Screams of a Winter Night

I have this movie on the absolute WORST DVD bootleg in my entire collection of substandard DVD bootlegs. I remember seeing it though in the early 90's on a professional VHS tape, which more or less did justice to a low-budget 16 mm semi-professional film like this. This is an anthology/portmanteau-style film, but I don't know that ALL the stories were really based on urban legends (and this is definitely NOT the first horror film to mine popular urban legends anyway). This does have, as its first story, the old "couple parked in lover's lane, boyfriend gets out, and girlfriend hears scratching on the roof of car" tale, but it also manages to somehow throw bigfoot into the mix (bigfoot films at that time being very popular among low-budget, regional filmmakers). The second story though, about three guys spending the night in a haunted dormitory, is so idiosyncratically bizarre that it's hard to believe it could even be an urban legend. (The end of this story somehow manages to be jaw-droppingly stupid yet at the same time hauntingly disturbing). The third and final story about a female serial is more ho-hum. It COULD be an urban legend, but it's not one I've personally ever heard.

The "frame story" here is especially effective. A group of young people are staying in a remote cabin and telling each other these stories(strangely, the characters in the scary stories are played by the same actors who are in the "frame story" even though they are not supposed to be the same people)while an ominous "ghost wind" howls increasingly loudly outside. The sound effects are very effective and the ending is GREAT and really makes the whole thing worthwhile.

It really wouldn't surprise me, as another reviewer said, if this movie, like the early 70's stop-motion epic "Equinox", was a great influence on "The Evil Dead". This one certainly doesn't need the deluxe Criterion treatment "Equinox" recently received (complete with the $40 price tag), and it's possible the original elements aren't in too good of shape. But it certainly deserves some kind of halfway decent DVD release. Quentin Tarantino reportedly likes it a lot so maybe there's hope.

Superb regional horror film about a group of friends who go on a weekend excursion to a lakeside cabin in the wilds of Louisiana. Once there, they start telling each others various "true" stories of the macabre. The place they're staying happens to have a morbid history of it's own, but is it really true? I had been wanting to see this film for many years, but with the tape being exceedingly rare, it took a good while before I got the opportunity. After finally checking it out, it rapidly became my new favorite anthology.

The first story, "Moss Point Man", is a combination of bigfoot tale and old urban legend. It's the weakest of the lot, but it's short. The second bit, "The Green Light", is the best as three fraternity pledges must spend the night in an old building where a mysterious green light has been seen emanating from the upper floors. This one has a unique ending and some creepy moments with the guys hearing sounds from the floors above them. The third and final tale, "Crazy Annie", involves a girl who goes crazy after an attempted date rape. The story is typical, but it's well-acted by the main girl.

That said, this is the only omnibus I've seen where the wrap-around segment is actually the strongest aspect of the picture. The area our characters are staying is said to be plagued by an Indian wind demon. The opening credits are very effective as one family's encounter with the malevolent entity plays out via sound only. Once our main group arrives, John, the one guy who know about the place's history, shows another guy the old house and graves of the family. This is another unsettling scene, one that gave me a "Blair Witch" vibe.

As the film plays out, the wind builds and builds, culminating in a terrific ending. There's also some intriguing subtext about the nature of scary stories and the basis behind them.

In the era of the DVD, when video stores already pressed for space now find themselves in the position of having to clear out mucho shelf space to make room for both VHS and DVD copies of the newest Kate Hudson film, many odd and obscure VHS films that have sat for ages are now disappearing.

Sure, many of these films will probably be refurbished on DVD someday, but will these releases trickle down to the rental market? The answer to such a question could really hurt the horror industry in the long run.

For instance, how many people would buy a DVD special edition of "Screams of a Winter Night" if they haven't paid 99 cents to rent it first? If the answer to that is zero, like i think it is, than distributors who dare to spend lots of money attaining the rights to obscure films like this will end up taking a bath when no one buys them.

So, I guess it all comes down to the rental outlet. Which is where my interest in this movie began. One of my local video haunts is a semi-major chain, at least in my area. And it's one that has the biggest rep for stocking odd and offbeat VHS films. But I had noticed that within the last few months, many of these films were being sold off to make room for DVD's like I mentioned earlier. So, in and effort to see as many of these "targeted for deletion" movies before they were gone, I started renting them A through Z.

By the time I reached "Screams," most of these movies were already gone, either bought by geeky film dweebs like myself, or just carried away by the staff.

"Screams" caught my eye thanks to it's thick black clamshell VHS box (an increasing rarity) and odd picture of an indistinct monster trudging through the woods. The title of the film was written in a jagged font that remined me of those off beat comics from the 70's like Marvel's "Man-Thing" or DC's "House of Mystery." The text on the back promised an anthology film, and since I have always had a weak spot for those, I gave it a chance.

I'm glad I did. Over the course of around 90 minutes, I knew I had found that dusty, out of print VHS rarity: The nugget of gold amongst the dirtpan.

The Plot: A group of college students about to graduate travel to a woodland cabin for some R and R. Once there, many of the girls start to feel uncomfortable (something which I'll come back to) after which the guys start telling "true" horror stories they heard from someone who heard them from someone else.

The three tales include:

1. A couple taking a late night drive start hearing scratching noises on the roof of their car. 2. The best of the bunch, and oddly enough, the one people rag on the most, has three frat pledges fufilling their dare to spend the night in an abandoned hospital with a rep for having a haunted second floor. 3. A quiet and shy college girl turns out to be a psychopath, much to the surprise of her roommate.

What surprised me the most was the material in between the stories. There's something really unsettling about this gathering, and the way they all interact with each other. Has anyone out there ever been to a party of some kind where you could just tell the vibe wasn't right? Well, that's what this is like. From the way the girls seem to be uncomfortable around the guys, to the way that the guys seem to be divided into little sub-groups, there's just a feeling that their little trip wasn't going to go well even if evil, supernatural things didn't happen.

As for the stories, yes, that first one is real moldy by today's standards. But you have to keep in mind, that while talk of "urban legends" are pretty commonplace today, back in the late 70's, these legends were just that: Legends, not the stuff of Discovery Channel debunking programs, or community college courses.

It's the second one that really got me. Dark and dingy, with the characters pretty much spending the whole telling cowering near the stairway to the second floor, there's a real feeling of danger as each one of them goes upstairs and dosent come back. The director could have easily copped out and just not showed what the evil green light was, but he did. And while the revelation of the light is a common snickering point among reviewers, I have to admit, something about the unexplainable nature of the explanation has stayed with me to this day.

Add some colorful touches such as the opening sequence: A dark screen backed with increasinly nightmarish sound effects that follow a linear pattern (something which has been done recently in movies like Cabin Fever and the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and an impressive finale where chaos breaks out.

I've seen movies that try to scare by cranking up the wind machine and having the cast yell before. "Screams" is just about the only one where I really felt fear for the characters. These actors may have been amateurs, but when called upon, they really do make the ending of this one sing with apocalyptic passion. I almost expected at least one person to survive only to throw open the cabin door only to find a yawning black abyss.

"Screams" is no four star classic, don't get me wrong. But it is proof that not all zero budget cheapies are made equal. I can see I'm not alone on this one. The call for a DVD release here is small, but definitely there. Hopefully, we'll get what we want someday.

As for the copy I rented, I hovered over it for months, waiting for a "sale" sticker to appear on it. I showed up one day, and it was already gone. Oh well, I hope it found a good home.

As long as it didn't get bought by the same jerk who snatched "Her Summer Vacation" out from under me too. I'll probably never see that film again, no matter how popular DVD's become.

That's another story though.

This is certainly no award winner, but I was very pleased to have found out the name of this film. For many years, I've had a memory of a particular scene where a guy has gone bonkers and is clawing at a green light bulb that is covered in cobwebs. I located it at a local video store (to think, they've had it all these years!). I saw this with my sister and her friend during one a horror movie marathon at our little local two-screen cinema back when I was only 6 or 7 years old. It scared me to death! In watching it recently, it has some spooky parts, but it's definitely not the horrific movie of my memories..... All in all, it's a low-budget trilogy of spooky stories....

I was 14 in 1979, and my brother and I went to a twin theater in Bowie, Maryland. I don't remember what film we intended to see, a comedy I believe, but when I saw there was a horror movie playing in the other theater I decided to watch it while my brother saw the comedy. So there I was, sitting by myself in the near empty theater with about ten other people sporadically seated throughout. I figured a PG horror flick might be good for some cheap thrills, maybe a few laughs, but nothing I couldn't handle. Then the movie started, and from the scary opening which is comprised of sound effects over the credits through the second story, I was scared nearly to tears by this. It's hard to say exactly what it is, but this movie just has that special "something" that can't be planned, but must come through in the execution. I recently attained a copy of this and watched it again after all these years, and I still think it is quite effective. Reading the other reviews here, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with a soft spot in their heart for this little unknown movie. To the filmmakers who just might read this, I say ignore the negative critics. That little movie you made way back in the 1970's still holds up well, and has a good creepy atmosphere that many of today's big-budgeted have not a clue of how to accomplish. Oh well, thanks for reading!