The Severed Arm
The Severed Arm
R | 02 November 1973 (USA)
The Severed Arm Trailers

Trapped in a cave, five men cut the arm off of another companion in order to ward off starvation. After they are saved, their victim seeks revenge on them one by one.

Reviews
deadparrot4444

The list of people who should be shot, drawn and quartered, then shot again, include the screenwriter(s), the director, the producers, the actors, and I'll even throw in the caterer. Didn't anybody READ the screenplay? The premise is not bad--trapped in a cave-in, the guys eventually decide to eat each other, piecemeal (no pun intended). Right after the cave-in, our lead says, "We have no food and damn little water." Maybe two minutes of screen time later, all our guys are sporting bushy beards (tempus fugit), and one of the other actors says, "They should have found us TWO WEEKS ago." Excuse me? You guys were trapped without food or water (or internet access) for MORE THAN TWO WEEKS(!!!) and the only signs we see of it are you look like refugees from a Gillette commercial? No one seems to have lost weight, no one seems to be DEAD FROM STARVATION. And THEN, they all have the energy to pounce upon the victim and sever his arm? Please. When you start with a gigantic flaw of logic and reality so patently imbecilic, you cannot take anything that follows with the slightest punctillio of even suspended disbelief.

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christopher-underwood

This is far better than some make out and certainly more worthy of attention than it's low average score would suggest. However appropriate the title, I guess it does give the impression that there may be more blood and guts than there is and some may be disappointed in that respect. The direction is certainly uneven and the acting perhaps more so and maybe there could have been less driving about in the dark but I still enjoyed it. There are some standout scenes including two excellent lift sequences and the early scenes down the cave are pretty grim. I thought the crazy DJ was going to irritate but in the end I found his antics quite endearing, especially as we (and he) are anticipating the inevitable. Admittedly the film slows now and again but never for long and the great ending is worth the wait.

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Mhamm520

although the movie's acting and directing were very amateur, the plot was an amazing concept. the films script was cheesy, but the story in general was genius. the whole time watching the film, i was thinking to myself that if this movie had th chance, it could be very good. again, its not the story that was bad, it was the acting and directing. i mean if u look a the basic idea, a group of people stuck in a cave, fighting one another for each others flesh, thats a winning plot right there, just ready for any big time producer to bite into. if this move is redone today, with a larger budget and a better cast and crew, this could be a very popular film. too bad it just wasn't done right the first time around.

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paulgeaf

I watched this AFTER reading the reviews and I have to say, most of them are right. This film is badly written, the dialogue is puerile, the acting is at best on a par with a local community theatre production at christmas!It seems a pity that a story such as this, could be a great film. What they have done to it has made it into one of the worst films I have seen for a while. The way they condense so much information into the first half-hour is irritating and from then on it just gets worse! I love the old so bad they're good category but this doesn't even fall into that. This should be in the 'So bad -AVOID' category.

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