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THE
SEVERED ARM
PLOT
A group of men go on an amateur mining expedition and become caved in due
to their own stupidity. Not knowing when help will come, and knowing that
starvation is around the bend prompts them to draw straws to determine who
will give up one of their appendages for the group. Shortly after partaking
and then covering up their cannibalistic deeds, they are rescued and the
armless victim vows revenge. Five years later a masked man with a hatchet
preys upon the survivors.
REVIEW
This is one strange little slasher! It's not very good but neither is it
horrible...it definitely has some qualities that set it apart from other bad
slasher movies. With a title like "The Severed Arm" I was expecting more of
a crappy 50's sci-fi/horror in the same vein as "The Crawling Hand", but I
was pleasantly surprised that it unfolded into a fledgling slasher with
giallo tendencies.
The first half is somewhat flat as we're treated to a flashback parable of
the events in the mine. We're also introduced to the cast of characters who
range from despicable to insignificant. Five years later, one of the men
receives a package with a severed arm in it which leads to a reunion to
figure out what's going on. Unfortunately, none of them forsee that the
person who sent it is stalking all of them with an axe.
Try and keep in mind that this is a U.S. lensed slasher that came before
the likes of "Halloween" and its clones. There's a particular scene that
utilizes the "caller inside the house" urban legend (various sources either
credit this as being released in 1973 and 1975, so it's hard to say whether
or not this came before "Black Christmas"). There's also a pretty effective
stalk 'n' slash scene involving an elevator that is vaguely reminiscent of
the one in "Dressed To Kill". Great ending too...quite unexpected and
chilling if you have the patience to follow this one through.
But for the most part, "The Severed Arm" falls short of ever being a
really good film. It's got some great ideas and it's a refreshing change of
pace from the formulaic teens-in-peril stuff...but, to put it simply, the
script is pretty shitty and the whole thing moves so slow that it doesn't
really sustain any sort of suspense. Giallo fans will enjoy some of the
tell-tale stuff (i.e. P.O.V. shots, shots of the killer's hands, etc.).
GORE
Sadly, for what this is, not much to be seen...an injection of good gore
would have really helped this sucker along. The first victim has only his
arm cut off (!)...one murder occurs off screen and you see the aftermath of
another....there's also another great scene where the murderer severs a
victims arm by tying a rope to their hand and then shoving them off a cliff,
but the scene is so dark that you don't see much.
SOUNDTRACK
Really weird shit...wanky synth with flute added to it...gets sort of
annoying after awhile.
BOTTOM LINE
My feeling about this one is pretty much summed up in the review.
Completists and giallo fans will want to check it out, but viewers weaned on
the current wave of slashers will probably be disappointed. In my honest
opinion, this could have been so much better...can't really put my finger on
what they could have done, or NOT done, but half-assed is better than no ass.
Review
By: The Scaremaker
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