Death Screams

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.

I honestly did not understand this movie. In addition to the movie having terrible acting, thirty-something teenagers, and a lifted soundtrack, there didn't seem to be much motive or plot. The back of the box claims that the murderer was excluded from carnival activities as a child and was therefore getting his revenge. However, the movie never even touches on this. All we get are a few obscure and unexplained references. It is mentioned that Casey was driving a car that killed the sheriff's son, but nothing was confirmed. Casey's mother told him that stealing was bad, so he went and killed the one person he truly cared about. Then, towards the end, the weird flashback about him witnessing a woman taking money for sex. When it was all over, the one of the survivors asks the sheriff, "Why?"- I thought I was finally going to get some answers. Unfortunately, all the sheriff said was "I don't know". What kind of answer is that?!? All I was left with was a sense of bewilderment- and anger that I wasted my time with this movie- NO STARS!

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.

This flick came out in the glory days of the slashers, David Nelson, the director, is not known for me and with this rare flick he surely won't become famous. It is already hard to find, it never had a proper release and went straight to video rental shops. So if you want a copy you will have to hunt down some video rentals in the US. Because it never came out in Europe. And then for some it's still a problem due the NTSC issue. Nevertheless, I go hunting sometimes in the US via the internet and bring them home into my collection. I'm happy that I have seen this flick. Indeed, there are some strange things going on. Just when the flick starts a couple is being killed while making love on a motorbike. Try to do that one! Once you have taken this they are thrown into a river, were they are floating and shown into the flick at several times without a reason. Of course David Nelson knew what to add to have a real slasher, nudity. And there's a bit of it in it, the first minute it's already bare naked breasts, there is even some full frontal nudity when one of the girls goes swimming in the noticed river...at night...without somebody watching...naked, guess what's coming next. Going back to the beginning, after the first killing the opening credits come on and man, you really have to hear the over the top score used while the dead bodies are shown in slow motion going under water. Further on, one of the girls is being put with her bra in the showers, but why does she has to wear them? They become wet after a few seconds showing everything...The first killings are so strange, one with an arrow but watch the girl go running to a merry-go-round. Unbelievable. It takes really an hour before the house of death is shown. Before that you will have to take a lot of talking especially at the fair. But watch the girls' clothes...so sexy and typical seventies even as it was made in the eighties. But it is the last 10 minutes that things really go wrong and decapitations happen, slashing, hanging and even a head is blown to pieces. A strange flick to watch for different reasons. for example, one of the actresses is Susan Kiger, Playmate to do a hardcore porno feature prior to posing for "Playboy": she appeared in the 1976 X-rated outing "Deadly Love" and subsequently became the Playmate of the Month in the January, 1977 issue of "Playboy." So some do hunt it down for that reason. Even as it has some boring moments you still keep watching.

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.