Silent Rage

It could be argued that this movie ripped off Halloween, and I'd have to agree, but at least there's an explanation behind the seemingly indestructible nature of the killer in this movie.

The bulk of this movie is hard to watch. Too much of Norris trying to act and not enough of the fighting that made him famous. Chuck's deputy sidekick is one unfunny joke after another. The love scenes were awkward. I didn't even enjoy the gratuitous Norris vs. bikers fight.

The killer's scenes, on the other hand, were mesmerizing. The movie starts with his failed struggle to maintain his sanity. We witness his descent into madness and homicidal rage and then his transformation into one of the most terrifying "monsters" I've ever seen on film.

Think of it as a typically bad Chuck Norris movie where the killer steals the show and makes the movie slightly better than bad. Bonus: A musical score that at moments was surprisingly effective.

I always liked this film and have wanted a sequel to it. Yes, it could have been better than it was, but it was fun to watch. Stephen Furst's character has to be the most pathetic deputy ever. There really wasn't much of a plot. But it was fun to watch this unkillable guy and no matter what you do to him, he just keeps on ticking like the energizer bunny. It's a fun movie.

I liked it. With Norris you expect lots of martial arts and/or guns versus normal criminals and terrorists. But then you run across this flick! This is as close to a supernatural flick as you can come without any actual suernatural elements. The mute killer is one scary guy, far more terrifying than Jason Vorhees or Michael Meyers. Oh, and like all good Frankensteinian critters, he's still there at the end, waiting for a sequel that will never get made. As most people are used to seeing Stephen Furst doing comedy, it's really disturbing to see him die in a flick.

I remember watching "Silent Rage" along time ago when I was very young, and I could barely sit through the whole film because of the suspense. I would get up and walk into another room, then come back to check out what was going on. It was quite intense for a young kid. I can certainly sit through the whole thing now, without trouble, but the movie is still suspenseful. And, like my one line summary says, this movie creates and maintains suspense better than a lot of the slasher movies that were being made back the the early '80s.

This isn't a well known movie, but it's really one of Norris' best that he's been in. 8/10

A young, unstable man hacks to death the lady and man he lives with, and Texan Sheriff Dan Stevens comes face to face with the killer, to only see him gunned down by his men after he tries to escape when captured. At the hospital, he's pronounced dead, but secretly he's used in an experiment by some surgeons working on a formula to help the body genetically heal in quick succession. They thought they could control him and this development would bring them success, but now this homicidal murderer is an unstoppable killing machine and Sheriff Stevens and his rookie Deputy are on the trail.

Norris' fans might dig it, but others might find this cheap-jack b-film a boring chore. I thought it was fair. Anyhow who's the man, Chuck's the man. Not much of an actor though, but we know. He gets by with that golden blonde hair and legendary chop-suey who-ha…. And not forgetting that distinguishable fuzz above the lip. The premise is like an over-extended episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" meets John Carpenter's "Halloween (1977)". Actually a lot scenes and filming techniques closely resemble "Halloween" and even its first sequel, but the main difference it's headed by Norrissssssss. The far-fetched concept isn't bad with slasher tones, a lady in peril get-up and a mad scientist theme, but it throws so much in that there seems to be too much useless filler (like the corny romance sequences, biker trouble (nice work in the bar Chuck, but we already know how good you are), scientific moral dilemmas and non-effective comic humour) interrupting what could've been more fun. Silly it is to begin with, but do we want to see Norris romancing, or kicking ass? These redundant acts only slowed it up and got in the way on the main story. What outweighs the film is the weakly lacking script with many clumsy dialogues. Norris even gets time to share some heart-warming advice. Director Michael Millar starts off pretty slowly, but in the second half demonstrates well-shot camera placement and steady pockets of poignant tension. The atmospheric synthesizer score seemed to work. Chuck gets his hands dirty with some gusty scuffles involving the super-human killing machine, like the modest, if unspectacular showdown with him using his jump-kicks (in slow-motion of course) and sudden close-ups to show that focuses on his face. Norris' chimes in with a stoic performance, but goes gusty when the action calls. Brian Libby's menacingly towering figure is effective. Ron Silver sticks out as the humane doctor, while William Finley goes all-smarmy as deceitfully mad doctor looking for that Nobel Prize award. Stephen Furst as the overweight, downright clueless deputy was there for the laughs, but where were they. Toni Kalem looks all-sweet as Norris old flame.