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I just saw "Night Screams" as part of an (obscure) slasher double bill with "Graduation Day" (1981). At least "Graduation Day" wanted to be a slasher. This, "Night Screams", I don't know what it wants to be. I do know it wants to be more clever but it ends up being a dumber movie all the same. A couple of escaped convicts find a hiding place in the basement of a house where a teenager on medication decides to have a party with his friends because his parents aren't home. There's bad music, bad sex, bad acting and eventually a few bad killings. On a technical level, it's not better or worse made than "Graduation Day". The latter at least played it by the early 80's slasher textbook and delivers as such a film. "Night Screams" plays it by the late 80's slasher textbook - not that the rules are much different, really - but manages to dumb things down to an almost intolerable level. Even with nada suspense or tension this time and the kills themselves aren't memorable either. The only mildly amusing aspect was the stupid twist at the end. It's such a typical conclusion, not at all original and you can see it coming from a mile away. But at least the filmmakers watched enough slasher flicks to get that thing right. Still, even if you're an avid slasher fan, I don't think you'll get too excited over this flick.

Some of the people are fleshed out, others you could care less about when they die. The deaths are different and at least try to be clever. But there are too many potietnial killers and it seems to confuse the plot someone.

THe plot itself is not all that well put together but it tries and it not as bad as it good be.

Behind the uninspired title lies an equally uninspired slasher that fails to deliver those essential ingredients of any good trashy horror: gratuitous nudity and gore. Initially, the film shows promise, opening with a girl getting topless in a changing room before being attacked by a masked maniac, but then it becomes apparent that this is actually a scene from 1981 slasher Graduation Day, as watched by two of this movie's characters before they are stabbed to death. Nudity borrowed from another film doesn't count (which also negates some T&A later on, which comes from a porn film being watched at a party), and the subsequent stabbings are lame.

The rest of the film continues in this disappointing fashion as a group of friends at a post-graduation party are bumped off in tame and uninventive ways off by an unseen maniac. Suspects include the escaped lunatics hiding in the basement, and football star David (Joseph Paul Manno), who is prone to outbursts of violence if he stops taking his meds. Of course, these turn out to be red herrings, but the real identity of the killer isn't hard to guess.

Of the numerous murders that occur in the house, we get a guy skewered with a fire poker, poisoning in a sauna, an axe in the head, a guy barbecued on a stove and stabbed in the neck, strangulation, suffocation, electrocution in a hot-tub, and choking with a pool cue, none of which are likely to satisfy gore-hounds. The best part of the film comes earlier on, when the escaped criminals are involved in a shootout with some cops and kill the staff of a diner in cold-blood: it's a surprisingly brutal scene, with some bloody squib-work.

2.5/10, rounded down to 2 for diabolical dance troupe The Sweetheart Dancers, whose terrible moves would get them four 'NOs' on America's Got Talent.

A little too much padding and an uneven story keep Night Screams from joining any list of great horror films from the 80's, but there's still a lot to enjoy. The murder scenes are executed with a little bit of pizazz and the filmmakers at least attempt to give some of the characters a little development.

Somewhere in Wichita David is a potential college football star who's just won a four year scholarship to a college somewhere in Oklahoma.His mates decide to throw him a serious farewell party whilst his folks are out that night.Unfortunately three uninvited guests secretly gatecrash these nightly celebrations,two are convicts who've fled from lockup,now hiding out somewhere in the homes cellar while our third interloper is a mental patient escapee with a connection to the party guests and notably David himself.Soon the bodies start to pile up...Watchable slasher with gore,nudity and plenty of movie clips from Herb Freed's "Graduation Day"."Night Screams" tries to be a bit different than the rest of its low-budget neighbors.The action is slow and the bodycount includes ten murders or so.7 out of 10.