Sounds of Silence (1989)

Directed by:
Peter Borg

American photographer Peter Mitchell (Peter Nelson), who's still got some growing up to do, is surprised to learn that an unheard of distant relative all the way in Sweden has died and left him an inheritance. He, along with his successful mystery novelist girlfriend Sarah Richards (Kristen Jensen) and her deaf young son Dennis (Dennis Castillo), travel abroad and temporarily move into their newly aquired mansion while Peter decides whether he wants to keep it or sell it. Locals shun Peter when they find out who he's related to, some sinister people filter in and out and almost immediately Dennis starts suffering from nightmarish visions of a ghostly young boy dressed in rags at an abadoned building formerly used as an orphanage. The boy turns out to be Bill (Jonas Ivarsson), the long-dead young son of Peter's deceased spinster relative, and a grim tale of child abuse and murder soon unfolds.

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Though definitely not for all tastes (it's slow-moving, a bit overlong and virtually gore-free...), I thought this was a surprisingly good, well-made and well-plotted film that works just fine for what it was intended to be; an old-fashioned ghost story. It's atmospheric, the cold Autumnal scenery provides a nice backdrop to the action, there are some effectively spooky moments spread throughout and the cinematogaphy (including some wonderfully eerie shots of the camera floating through the haunted orphanage hallways) is often excellent. The cast is pretty good, too, with solid lead actors and nice supporting performances from Vanja Rodefeldt as a housekeeper, Rico Rönnbäck as an attorney and Gunnar Öhlund as the guy who used to run the orphanage... and has a sledgehammer wielding psycho of a son. Special guest star Troy Donahue (the only real 'name' in the cast, at least to U.S. audiences) appears in just two brief scenes.

Director Borg (who co-scripted with Marc Fiorini) also made the even more obscure SCORCHED HEAT (1987) and apparently came to America at one point only to serve as an assistant director on the schlocky CAMP FEAR (1990) before falling off the map. Wonder what happened to him?

There was an American video release years back on the Promark label, though to my knowledge it's never been released on DVD. It'll be debuting at #6 on my Top 10 for 1989.

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★★★