Reviewed By-Sean
Patrick Dolan
Director: Thomas S. Alderman
Cast: Deborah Walley, Paul Carr, David G. Cannon, Marvin Kaplan, John
Crawford, Vince Martorano, Ray Dannis
A group of men are on a mining expedition to collect rock samples when tragedy
occurs. An old mine shaft collapses, trapping the men inside. With
little water and no food, their chance of survival is slim. Several
weeks pass and the men realize that they will likely starve to death before
another day passes. Then Jeff Ashton (David G. Cannon) comes up with an
idea- they will draw lots and the loser will sacrifice an arm so that they
might all survive. The men are repelled by the idea but realize that
they have no other choice. Ted Rogers (Ray Dannis) is the unlucky man
and the others hold him down while Ray Sanders (John Crawford) removes the
limb. No sooner is the act complete do they hear the sounds of men
digging far above their heads- they have been rescued. Realizing that
the newspapers will crucify them for what they have done (not to mention
possible legal action) they quickly devise a cover story. They say that
Ted's arm was crushed in the cave-in and that they had to amputate it to save
his life. Ted knows the truth, but he is too delirious from starvation
and blood loss to convince the medics at the scene to believe his story.
The other men get away with it with their reputations and futures intact.
Or so they thought. Five years later, Jeff receives a strange package in
the mail and when he opens it he finds . . . a severed human arm. There
is no doubt who sent the package, especially after Jeff learns that Ted Rogers
has been released from the mental institution. He and Ray call together
the other men from that fateful day five years ago to discuss what they should
do. No one wants to call the police, for fear that the truth of what
happened in the mine will come out. They all have lives and careers that
would be ruined- Jeff is a TV writer, Ray is a doctor, Mark (Paul Carr) is a
police detective, "Mad Man" Herman (Marvin Kaplan) is a disc jockey,
and Bill (Vince Martorano) is a contractor. The men decide to try to
locate Ted and deal with him themselves.
However, the stakes are soon raised. A man dressed in black has been
watching and listening to their meeting from outside Ray's house. When
the other men leave, he breaks in and savagely attack the doctor, severing his
arm. Ray survives but will never fully recover his health. Similar
attempts made on Jeff and then Mark fail, but the two men realize that they
need to catch Ted before he succeeds in taking revenge against them, picking
them off one by one. "Mad Man Herman" is happy to leave this task to
the two of them, as is Bill, who feels his chances are better on his own and
wants nothing to do with the rest of the group. Turns out they made a
big mistake. As Jeff and Mark try to hunt down Ted and to convince
his reluctant daughter to help them set a trap to catch her father, "Mad
Man" and Bill both fall victim to the ax-wielding killer. The
daughter tells them that Ted finally called her the night that Bill was killed
and that he wants her to meet him there alone the next night. The two
remaining men set a trap to catch Ted before they meet the same fate as their
fellow conspirators . . .
WARNING!! SPOILERS IN NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS!!
The group splits up to lay their trap. Mark goes ahead to lie in wait
for Ted with his rifle while the daughter and Jeff drive together to the
location on the beach. When they get there Ted is nowhere in sight but
then they see movement and can only watch as Mark's body falls from a ridge
high above them, his arm severed from the body. Jeff is nearly run down
as the killer makes his getaway and at this point he has lost all his nerve.
He tells the daughter to drive anywhere, just to get them far away from here.
She says she knows a perfect place, her brother's cabin in the nearby
mountains.
They get there and Jeff is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head. He
wakes up in a small cell in the cabin. Ted's daughter and her
brother, Roger, are there taunting him through the window in the cell door.
They have brought their father in a wheelchair to watch as well. It
turns out that five years in and out of institutions and hospitals has left
Ted in a catatonic state- it was his son Roger that has been stalking and
killing the men that they blame for their father's condition. But they
are sure he will revive when he sees Jeff's fate- they are going to leave him
in the cell with no food until he is starving to death and then give him a
knife to sever his own arm.
This is a solid, workmanlike B-flick that has few surprises but is nonetheless
a fine revenge film. It is also what might have happened to those
Pennsylvania coal miners if they hadn't had the good luck to be miraculously
rescued. On the one hand, you can't really fault the men who were in a
position where some serious alternatives, in this case cannibalism, needed to
be considered if they were to survive. Their only real sin was not
honing up to it- and given the lawsuits and the media circus they predicted,
this is also understandable. But one can't help rooting for Ted, who
just wants justice in the ancient "arm-for-an-arm" tradition.
The film was obviously produced on a shoestring budget, but it was fairly well
acted and the final product was far from amateurish. They definitely
skimped on the special effects budget as there is almost no on-screen gore in
what could have been quite a violent film (Note: The version I saw was likely
edited- according to IMDB, Video Gems released a completely uncut version on
VHS in 1981). And sure, there are scenes at night that are so dark you
can hardly make out the action, but this film relies more on suspense anyway.
The wicked twist ending is ultimately satisfying, although one can definitely
argue that it was heavily foreshadowed. Aside from a truly annoying
soundtrack and "Mad Man" Herman's lame jokes- an obvious but
misguided attempt at comic relief- there is not much to complain about
here. This is just a good old-fashioned B-Movie that probably enjoyed a
good run at the drive-ins.
I reviewed the 2002 Brentwood Home Video DVD release which was part of a
2-disc, 4 movie box set of films entitled "Flesh Feast". The
four films (Sergio Martino's Slave of the Cannibal God, The Severed Arm, I Eat
Your Skin, and the Undertaker and His Pals) all have themes related to zombies
and/or cannibalism. I found this DVD set in the "$15.00 and
Under" rack at a local video store and consider it a bargain. Note:
The DVD Ratings below only apply to The Severed Arm- the other films vary a
little in sound and picture quality but all are more than watchable.
