Did you know that there was a remake of Halloween starring Chuck Norris, and that it’s a comedy? Neither did I, until the day I watched Silent Rage. Mind you, the film starts out fairly straight, with a lengthy opening shot that sees director Michael Miller doing a decent John Carpenter impression. Sadly, the remainder of the film varies wildly in style and tone, at times becoming a generic ’70s cop flick before veering back into Carpenter-esque slasher territory, an admittedly odd mix. It also becomes unintentionally comedic as Mr. Norris bumbles around, looking lost, holding his cowboy hat in his hand, unaware that a Michael Myers-like figure—a modern Prometheus, if you will—is often sneaking about behind him, ducking and crouching, then loping off on his way to murder a few more people. Ron Silver, who plays a doctor, steals the first half of the film, which loses a good amount of steam when his character buys it, although he does pop up one more time, his gape-mouthed corpse dangling from a coat hook, in a moment meant to remind us of the part in Halloween when Laurie Strode finds her friends’ dead bodies. Only then does Norris realize what’s going on, and punches and kicks the silent monster, and finally throws him down a well. Oh, well! I must confess I enjoyed this movie, sometimes in spite of itself, since it’s goofy and kind of sweet in its shameless stealing from much better films, which besides Halloween include The Shining and Taxi Driver; I also wouldn’t be surprised if it provided a dollop or two of inspiration for Halloween Kills.