''The Severed Arm'' is a 1973 horror film co-written and directed by Thomas S. Alderman. The film is noteworthy for containing the first on-screen role of

Angus Scrimm Angus Scrimm (born Lawrence Rory Guy; August 19, 1926 – January 9, 2016) was an American actor, author, and journalist, known for his portrayal of the Tall Man in the 1979 horror film '' Phantasm'' and its sequels. Early life Scrimm was born ...

. The film also stars Paul Carr and John Crawford.

Plot

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 In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...

. 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!"

Cast

Deborah Walley Deborah Walley (August 12, 1941May 10, 2001) was an American actress noted for playing the title role in ''Gidget Goes Hawaiian'' (1961) and appearing in several beach party films. Early years Walley was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Ice ...

as Teddy Rogers * Paul Carr as Sergeant Mark Richards * David G. Cannon as Jeff Ashton * John Crawford as Doctor Ray Sanders *

Marvin Kaplan Marvin Wilbur Kaplan (January 24, 1927 – August 25, 2016) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Best known as Henry Beesmeyer in ''Alice'' (1978–1985). Early years Kaplan was born on January 24, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, th ...

as "Mad Man" Herman * Ray Dannis as Ted Rogers * Bob Guthrie as Roger Rogers *

as Postal carrier (uncredited)

Release

The film was released theatrically in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Media Cinema Group Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

in 1973.

Home media

The film was released on VHS and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

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 fully

uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

version was released on VHS by Video Gems in 1981. The film was also released fully uncut on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

Vinegar Syndrome Cellulose acetate film, or safety film, is used in photography as a base material for photographic emulsions. It was introduced in the early 20th century by film manufacturers and intended as a safe film base replacement for unstable and highly ...

References

External links