Silent Rage

If you can get past the painfully slow and boring parts of this film, you should have a rather good time watching it much like I did. It's a fun little horror from the 80's with the ridiculous but hilarious Chuck Norris so of course, you can expect cheesy lines and poorly placed kung fu moves from him.

I was actually surprised by some of the suspense in this film. They actually managed quite a bit of it. The story is pretty silly but it seems like every Chuck Norris movie has the same premise in a way: some sort of bad guy is terrorizing people and Chuck Norris has to fight him. The acting was pretty bad but I guess that's expected. Don't expect an Oscar worthy film from this but turn off your brain for 100 minutes and have a good time!

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.

This movie is pretty much how everyone describes it (a B-grade flick), but there is one worthy element that I feel most people have missed. Brian Libby's character creation was nothing short of brilliant. During the first half of the movie this might not be so noticeable, but towards the end, and especially during the final fight sequence, his movements and mannerisms are highly original and unique. The director would have told him to play the part of a man that has become almost zombie-like, and who has the ability to recover quickly and suddenly, and then left the rest up to the imagination of Brian. Well Brian certainly rose to the occasion, and his work in that last portion of the movie alone should have earned him an award. So yeah, the movie overall might be B-grade stuff, but Brian Libby deserves credit and recognition where it is due, and it is worth while seeing the film just for what he brings to the screen in that last half. I'll add an extra few points out of respect to Brian Libby, and give the film 7/10.

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

At a little town from Texas a tough sheriff (Chuck Norris) and his helper (Stephen Furst) pitting a dangerous series killer with a supernatural force. The monstrous man is a Frankesntein-alike creation from scientits (Steven Keats, William Finley, Ron Silver) and acting similarly to Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers.

This Chuck Norris vehicle contains action-packed, thrills, chills and lots of blood and violence. The comic relief at charge of Stephen Furst as silly and botcher police telling stupid things , furthermore imitating Taxi Driver's Robert De Niro. Chuck Norris demonstrates his qualities as action hero in violent fights against some nasty punkies at a saloon by means of punches, kicks , slaps and leaps. Peter Bernstein's screeching musical score is composed by synthesizer . The motion picture was regularly directed by Michael Miller. This is an inferior Norris film in spite of it , he was on his best period with his various hits, such as ¨The Octagon¨, ¨An eye for an eye¨, ¨Forced vengeance¨, ¨Lone Wolf MacQuade¨, and ¨Missing in action¨ among others. Rating : Average but entertaining. The picture will appeal to Chuck Norris fans.