Mad Scientists. Mad Slashers. Kung Fu fury. Chubby Comic Relief.
"Silent Rage" has it all. It also boasts all 4 of what I feel are the 4 integral ingredients of a great "B" movie.
1."What the Hell?" dialogue: "Look at that cell structure!!!"
2.Martial Arts mayhem: Chuck Norris takes apart a bar full of bikers and the antagonist at the end of the film with his high kicking antics.
3. Hey, It's that guy!!!!: Steven Keats, Stephen Furst (Flounder from "Animal House"), and Ron Silver (!), who sadly recently passed away, to boot.
4.Overacting alert!!! Steven Keats in his mad scientist rage of cellular and biological superiority spews venomous f-bombs at former Oscar winner Ron Silver (in an early role for him)
Ron Silver's patient is on the edge and medicated at the beginning of this classic.
His landlady's noisy children drive him over the edge and he murders two people with an axe before Mr. Norris and Silver show up. After much violent struggling and a temporary handcuffing with a brief police car incarceration, our soon to be slasher, John Kirby, is gunned down.
Shortly thereafter in a texas hospital, biological scientist Keats, for reasons unknown to the audience, works as a surgeon with psychiatrist Silver. They try unsuccessfully to save the life of Kirby, played well nearly worldessly by Brian Libby. Keats then tries to play God by injecting an experimental chemical into Kirby, who is an excellent choice for such a thing by the way, (to the film's credit, Silver's character DOES make that point), turning him into an indestructable version of the psycho he already was.
The rest of the film is a generic slasher movie, although skillfully executed to some degree with the use of some tension, and an eerie synthesizer created soundtrack. The odd addition of Norris as the hero (this was post indy-"A Force of One", "Octagon" Norris, but pre-Cannon--"Missing in Action" Norris.) is weird and Furst as Norris' silly sidekick doesn't really work for the most part. Chuck doesn't act here as much as "exist" while the pros around him Silver, Keats, Furst and Toni Kalem, as his love interest, do the heavy lifting if you can call it that. Give them credit they do well with what material they have.
"Silent Rage" obviously is a mess, but an entertaining one with a decent genre climax. Norris was obviously an excellent cinema martial artist, and it shows here.
But overall, it is what it is (I hate that phrase). A good "B" grade horror/sci-fi/karate move.
