry the title of “Everything I loved about 80’s slasher”, this film waves that banner with pride.

It has nudity, within acceptable limits

It has drug use, within acceptable limits

A body count, that’s pretty respectable

It’s also in 3 f’n D, oh god please stop.

That’s right.

This film decided it could either be normal and still satisfy slasher fans, or it could go big. It went to the 3rd dimension of cinema and did so with the aid of Gerald Feil, a grand master cinematographer who brought us Friday the 13ths Part 3. WHICH WAS ALSO IN 3D!! So we are for sure in good hands here. Even the premise is just too fun to ignore. So lets get into it and get ready for fun. This will be fun.

As most good slasher of the time, we begin, in a basement, with a screaming in your face title sequence and cartoonish music meant to scare the willies into us. Or out depending on your mood. Why the random shot of a pipe in a basement? Surely we will find out soon. We’re actually beginning at a wonderful place. An asylum for the insane! You see it’s a good day today, for someone. As today is their day for release. Which has everyone happy. Well no not really they’re all pants crappingly insane but happy in spirit. Which is a joy to watch as random people dance in place and others simply convulse and drool. I miss asylums from the 80’s. But we are here for the release of a questionable patient. It seems the doctor here likes releasing patients who may not all entirely be ready to be released. But he does so because he’s the doctor and also they can’t afford to care for everyone. So today Romano is ready to be released. He may not be entirely ready to acclimate back into society but damnit he better try.

But sadly for him, he won’t have to try. Romano, which is a great name by the way. He won’t be going free anytime soon. See, thanks to an error in the computer. The wrong man went free. Howard Johns is our man who got out. Howard, is not ready for public release, let alone private release.

His hobbies include arts and crafts, bashing people with sledgehammers, murder, rape, hatchet tossing, and being a true blue psychotic killer.

Who happens to now be free, with a sledgehammer, and happening upon two lovers in a muppet lined van. I don’t know how many muppets gave their lives to line that van. But they will be remembered, As I mentioned the word lovers, this of course means breast. Well toned wild roaming breast. Because parking your van by the river is hot, and you want to do the sex with a man. A man. Living in a van, down by the river.

Well no ones sleepin when John Howard comes creepin.

He tells the male lover to kiss his sledgehammer, which he does and instantly regrets as the sledgehammer does not believe in soft kisses. The woman makes a run for it, but he demonstrates his skill with hatchet tossing. This guy is quick to work!

But he’s not done yet.

No sooner than the caring Lady Doctor whom hates the doctor, finds out who really went free and begins a casually paced search for the doctor to tell him of this oopsie. We realize the city planner was on meth. Because someone thought it a good idea to build a university next to an Insane Asylum.

So Joho our killer is patrolling the quad looking for more girls to kill. And luckily for him he happens upon roller girl. Who rolls right into his arms, and is instantly dragged off to have her head caved in with a vice.

Seriously this guy is a gold star when it comes to killer efficiency. You can tell how much he cares about what he does.

Meanwhile our caring concerned Lady Doctor is searching for Dr. Krueger. That’s his name, I am not giving him a nickname for fun. He search leads her to of all things, a secret ward in the asylum where. It would appear. The good doctor is experimenting on patience. We learn this thanks to two henchmen of the doctor who threaten her about being somewhere she shouldn’t be and seeing things she might not be best seeing. Which goes splendidly well. Thankfully, and surprisingly. They don’t kill or attack her. They let her go, but they DO laugh maniacally as she exists.

So she does eventually find Krueger, and they discuss the accidental release of the wrong man. Releasing a psychotic killer instead of a mild mannered man with some stability issues. The doctor is more concerned with how she accessed certain files she has no access too, and why she went looking into a ward she should not have gone into. Seen things she aught not see. She’s not the brightest, she’s a little too confident in the legal system. She also may not have paid much attention to how crazy people act, or just never watched a villain in a movie. Because when he ask her “Have you shared any of this with anyone?” she answers him ‘No, I haven’t…but I do plan after we speak to go talk to so and so” of course this is not the answer you give to someone conducting illegal human experimentation, and also let a killer out ‘accidentally’ from an asylum they run. So expect great things in her career shortly.

Meanwhile we interrupt the Asylum games to introduce some ladies of a nearby sorority that likely. HIGHLY likely will become women of interest for us. Don’t worry they aren’t partying and flashing their breast. Though one does dance and show her bra. That’s as far as that sort of behavior goes! As their kindly elderly head lady begins calling the girl who flashed her covered breast a whore and a slut for flashing her skin. A bit harsh, perhaps. But a lesson learned none the less.

The girls are all of varying character. We have a party girl, a good girl, the learned girl and every stereotype you find in these university films.

Don’t get too attached as one of them is already alone on her own and being snatched up by our killer. Again. The speed which this man works would make any supervisor cry openly and pray for an employee with that much dedication to their task.

Remember when I said that doctor. is likely going to meet an untimely end because she told the doctor what she knows? Well she actually makes it to a meeting with the heads of the board at the asylum with the doctor. Where he informs us all that. The man JoHo wasn’t accidentally released. There was just a minor error in the paperwork. It should have said he was deceased. A simple mistake which will take a few days to draw up the death certificate and prove this is what happened, and that he wasn’t accidentally, or purposely released to kill at will. She survives only to be made a fool of to the board. A shocking twist to be sure.

But she’s not going to be easily swayed. She’s on her way to talk to the sheriff, alerting him to be on the look out for a man fitting JoHo’s description and keep the streets safe. That’s just the tip of the dildo. She’s going to go full on investigative journalist here. For some reason the hospital has no records what so ever on the past activities of JoHo. He simply exist. So she’s going to attempt discovering records of his. Which are sadly well kept and hard to come by. So she needs help. College campus help. For reasons that aren’t our concern. Just follow the story and don’t worry about the plot points.

Well, for some reason, the man willing to help her. Feels the best she can do, and he can do to help her get information she needs. Is to have her pose as a sorority exchange student. This allows her access to the girls of the sorority to hear any and all juicy details of…the murder at the school. Which the girls tease they all heard of, but nothing specific. Just that it’s gory. And that their dorm mother is the only one ancient enough to likely know anything and be of any help.

So Doctor Journalist is hot on the case now!

I mean if we need to talk about it, why not? Why a woman would do better getting information by pretending to be a member of a sorority versus just directly asking, or visiting a records building. Going to a library to pull of specific crime reports in the papers…All viable options. But none of them put her in danger and make her care, like putting her into a sorority of yet to be murdered ladies.

So does she get what she needs from the house mother? Well yes. But begrudgingly so. She tells her all about the ‘Terrible night’ which causes her sleepless night still to this day. How JoHo would go away during pledge week. ALWAYS goes away during this time. So he could hide and spy on the girls. Getting spanked in granny panties by their sorority sisters. Well the ladies decide to have some fun with him as they spot him. Getting poor JoHo drunk as a skunk. One girl teasing him with her bare black and white breast. Which he wants very much to touch! But the girls begin politely spanking him with a paddle. Giggling and enjoying the fun.

Well JoHo isn’t laughing! He was humiliated beyond words! So he lashed out against them! Attacking them with a ray gun. It’s a nail gun, but looks like a ray gun from a 50’s scifi show. Unfortunately the girls didn’t know how thin the string of his sanity was. So none of them survived. All those paddled backsides dead, because they decided to have fun with a peeping tom instead of reporting him.

Well naturally as she uncovered this story, her university friend who shoved her into this sorority is taking her out to a celebration dinner date. It seems only fair to him in late 70’s decorum that since she scored a win for her cause, he should stay with her through the night and score for his cause. If you get my meaning.

Speaking of perverted acts of disgust. One of the college girls is enjoying a bowl of fruit loops with coca cola in the bowl instead of milk. These girls live on the edge. You do crazy things in University.

Like also going around snooping at the very sight of those ghastly murders years ago. Which might seem like a good goof for an afternoon outing. But bot to all the sorority sisters. Only our resident party girl and Doctor Journalist.

But their trip down murder lane s cut short. No not by employee of the month JoHo, but by an almost walking stereotype security guard. Who tells the ladies “Whatchu doin down here?! Schools over over! No get yo buns outta here. Heh, you know those rats keep getting bigger and bigger each and every year eh heh heh heh heh” It’s…charming.

Well party girl is off to lunch with the girls. But Doctor Journalist is going to stick around the murder scene and investigate some more.

Which sounds fine, until it isn’t!

As she’s investigating the former crime scene. She happens to find of all things, an Asylum ID bracelet belonging to none other that Joho! What luck! But lady luck isn’t done rolling for her yet. She stumbles upon Joho themselves!!

Surely this is her end! A shocking and surprising end no less!

But no. She lives! She calmly talks to him and he isn’t immediately trying to murder her. In fact he’s rather calm. Until he isn’t and he grabs her. But she shakes loose and immediately is grateful for Old man Jenkins the security guard. Alas though. As they go looking for her assailant. They discover Joho invested a lot of his skill tree points into stealth and he is not-a-vailable.

She’s not wasting any time here. She is ready to flip the table and pop the cork on this.

She contacts the hospital and talks to the only woman she feels she can trust. Then off she goes to the sheriff. It’s time to take control of things and end this before he continues his reign of chaos.

Unfortunately though. The medical industry can’t be trusted. Even her fellow lady Doctor can’t be trusted. They all tell the sheriff Joho is dead, they produce this time a death certificate, and Doctor Journalist is simply out of her mind NEARLY insane.  Which is enough for the sheriff to declare she’s a ditsy girl with delusions of grandeur.

The best thing about this scene though is the beautiful and wonderful town sheriff. His performance alone is always outstanding,  played by the always fun to watch in anything Sydney Lassick. Famous for a few roles and rather wonderful to watch in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest.

The one and only line you ever need to hear from him, for this movie to prove its immediate value and worth in purchasing thanks to Vinegar Syndrome is, “Why don’t you just get the fuck out of here and let me eat in peace huh? Look! Just because the goddamn broad is so good lookin’, don’t mean we all gotta go thinkin with our dicks! Huh? Right?!”, it’s a beautiful piece to have hopefully made its way onto Inside the Actors Studio. God I hope it did.

So now with the sheriff being of no use. The doctors of the asylum against her. She is now more than ever motivated to seek out Joho and prove she isn’t crazy, and that he IS alive, and WILL be stopped!

However also, as motivated. Is the board at the asylum. Head lady doctor is now suggesting they find and kill Joho themselves! How will it look now that they’ve declared he’s dead, if he turns out to be alive and killing again? So she instructs resident mad doctor and dream master Dr. Krueger to hire two goons from the asylum and have them apprehend and kill Joho. But what, of Doctor Journalist?

She too, is on the chopping block.

And the two goons hired to do this task? Why it’s the two men from earlier who laughed maniacally at her when she discovered Dr. Kruegers secret ward of the asylum. Nuts and Butts. So now we have a setup.

We have Joho on campus, seeking out girls as they all remind him of the girls who spanked him and therefor must die.

We have Doctor Journalist going full hero mode to track down Joho and bring down a corrupt board of doctors.

We have Butts and Nuts armed with surgical grade weapons and a license to kill, joining the hunt to capture Joho and kill the good Doctor Journalist.

But worst of all! We have a goddamn lunatic eating fruit loops with coke! Seriously! How is….WHO THE FUCK BUT A MADMAN WOULD DO THIS?!

Sorry, it just bothers me, on a spiritual level. Like Cherry Coke. Might as well go full meth head and introduce Cilantro Coke. Weirdos.

So University man is still trying to romance Doctor Journalist and see how far this plays out. But he also isn’t entirely ready to believe her. Just enough that it keeps him close to the booty. Which girls don’t appreciate, but will put up with if it means having some level of support when everyone calls them crazy. But the moment he crosses the line, he’s out the door.

But her heart is too big for this town. She doesn’t want to put the girls of that sorority at risk. So while University man is hugging to her hips. She employs his help and formulates a plan. Get the girls(or girl) to his lake out, which is close by, and come back ready to defend Sorority house.

Meanwhile in the asylum meatwagon. Nuts is talking to Butts about his plan for sticking the good Doctor Journalist with a needle ‘Up her tight butt’ and as her pants will already be down. He plans on well you get the picture. As he tells Butts “She’s gonna have one hell of a ride back eh heh heh heh heh”, Butts however is not fond of unwanted pricking and tries to get Nuts to focus on the main quest, not the side quest. Reminding him they have a huge crazy man of lethal skill to deal with also.  But Nuts is all balls and doesn’t see this as a problem. They got electric prods, and sleepy time injections to take care of that, and the doctor.

Everything is coming together and it’s only going to get funner from here.

So off goes University man with one of the girls in his car. But they stop by the roadside as she spots a familiar van. Saying it’s the boyfriend of one of their sorority sisters.

For some reason, hysterics were dealt with very brutally back in the 70’s and 80’s.

As they approach the scene of a beaten up van. University man is telling the poor girl with him to ‘calm down’, but she can’t She’s growing hysterical and asking “What happened to my friends! Oh god what happened!”, so he reacts as was appropriate for caring people. He immediately yells in her face “STAY BACK DAMNIT!” He cautiously ventures closer to the car. The girl is not leaving him be. She is too worried about her friend! So he lashes out at her again. This time strangling her torso and tossing her aside. “GODAMNIT I SAID STAY BACK!” Surely we have evolved in our dealing with peoples highly emotional states.

Speaking of emotional states. Back at the dorm. Doctor Journalist is doing all she can to keep Party girl and learned girl alive. Which she fails horribly at as both girls die.

Yes party girl is apparently into arcade games, and is stabbed from behind as she’s playing Dragon’s Lair. Meanwhile Learned girl is upside down working out. Her feet secured. Making her easy pray for the efficient skill of Joho. So he manages to knock her out with ease, tying a rope around her neck, attaching the other end to a dumbbell and sending it hurtling out the window. Snapping the girls neck.

Just in time for Doctor Journalist to see the horror and go running downstairs, to a new horror altogether.

University man is driving back to the sorority house with hysterical learned girl. However they made the mistake of taking Doctor Journalist expensive car. Which Butts and Nuts recognize, so they begin trying to run the car off the road. Now University man is a man of reason. So he pulls over demanding an explanation. Which he is given with fist as he and Learned girl are knocked out and shoved into the crazy van. These men are on a mission.

A mission which leads them through the doors of the sorority to see Doctor journalist about to make her escape after the murder of the two girls inside. Now, Nuts waste no time here. He is fully invested in butt sex with the doctor, to a point he is even telling her what he has planned and greets her with a “Come to daddy, baby. Miss high and mighty tight ass, naturally she runs away back upstairs and locks the door. But the two men are masters of locked doors. Quickly working to unlock the door and let themselves in, while Doctor Journalist looks for an escape of some kind. Of ANY kind. So she checks the closet! An obvious place, but also last chance for hiding.

Which also happens to be the hiding spot of Joho! Occupied lady!!

Right as he discovers the lady who got away from him in the basement has returned, he’s ready to kill her! Break times over! But also in that moment. The bad guy tag team of Nuts and Butts break into the room. Nuts is all to ready for a battle with Joho. While Butts decides to take on the good doctor.

Well it’s a slobber knocker for sure. Nuts can barely tackle let alone measure up to Joho, and Doctor Journalist is proving more of a challenge for Butts than he’d planned. Fortunately she is able to over power him and make an escape. But she trips over their medical bag and ends up knocked out at the foot of the stairs. Joho proves the stronger man and overpowers Balls. But as he goes to make his escape. He decides there’s still time left in his workday for one more murder. So he picks up Doctor Journalist and carries her with him. Where? The only place he could of course. The basement.

Where he has planned out his next kill session. A forward thinking, prepared and punctual killer. This guy is going places, if not for his tendency for ruthless murder.

He lays Doctor Journalist on a workbench near an automatic drill press. Yep. He’s gonna drive a drill through her head.

But hot on his trail now are the team of Nuts and Butts! These guys are not done yet!  These two have their cattle prod, their knockout injections ready to go. They are as prepared are Joho is with setting up his drill press. But why the long setup for his drill? Why not just continue his effective efficiency of killing?

Oh he has plans as well. Trust me.

So into the battle Arena come Butts and Nuts. Nuts is back to creeping on the doctor. Informing her he has “another file to fill in her cabinet” But before he can creepy any more. Joho attacks from the ceiling! He set this all up to get those men here as well and take them out too! He’s super ready on the efficiency!

But Just as he’s about to take down Balls, Butts comes in for the save. Taking down and knocking out Joho. Freeing Balls to go rub himself over the Doctor again. Even climbing up on top of her, trying to tug down her top and bra. But he just can’t do it without any light. So Butts offers to help him with the lights, which is when his simple mind begins to piece together another part of Joho plans. The drill press above Doctor Journalist head, is electrical, and needs power. Those powerlines run alongside the tubes protecting the power lines for the lights. As his eyes trace the pattern of travel for the electricity. He begins to formulate. That by his calculation. Turning on the power. May also turn on the drill. Therefor Killing the Doctor or possibly his horny partner on top of her. We the audience can put this together, and collectively give the crazy Joho a gold star. This guy really is head and shoulders above the rest.

However, Butts isn’t entirely convinced how electricity works. So he throws the switch to see just what will happen. Of course what should happen. Does happen. The lights come on just as Balls is talking about “The motion in the ocean”, and immediately, as well as quickly. Comes down the drill. Right into his head instead of the Doctors head. So nuts is gone and it’s all down to the Butt.

Until he too is taken down. Now we got Joho chasing down Doctor Journalist as she plays the deadliest most efficient game of Cat and Mouse the college has ever seen between two people still fully dressed.

Will she survive? Will Joho meet his end and send every supervisor and store manager into waves of tears? Will she prove the board at the asylum were dirty filthy liars and vindicate herself?

Maybe. We’ll find out! This is the fight that never ends!

Seriously its great and a little comical. Everytime you think “This is it, this is the last fight, oh man what a setup” it keeps going.

At one point he has her in the air ducts and begins stabbing through them trying to get to her. But no success and he even grabs hold of her! But she kicks away to freedom. She soon hides out in a ventilation shaft, but he hears her and turns on two high powered fans around her. She has almost no way out. So he lowers a spinning claw blade electric tool on a large cable. Down on top of her! Surely this will end her. HELL NO! She pushes it off and is able to short out one of the fans, making an escape.

They chase each other Scooby Do style through hallways and multiple rooms. Until they end up outside and she finds the ambulance belonging to Butts and Nuts. She’s able to complete a side quest of freeing University man and Learned girl, while still holding boss agro from Joho on the main quest. The celebration of freeing these two is however cut short as Joho has caught up with her and nearly has her! But she escapes again!

But all good things must come to an eventual actual factual end. So she finds herself back inside the sorority house.

Locked in an epic showdown struggle, the brawl for it all. Leading to the greatest of all great fight moments.

See, Doctor Journalist did free University man, but she didn’t untie his hands. So, instead of running away to find help. He stays around for moral support. Seriously. She’s grappling with Joho who has a broken piece of mirror in hand ready to drive it into her heart, and University man is just standing there idly watching. But he has a trick up his sleeve. A great. Amazing. Beautiful surprise.

Just as Doctor Journalist is able to escape the death grip of Joho and miss being stabbed. University man tilts his hips to the side and bends over. What’s this? He has a rifle in his hands! Behind his back!

He can barely aim the rifle a foot from the ground, and he fires like a boss. Hitting…..nothing! Absolutely nothing! Disappointing Doctor Lady, and irritating the ever effective Joho. He tackles him and begins to choke University man out with the rifle.

But his efficient ways are stopped, as he spots in the hallway facing him, The house mother. Who is….happy to see him! She calls out to him “My baby!” and he smiles, arms wide open out to her.

This is the moment Doctor Journalist needs! So she takes the discarded chunk of mirror and stabs Joho right in the neck! Killing him instantly!

Much to the horror of House mom. Who cries out and falls back on her still funny and unwarranted war cry of “You whore! Slut! You bitch! Dirty whore!”. Prompting a flashback of the night those mean girls were teasing Joho and giving us our third full breast shot of the film, in artsy black and white no less. And in the flashback. We see it wasn’t Joho that killed those girls. It was the house mom! Who even THEN gets to repeat her classic phrase “You whores! Sluts! Dirty whores! Bitches!’ and SHE kills them with the nail gun/ray gun.

But she too, is also taken down.

It is only then, we learn. As the sheriff is overlooking the crime scene, and University man gets up from his stretcher. That House mom, was the mother of Joho. She’d given him her maiden name, and never told anyone. She lost it when those girls took advantage of her fragile son. Being a mute, he couldn’t defend himself and say his mom killed those girls. So he took the wrap and became…or embraced his insanity in the asylum.

It’s messed up.

But even more messed up. Is that Doctor Lady is taking University man with her to New York. In a great awkward and rushed scene.

She tells him that she’s headed back to New York but guesses she should return the class ring to him she wore to look like a sorority girl. But she claims it wont come off her finger, so guess he’ll have to come with her to new York. He tells her ‘No, it means we’ll do the sensible thing any real journalist would do and that’s go back to my office and discuss the story of a lifetime.” To which they both laugh as he jumps into her expensive car. She then easily takes off the ring tossing it to him. They laugh even more. Then drive off together. And the movie fades out on that scene with the most appropriate creepy horror music.

This movie is a wonder to behold. It’s face moving, beginning to end. No part of it ever drags or feels forced. You buy the ticket, you take the ride. The effects are well done, the music is fun if not a true piece of its time. The actors do their best delivering dialog that aside a few moments, like the sheriff, or anything coming out of Balls, isn’t too horrible. It’s simple, cheap, and effective. It’s everything a good slasher should be.

And don’t worry about the cover art. It wasn’t selling you something it wasn’t. It also wasn’t high art. It was just another thing of beauty to grab your attention. The original art was great. Another painted poster. A forest lit by moonlight. With a girl in jogging shorts and a mini top running terrified. With a very overly scary drawn Joho wielding an axe, with the tagline “He’s out now…The terror has just begun!” It’s pretty amazing and I love it. But the art I remember and why it confused me when I first rented it. Was much subtler and more like a serious movie. Which it really isn’t. Its cover confused me because it almost mirrored the unofficial sequel Richard O’Bannon did to Rocky Horror Picture Show, called Shock Treatment. It’s a red cover with Joho’s face creeping out at us and in black and white text SILENT MADNESS. That’s what we had in our Blockbuster, and later I picked up from Hollywood video, thinking it was Shock Treatment. Which would prove to be another shock all to itself when I did watch it.

So yes this movie is worth checking out AND buying. It even comes with 3D glasses. It comes in 2k standard version AND 3D version. Hell it even comes with a third option! MODERN 3D!! That’s right. You can put to use the now old but at the time modern 3D television someone in the family likely picked up at Best Buy assuming it’d actually be the future of home cinema.

But seriously, check this one out wherever and however you can. You won’t be disappointed Giving it a look.

We are entering the home stretch people, and oh what we have in store…