Movies
[BD Review] ‘Silent But Deadly’ Is Refreshingly Funny
Mixing horror and comedy is a difficult feat and, most of the time, films fail miserably in doing so. Over the top and ridiculous, Silent But Deadly starring Jason Mewes (Jay of Jay & Silent Bob) accomplishes this – and is surprisingly entertaining.
Thomas Capper (Mewes), is a quiet (silent!) farm boy. His father (William Sadler) is verbally abusive and holds a lot anger over the fact that he married two Russian mail order brides and they turned out to be lesbians. Thomas, meanwhile, doesn’t have much going for him except for his dedicated love for goats – especially his pet, Liza. After catching his son peeping on his wives, Thomas’s father punishes him by killing an innocent goat with a shotgun. This enrages Thomas and the young man begins a killing spree (deadly!) starting with his father and stepmoms. Soon after, he falls into an assistant job for a Hollywood film crew that has set up in town (he makes a mean goat milk latte for the director) and everything seems to be going peacefully well. That is until one day when Thomas awakes to find Liza missing – and the film crew with full bellies.
With a title like Silent But Deadly, taking this movie seriously was immediately out the window. Yes, the movie is absolutely ridiculous. However, made on a $500,000 budget, it is pretty damn impressive. The CGI is terrible, but within the comedic horror context, it works. The production (minus the CGI) is really nice quality as it was originally a made for TV movie. The performances by all actors are actually fantastic. Each seem to know their roles and exactly what story they are telling so that they never seem to be acting like this will be an Oscar winning film. The fact that the movie doesn’t even take itself seriously is what makes it that much more enjoyable.
Mewes is great in such a simple role. Even with his only lines being one word statements, his portrayal of Thomas shows the evolution of his talents since his first appearance as Jay. It sounds silly, but it is true. Despite a strong performance by Mewes, the person who steals the movie is Jordan Prentice. As Sheriff Shelby, the dwarf actor has some of the best lines and comedy chops of the entire cast. Sheriff Shelby, being only three foot tall, still takes charge and bosses around his partner, Deputy Jimbo, as they investigate the triple murder in town. While Prentice already has a long resume, he deserves more work from this role alone.
Quality cinematography, a funny script (bodily fluid jokes never get old) and great acting is normally what a lot of low budget horror comedies lack. This deficiency makes the majority of films in this genre mind numbing and irritating. Encompassing all of these qualities is exactly what makes Silent But Deadly refreshingly funny and definitely a movie to check out for some fun, cheap laughs.
Silent But Deadly will be released September 24th on DVD and VOD.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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