Against her will, Rose (Dawn Wells) is dropped off at a retirement home
by her daughter (Kiersten Warren), who quite obviously wants her out of
the way. Even though she feels chucked out, Rose tries to put up a happy
face between all the weirdo inhabitants of the home (including Lee
Meriwether as the over-sexed vamp, David Proval as the aged and toupéed
Italian stallion, Jerry Douglas as a wannabe yacht captain, Martin Kove as
a veteran suffering from PTSD, Eloyd Ray as Santa's double, and Robert
Towers as total wacko) and the even weirder staff - the head of the place
Dale (John Tartaglia), his assistants the wall-flowerish Desperella (Muffy
Bolding) and the über-sexy airhead Kitty (Jacqui Holland). When Rose
learns that the previous occupant of her room (Rip Taylor) has been
brutally murdered by a person or persons unknown, she gets a little bit on
the uncomfortable side though, and the nasty rumours that surround this
murder don't necessarily sound too comforting either. And when the wannabe
yacht captain offers to take her with her on his "escape" (not
that they're held prisonsers) and is found dead later on, panic starts to
build, only heightened by the fact that the institution's nurse's (Délé
Ogundiran) dead body eventually pops up as well - and she has not died
from natural causes. But Rose won't go down without a fight ... but what
chances do she, her fellow inmates Fanny (Camille Saviola) and feisty Wang
(Takayo Fischer) and overly naive Kitty have against a cunning killer in a
cute cat mask? Above all else, Silent But Deadly is just
great fun: Sure, in its essence it's just a variation on the slasher
formula, but adding about 50 years to the age of the protagonists already
makes a whole lot of a (fun) difference, especially since the film manages
to keep cheap geriatric jokes and tearjerking moments at the lowest,
instead banks on strong characters, young and old. And a strong ensemble
cast manages to make the film's cast of characters highly amusing and
likeable at the same time (expecially co-writer/producer Jacqui Holland's
performance of the dumb blonde is a hoot to watch). Add to this a script
that has all the shocks and all the jokes in the right places and that
doesn't shy away from leaning towards the gruesome or the raunchy should
the situation demand it, and you're in for a really fun piece of genre
entertainment.
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