Personne n'a entendu crier

"No One Heard the Scream" has many of the tropes of a mystery, or even giallo, film. However it largely eschews these genres for most of the run-time, creating less a genre film than a twisted drama about two people pushed to the edge of experience.

The protagonist is an expensive mistress for rich men who witnesses her neighbour disposing of his wife's body. The neighbour takes her hostage and the duo go on a trip to the ocean to dump the body in the sea.

Along the way, the movie loses its original thriller-aspect and becomes a drama about two people in a strange situation. The actress, particularly, is a problem, so cold and inert. When the movie makes its predictable, if belated, detour into homoeroticism with the introduction of an unnecessary nephew of hers, it's almost a relief to see something on screen other than hardened, impassive faces.

There is a romance that feels unlikely and forced, and you are forced to make the conclusion that the openly gay Eloy de la Iglesia just wasn't comfortable shooting romance, love or eroticism between men and women.

Perhaps this extended to his casting of the female lead. She looks like someone who was probably a knockout about five years ago. Would men who can afford to keep an expensive mistress use someone her age?

Then there is a conclusion, which is also a little hard to swallow, and smacks of the tawdry plot developments we got from the giallo genre. It seems like the movie is doubling back on itself, forgetting the progress it made as an interesting drama, and saying "See! This was a thriller, after all!"

I don't know if de la Iglesia ever really made genre pictures; even "The Cannibal Man", notorious Video Nasty though it may be, was perhaps equal parts drama. It also featured an unnecessary young male character as a source of homoeroticism.

Perhaps de la Iglesia, who was a superb filmmaker, needed to be encouraged to make dramas and leave behind genre tropes. For the rest of his career, that's what he seemed to do, thankfully.

I can't deny "No One Heard the Scream" turned out a massive disappointment to me. My expectations for this - supposedly - Spanish Giallo were quite high, but it didn't fulfil any of those, and that was actually also the case for that other exploitation effort "Cannibal Man" from the same writer/director Eloy de la Iglesia. Perhaps the work of this reasonably acclaimed Spanish cult director isn't for me.

The main reason why I really couldn't get into this flick is because I didn't believe ANY of the story's pivotal aspects. I can not see the prudish and uptight Elisa (Carmen Sevilla) as a deluxe escort girl. I do not see a relentless wife killer and cover-up strategist in the nervous and repressed homosexual Miguel (Vincente Parra). I will not accept that police officers do not open car trunks when people are behaving so strangely about it. Most of all, I can't believe for a second that an odd romance develops between an alleged killer and the witness who's reluctantly forced to help him disposing the body. We all heard of Stockholm Syndrome, but this is ridiculous!

"No One Heard the Scream" may look interesting and exciting, but it's a terribly boring. Well, in fact, it becomes boring after half an hour. The first 30 minutes are mainly frustrating. Terribly frustrating because Elisa has more than a dozen of opportunities to alert the police and turn in her neighbor after witnessing how he clumsily attempts to dump a woman's body in the elevator shaft, but she doesn't. When it becomes obvious that she'll not report him to the police, for whatever reason, the film becomes dull and even more implausible. There's an - admittedly unforeseeable - twist at the end that initially comes across as ingenious and clever, but I advise you not to contemplate or analyze it, because it also doesn't make much sense.

Why Savilla didn't immediately call the police is the big flaw in the screenplay. The dialogue is stilted as is often the case with translated conversations. I only made it to the end because of Carmen Sevilla. The music selections were awful. I have to add that the twist ending was a huge surprise and creative.

Elisa (Carmen Sevilla) is a high-class escort who witnesses new neighbor Miguel (Vicente Parra) disposing of the corpse of his wife, whom he's just murdered. Then he figures that she's better off being his accomplice rather than another victim, so he deeply involves her in the crime.

Much more of a drama / thriller than a horror film (although it can get pretty gory), "No One Heard the Scream" is ultimately an interesting look at two flawed but compelling characters, and their evolving relationship. Elisa, in particular, initially reacts to the crime as a normal, decent human would, but then reveals layers to her character: she's not exactly an innocent. And he's not the total creep you might expect him to be.

Full of philosophical musings toward the end as Elisa & Miguel ponder their relationship and their lives, "No One Heard the Scream" doesn't really dish out a lot of thrills, per se, but it can get pretty tense, and features some dark humor that could have made Hitchcock proud: at one point, Elisa & Miguel are traveling, arrive at the scene of an accident, and are asked to transport some victims to the hospital; naturally, they're very nervous when the police ask them to open the trunk!

The gorgeous Ms. Sevilla, and Mr. Parra (star of director Eloy de la Iglesias' breakthrough film, "Cannibal Man"), share good chemistry, and deliver thoroughly engaging performances. They are nicely supported by Antonio Casas, as one of Elisas' primary clients, Maria Asquerino, as Nuria, and Tony Isbert, as Elisas' hunky young "nephew" Toni.

What really sells the film, however, is the brilliant twist ending that the viewer may actually not see coming. It's just the icing on this particular cake, making this a solid Euro cult feature worth seeking out.

Seven out of 10.

I recently watched the Spanish giallo 🇪🇸 No One Heard the Scream (1973) on Shudder. The storyline follows a female escort who opens her apartment door and sees her neighbor dropping a woman's body down the elevator shaft. He forces her to be his accomplice, and a unique relationship forms.

This film is directed by Eloy de la Iglesia (El Pico 1 & 2) and stars Carmen Sevilla (Glass Ceiling), Vicente Parra (The Cannibal Man), Maria Asquerino (Dying of Laughter), and Antonio Casas (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).

This is one of those films where unexpected events keep unfolding. It has very creative twists and turns and is well-written. The acting by the two main characters is solid. The background sound effects and overall soundtrack create the perfect atmosphere. The elevator shaft sequence is particularly well done. There's a fun boat scene that could have been executed better but was still entertaining. All the ending scenes at the camp gave me anxiety, especially once some of the characters revealed their true intentions. The film also has a smart conclusion.

In conclusion, No One Heard the Scream is a worthwhile Spanish giallo that I would recommend to fans of the genre. I would score this a 7/10 and recommend seeing it at least once.