Death Screams

Did every film studio limit their output to just slashers in the early '80s? There are so many of them. Just when I think I've seen them all, I find another one I've never heard of. Still, it's not hard to see why Death Screams flew under my radar for so long: it's formulaic stuff that never tries to do anything out of the ordinary, from it's clichéd group of characters (obnoxious joker, nympho, goody-two-shoes final girl, town simpleton, fat bumbling sheriff) to its rain-lashed finalé in a rundown house by a cemetery.

The film opens with a pre-credits double murder of a young couple, but it's too dark to see what happens to them, director David Nelson seemingly more preoccupied with getting in the first shot of a topless girl than delivering an effective fright. Certainly, for much of the time, Nelson appears to be more intent on delivering gratuitous T&A than he does horror, focusing on the twenty-something victims-to-be as they go about their daily business--smoking weed, showering, chatting up the local baseball coach, making out etc...

All of the girls are attractive and several wear skimpy outfits, with buxom town tramp Ramona (Jennifer Chase) looking great in a bikini top and hot blonde Kathy (Andrea Savio) sporting short shorts. In a rare spot of gender-reversal, it is Coach Marshall (Martin Tucker) who takes the customary slasher shower, baring his butt, but he does manage to give randy Ramona a soaking in the process. The only other killing amidst all of this titillation is a girl shot with an arrow and suffocated with a plastic bag, a scene more notable for its silliness than scariness (instead of seeking help, the injured girl takes time-out on a merry-go-round).

As the film approaches its final act, sexy blonde Sandy (Jody Kay) goes skinny dipping (cue full frontal nudity) and winds up dead, and from this point Nelson ramps up the violence, eventually bumping off most of the characters in the space of a few minutes (including double decapitation and a girl torn in half). But while the sheer number of kills in a short space of time is admirable, the gore is extremely basic for the most part, and not very satisfying (the severed hands scene is hilarious). The best effect is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it bullet to the head (resulting in the face exploding) as the useless sheriff empties his handgun into the already dead killer (who had fallen out of a window while attacking good girl Lily, played by Playboy playmate Susan Kiger). Exactly what the psycho's motive was remains unclear: possibly something to do with being mentally scarred by his mother, who may have been a stripper. I really don't know. Or care.

There's a lot of charm in House of Death (or Death Screams depending on which version you watch). The film feels like a homespun passion project where all local community theatre performers and fame struck locals came out and had a good time trying to make a movie. Charm will only go so far and, while House of Death excels in creating a believable and quaint small town atmosphere, it fails at supplying any memorable chills. Some of the death scenes are inspired such as a moment where a young woman is attacked on a deserted merry go round or when another unfortunate soul is sliced in half after falling through a rotten staircase, but the killer's big reveal happens so quickly and is lit so dark that you'll have to rewind to figure out who they were.

House of Death gets by with a lot of regional charm and a few decent death scenes. There's not much of a plot to speak of besides a bunch of people are terrorized by a serial killer in the south who's killing without much rhyme or reason.

Since this has never made it to DVD or Blu-Ray, it's fairly dark and hard to tell what's going on most of the time, but there are a few daytime death scenes, which is a rarity among horror films. None of the characters have a lot of meat on their bones, but the special effects work is solid.

It's just a shame that most of the death scenes take place within a 5 minute span towards the end of the movie. It deprives the film of a lot of potential suspense and makes sure that the film is a bit too front loaded with not much going on until the end.

(** out of *****) The titular `house' only appears in the last ten minutes or so of this overly familiar, early-'80s horror flick. That detail aside, this movie isn't the worst of its kind (that would be "Hell High"), but it's also far from the best. If you can make it past the interminably long carnival scene -- with a group of young, vacuous girls and hunky, meat-head guys walking around making jokes and playing games -- you'll get a few so-so chills and thrills (and mostly off-screen machete murders) once the gang winds up in the cemetary to tell ghost stories (the lead heroine tells a lousy version of the classic urban legend about the girl who's home alone and thinks that's her dog under the bed licking her hand.) Other than a decapitated head or two, there's more nudity than gore, including an interesting, role-reversal shower scene in which a man is stalked in his apartment while taking a shower. There's some minor backplot and attempts at character development, but there are also gaping plot holes and a weak attempt to make the killer's identity a mystery (you should have no trouble figuring it out.) The film quality's pretty crummy, and the out-of-place, Sesame Street-sounding soundtrack is one of the worst I've ever heard.

HIGHLIGHT: Speaking of the soundtrack, if you do happen to run across this movie at the video store, go ahead and rent it solely for the opening credits sequence -- the music that plays over this sequence is so hysterically over the top that you will not believe it. Listening to this ludicrously epic music play over slow-motion scenes of dead bodies floating underwater was a surreal experience. I had to rewind it and watch it over three or four times. Seriously, some underground techno or indie-rock band needs to find this movie and sample the soundtrack. It blew me away. Of course, drinking helps.

This is by no means a good horror flick, and one too many times teeters on being an incoherent, stupid mess. But it does have a few things that redeem it from being a total loss. The story focuses on a small town festival and a group of "teens" who want to hang out in the local cemetery and tell ghost stories to celebrate the last day of the town carnival??? You're guess is as good as mine. Anyhow, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess that a mysterious killer lurks in the shadow who is p****d about one thing or another and decides to take his frustrations out with a machete. Slow moving at first with some ridiculous death scenes--example: a girl at the local carnival gets viciously attacked and shot with a bow and arrow by the killer, but instead of running back to carnival or to anywhere where people are at, the dumb broad seeks refuge on an old merry-go-round where she is prime meat for the killer!! The redeeming qualities come at the end of the film when the group finally gathers at the old cemetery. From that point on, the murders happen very rapidly and are quite graphic. However, the every ending then becomes even more confusing as the killers identity is revealed with really no explanation of his motive. I also love how the sheriff shows up, sees the killer but has no idea that the guy really IS the killer, and just blows his head off for the hell of it?! But like I said, not a total waste..if you like machete murders, the last 20 minutes of the films should satisfy you. 4 out of 10.