‘There’s a psycho loose with an axe!’
The Severed Arm is a 1973 American horror film about five men who cut the arm off of another companion in order to ward off starvation after they become trapped in a cave. After they are saved their victim seeks revenge on them, one by one.
The movie was directed by Thomas S. Alderman from a screenplay co-written with Darrel Presnell. It was based on a story by Marc B. Ray and Larry Alexander (Scream Bloody Murder).
Composer Phillan Bishop contributed an early example of a movie ‘electronic’ synthesizer score that is as jarring as the bizarre plot. Bishop’s other horror soundtracks were Messiah of Evil (1972) and Kiss of the Tarantula (1976).
Cinematographer Robert Maxwell also shot The Astro-Zombies (1968); Blood Mania (1970); Point of Terror (1971); House of Terror (1972) and The Centerfold Girls (1974).
The film is noteworthy for containing the first on-screen role of Angus Scrimm (the Phantasm franchise).
The movie stars Deborah Walley, Paul Carr (Sisters of Death; Circle of Fear TV series; The Bat People), David G. Cannon, Marvin Kaplan (Kolchak: The Night Stalker; Monsters TV series; They Came from Outer Space), John Crawford (I Saw What You Did; The Boogens) and Vince Martorano, Ray Dannis (The Undertaker and His Pals; The Corpse Grinders).
Plot [contains spoilers]:
Jeff Ashton is at home when a mail carrier delivers a strange package. Upon opening the wrapped item, Ashton is horrified to see it contains a severed human arm. He immediately contacts his friend, Doctor Ray Sanders, and the two discuss an incident five years before when, as part of a group of cave explorers, they were trapped by a cave-in.
In order to avoid starvation, the group had cut off the arm of one of their fellow cavers, a man named Ted Rogers, planning to eat it. However, moments after doing so, the entire group was rescued and they quickly concocted a cover story for the authorities, saying that Ted had lost his arm in the cave-in and concealing that they had cut it off with a knife.
Jeff and Ray try to find Ted, enlisting the help of one of their former caver friends, Mark Richards, who is now a police detective. Mark finds Ted’s daughter Teddy (named after her father), but she initially refuses to help the group find her father who has now apparently disappeared. However, after Jeff’s friend Herman, another one of the cavers who is now a radio personality, is brutally killed on air during his radio show by having his arm hacked off, Teddy agrees to help the group find her father.
The killings continue until only Jeff and Mark remain. They attempt to trap the killer, who they believe is Ted, but Mark has his arm ripped off after being pushed from a cliff with a rope around his wrist. Jeff is then knocked unconscious by the killer after a struggle. When Jeff awakens, he is in a bare white room and it is revealed that Ted’s daughter Teddy was behind the killings. Her plan was for her brother Roger, masquerading as their father (who is now in fact catatonic) to kill Jeff’s friends and then kidnap Jeff, as the original leader of the caving group and who came up with the idea to cut off her father’s arm.
Jeff is then sealed in a room to starve, with the only way to avoid death being for Jeff to cut off his own arm and eat it. The film ends with Jeff, imprisoned alone, shouting “Never!”
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“…the film turns from horror into a more straightforward murder-thriller. Alderman allows the pace to slacken and there are just too many talky scenes; although some of them work dramatically, the film lacks urgency. Perhaps with a more daring shooting style The Severed Arm might have been a shoo-in for cult reappraisal, but it’s hampered by plodding camerawork and functional TV-style editing …
At least Phillan Bishop’s electronic score is fun, an analog synth freak’s delight that sounds like early Tangerine Dream gatecrashing a Pertwee-era Doctor Who story, thus keeping the mood, if not the pace, afloat.” Stephen Thrower, Nightmare USA book
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“Sadly, after the first intriguing 30 minutes, the film degenerates into drabness. The murder sequences are poorly lit and edited. None of the characters are developed. The electronic music is primitive and cheesy. Everything moves slowly. At one one point a character remarks: “I just wish something would happen soon.” You’ll know how he feels.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers book
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Release:
The film was released theatrically in the United States by Media Cinema Group in 1973.
The Severed Arm has been released on VHS and DVD by various companies, the legality of which pertaining to official licensing rights is in question. In addition, most current releases feature the edited TV version of the film. The only fully uncut version was released on VHS by Video Gems in 1981.
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Choice dialogue:
Mad Man Herman: “You’ve seen one cave, you’ve seen ’em all.”
Ruth: “Even under heavy sedation, he wakes up screaming. It’s horrible!”
Cast and characters:
Deborah Walley … Teddy Rogers
Paul Carr … Sgt. Mark Richards
David G. Cannon … Jeff Ashton
Marvin Kaplan … Mad Man Herman
John Crawford … Doctor Ray Sanders
Vince Martorano … Bill Hale
Ray Dannis … Ted Rogers
Bob Guthrie … Roger Rogers
Cynthia Gabrielle … Ruth Sanders
George Dunn … Harry the Janitor
Alan DeWitt … Construction Worker
R. Lance Thomas
Gwen Cannon
Marcellous Smith
Wally K. Berns … (as Wally Berns)
Kay Elliot
Treva Frazee … Secretary
Virginia Alfonte … Mrs Rogers
Sebastian Korman … Postman
Technical specs:
91 minutes
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
Audio: Mono
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