Welcome To Arrow Beach (1974) aka Tender Flesh aka Cold Storage aka And No One Would Believe Her

3.5 / 5 July '10
Tagline: Nice place to visit...no place to live!
Directed by: Laurence Harvey
Written by: Walllace C. Bennett
Actors include: Laurence Harvey, Joanna Pettet, Stuart Whitman
Genre: Exploitation, Horror
Length: 99 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is sort of an exploitation film I suppose, it's very '70s and riddled with bad music but it's still entertaining. A wandering hippy girl ends up on Arrow Beach and is taken in by a kindly Vietnam war Veteran named Larry. Larry lives with his sister Grace (whom he's maybe a little too close to) in a house above the beach and it seems like life is pretty decent. The thing that seems to be bothering Larry is the meat situation, he had to commit cannibalism in the war and he's never really given it up since. His source for getting meat? Why it's picking up young girls and slaughtering them of course, but will our hitchhiker find out before she becomes dinner?the meat situation, he had to commit cannibalism in the war and he's never really given it up since. His source for getting meat? Why it's picking up young girls and slaughtering them of course, but will our hitchhiker find out before she becomes dinner? It's not gory in a horror sense really, it's more of a slow moving weirdo drama I guess with bad things happening. It's a different take on this sort of thing, and a bizarre movie in many ways. Unfortunately a nice edit of the film doesn't exist and the director/lead actor died shortly after sadly but I'd still suggest trying to find it for those who like the strange.

Availability:  Not Available On DVD

Silent Scream (1980)

3 / 5 Mar '10
Tagline: Terror so sudden there is no time to scream.
Directed by: Denny Harris
Written by: Wallace C. Bennett, Denny Harris
Actors include: Barbara Steele, Rebecca Balding, Cameron Mitchell
Genre: Horror
Length: 87 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I hate to say that I wasn't very impressed by this one because it does have a few things going for it. It's relatively well made and it seems as though it might have been relatively successful in it's day upon release. The acting is relatively decent, and the plot isn't bad either, the ending is even a bit of a treat yet still something was missing. We meet a young Woman named Scotty who is desperate for a place to stay until she finds this house near the beach that is available. She moves in and meets her other roomies including her love interest Peter, chunky girl Doris, nerdly guy who's romancing Doris and one of the biggest dorks ever Mason. Mason's nutty Ma (Yvonne De Carlo) lives in the house too, but don't disturb her! After tons of dull getting to know our characters (who are some of the least attractive cast ever minus Barbara Steele) and letting romance bloom crap it does finally get to where there is some violence. Sure it has some elements of the classic Psycho but not really where it counts. The soundtrack was unappealing, I didn't honestly care what happened to any of the characters and I kept thinking that something more sinister was going on then what actually was. The plot is overly predictable, it isn't very bloody and the deaths aren't inventive and really it's all been done before. A lot of people really love this one so maybe it just kinda rubbed me the wrong way but still I think it's worth a viewing if only to see Steele's character.

Availability:  On DVD