Silent Scream

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.

The above line of dialogue pretty much sums up this low budget slasher film. Although the acting is bad and the plot twist is inane, I did find a few positive things in this dreck. First off, we get a twist from the typical summer camp slasher, as this is a winter camp slasher. A group of students has been helping their professor with a semester long research project. To thank them, the prof sends them to a weekend retreat at his remote Michigan cabin. Which leads to the second positive: a LOT of people get killed, and it starts pretty quickly. There's even some decent gore, considering the micro budget. But on the bad side, almost all of the murders are shown twice. What the heck?? This film is twenty minutes too long anyway, so it's all just padding. In a nod to the classic 80s slashers, we do get boobs and sex, so combined with the gore and high body count, this wasn't a terrible way to spend an evening. Still, it's mostly inane and recommended for fans of slashers and overdone Michigan accents.

Silent Scream is about a group of college kids that get caught up in their professor's experiment. The class discusses psychological disorders and reality as the professor takes them on a real trip down the shared subconscious. A touch of Jason and some other slasher films along with screaming coeds. While some of the plot is more unique than most of today's horror films, it is a little humorous in some places where it shouldn't be. Most of the scenes are easy to tell what's going to happen and I think it is meant to be that way so you're surprise by the double twist at the end. Some cheap film effects work to a small degree, but they are overdone. The DVD cover was what caught my eye, so there's a lot to be said for presentation. All in all, not too bad a film. A solid B in my book.

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.

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.