The Retreat

Agreeing to accompany a professor to a cabin in the woods for a psychology experiment, a group of students find themselves stranded with a savage killer knocking them off one-by-one, forcing them to try to get away alive.

Pretty much standard issue slasher fare here, not that it's a bad thing by any stretch and actually has some solid points to it. The atmosphere, with it's wintery woodland setting out in the middle of nowhere, the growing realization of what's going on and the different traps create a pretty nice set-up here, and then the fact that the killer tends to show up whenever it's necessary to off someone makes for some really enjoyable moments as well. The pace is great and the kills are outstanding, so it's got a lot going for it even though there's a few flaws. The final twist reveal is a total cheat and really works against the film, the characters' actions are plain idiotic, and the cheapness does shine through on occasion. Otherwise, this one's pretty fun.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity and a sex scene.

A group of college kids volunteers for a weekend retreat to help their psychology professor with his research and soon find themselves fighting for their lives against a mysterious hooded killer who's picking them off one by one."The Retreat",which is also known under the title "Silent Scream" is an unoriginal slasher flick shot in the woods of Michigan.The acting is horrible,the action moves at snail's pace and the direction is bad.However there is a decent amount of gore and some of the killings are suitably gruesome.The so-called plot twist at the end is utterly stupid.Give it a look,only if you are a rabid fan of slasher films-just remember that there are far better hack 'em up flicks out there.My very generous rating:4 out of 10.

Although most here, would rather it be: can't see you. But we saw it (don't know about you dear reader, maybe you wanna check on in, and decide if you want to watch it). Let me tell you though that this tries very hard to be clever. You would guess so, with the characters studying Psychology and all.

And the fact that they just behave like your average teenager (from a horror film), just goes to show you how bad ... our school system in general is! Seriously though: Of course there is more happening than usual (remember: it tries so hard!), but this only makes the whole thing more ridiculous.

If you sit through the end, you have watched a few good scenes. But you will also see something that is completely wrong ...

This movie is so bad I don't even want to joke about it. The only Raison d'être of this review is warn people to stay far away from "Silent Scream". For a friend of mine it's already too late, as he blind-bought this rubbish on DVD, but you can still be saved if you just manage resist the promising-looking cover image and the pictures of ravishing girls on the back of the box. "Silent Scream" is as bad as low-budget teen horror gets, with a plot that gets more retarded with each minute that passes, the dumbest characters in history (even though they're supposed to be psychology students) and dialogs so painful they make your ears cringe. One could state that the body count is remarkably higher than usually the case in slasher films, but even then, the murder sequences are totally uninspired and the complete lack of continuity and/or a plausible plot is simply intolerable. In order to thank the entire class for helping with his dreams-manipulation research, a weak-acting psychology professor rewards them with the keys of his vacation resort on a snowy Michigan island. The first part of the group arrives and have some mindless sex and too much tequila before getting slaughtered the exact same night by an individual wearing a hooded winter jacket. The second group arrives the day after and teams up with the last two survivors of group one. Unfortunately they offer a little more resistance to the killer and even come close to escaping the island. Then comes the hopelessly predictable and imbecile twist-in-the-end. The script is just a non-stop series of stupidities, dire clichés and insufferable stereotypes. The empty-headed characters say the dumbest things at the most inappropriate moments and, as if that wasn't bad enough already, they constantly repeat themselves as well. Especially the male lead Mark is a pitiable character, as he keeps nagging to his ex-girlfriend that he still loves her even though they're being chased by a maniac holding an axe. All the girls are great eye-candy (except for Melissa Schuman who tries to act too much like Sarah Michelle Gellar) and some of them even show their ravishing flesh, but they're just too stupid and obnoxious to be likable characters. "Silent Scream" is boring, irritating as hell, ugly to look at, poorly directed and completely unoriginal. Next time you pick it up in a shop or videostore, just put it back.

For a B-Horror movie, this is about the best you can hope for. Not a terrible film, and fans of the genre will enjoy it. Especially since some annoying people get killed near the first part of the movie. Decently made movie, good direction, DP and script - uh, the 'acting' was sub-par for sure for most of the actors, but some were better than others. There isn't too much more to say - if you love slasher films you could do much worse than this one, but if you don't like this type of movie you'll probably hate it. The ending, like most of the film, can't help but being a little cliché but for what it is its done better than most low budget horror movies. I hated the female lead, I thought she sucked, but then again I seem to hate most female leads in modern low budget horror unless its Tifanny Shepis. So go see "Silent Scream" or the "Retreat" depending what title you see it under, just know what your expecting - definitely not the worst movie out there, but not really better than mediocre.