The Night God Screamed

There's a murderous Manson-like Jesus freak cult, following the unibrowed Jesus-lookalike Billy Joe and his enforcer, the hooded cross-toting Atoner The followers are hippy-dippy teenagers with motorcycles.

After the preacher husband of the female lead doesn't let them rob his donations without a few words, he's crucified and stabbed by them. His wife, who did not have a particularly stable mind to begin with, becomes more unhinged. Three of the cultists are put on death row, but The Atoner remains unidentified and free, as do the other cultists who weren't there at the robbery.

A judge invites the preacher's wife to babysit his four teenagers, not wise as she flipped out even more after being threatened with "vengeance" by the cultists after the trial. From there, it becomes a tale of a home invasion, mostly. I don't share the high admiration of the other raters, but it's not bad.

The Night God Screamed, despite the interesting title, is not a very well known horror film; whether or not that's just down to poor distribution I don't know, but what we have here is an interesting and well made little seventies gem in the exploitation vein, though preceding a lot of the better known entries such as Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left. The title made me expect some sort of religious themed horror movie, but actually religion only plays a minor part in the movie and the movie is actually more of a creepy horror flick with exploitation themes. The main player is a preacher's wife who testifies against a fanatical religious group when they crucify her husband. Time goes by and the judge who put members of the group away invites the woman to look after his kids while he and his wife go on holiday. He gives the kids strict instructions not to leave the house while under her care; which doesn't go down well considering they're all teenagers. The situation gets worse still when they start being terrorised by a bunch of unknown attackers...

The Night God Screamed is a slow burning horror movie that doesn't utilise high amounts of gore and violence but delivers its scares through atmosphere and tension. The film has a real gritty feel to it and this bodes well with the dark plot line. The film stars Jeanne Crain in the lead role. She's not the usual horror movie star, but she does well among a cast of lesser actors and helps to ensure that the film is always interesting. The main bulk of the film focuses on the main characters trapped inside a house and this section of the film is tense throughout. Some of the scenes leading up to the finale are not all that interesting, but the film never actually becomes boring. The ending is decent and the twist does make sense, although it's not exactly impossible to guess. It is a shame that this film is so obscure because I'm sure that a lot of horror fans would enjoy it; somehow, however, I can't see it getting a DVD release any time soon. If you can find a copy of this movie, it is well worth getting hold of.

Great early 1970's "shocker"...if you are a fan of "Don't Look in the Basement", "Last House on the Left", or various late-night cheapie thrillers. The double shock ending on this one, is surprising and chilling! I'm surprised this movie is not well known by Psychotronic movie fans. The plot is original enough, the cast is a mixture of battle-worn old people and "blah" newcomers. The family / "teens" that Jeanne Craine goes to babysit for...are too old, and all the same age! This movie moves quite well (no boring parts) I think the producer was responsible for the equally obscure and weird 1973 movie "The Baby" (which also has a shock ending). Not on DVD, I had to buy the VHS on E-Bay. Look for this! "The Night God Screamed" must have played at drive ins at one point.

When Fanny Pierce (Jeanne Crain) witnesses members of a religious cult crucifying her 'false prophet' minister husband Willis (Alex Nicol), she finds herself paralysed with fear, unable to act until the killers have left. Her subsequent testimony in court sees the cult's leader, Billy Joe Harlan (Michael Sugich), and several of his followers sent to death row, but many of his flock remain free and they vow to take revenge.

After the trial, Fanny agrees to 'babysit' for Judge Coogan (Stewart Bradley), ensuring that his four teenage children remain at home for the weekend; however, not long after the judge and his wife have left the house, Fanny receives threatening phone calls and notes, and fears that the cultists have come a-calling.

With such a great set-up, The Night God Screamed had potential to be a really gritty slice of '70s exploitation, but for reasons that become clear in the final act, the film is fairly restrained in terms of nastiness. Director Lee Madden cranks up the tension throughout, but with the whole thing serving to set up a rather predictable twist (followed soon after by a second twist), it just isn't all that satisfying. I would have preferred it if the makers had done away with the 'clever' surprise and just concentrated on giving us a brutal siege film with lots of gnarly violence (like Assault on Precinct or Straw Dogs).

My rating: 6/10.

Jeanne Crain is one of the best actresses ever, and in this, one of her last performances to date, she proves that talent never fades away. The plot is hard to explain without giving the ending away, but it is SCARY. It is not a slice-and-dice, this film uses real terror, the kind where you have no idea what's going to happen. A fabulous movie, but don't watch it alone.