A Scream in the Streets

Anytime John Tull is in a movie it is hard not to like it. Something Weird Video offers many Tull titles and each one has its own ridiculous charm. I love the line in the film where he is talking to his girlfriend on the bed and says something like, "Now, for those split beaver pants"! (His girlfriend was dressed for a 1950s costume party...) Lines like this make A Scream in the Streets and John Tull a "gem" of 70s sleaze cinema.

It's not only Tull that captivates me, but how about that scene where the robber holds up the convenience store? I love the look of "horror" on the owner's face. (Actually, it looks like the guy has no idea what is going on...) I also love when the robber jumps out of the glass door in slow motion. Hey, they don't make movies like this anymore! A movie so horrible that I can't help but love it! The cross dressing killer somehow goes unnoticed (though it is so obvious that "she" is a man), the dialog is amusingly horrid, John Tull bares "Tull junior", and don't forget the flaccid member during one of the sex scenes in the massage parlor! God, I wish I lived in the 70s to experience this stuff first hand!

OK, this was a bit of a disappointment. I purchased the German version of this movie from eBay which appears to be an ancient rental copy. The cover is really nice, it pictures a man with an axe dismembering a screaming woman. The German title literally is The Slaughterer and has the following catch lines on the cover: Chopped alive, he hates all women, his only love is his axe.

Unfortunately, the movie is quite different than what the advertising on the VHS cover suggests. Its 80 minutes long (PAL version) and not even ten minutes are devoted to the killer and his work. The lion share of celluloid is used for a number of rather steamy sex scenes, you get to see some genital parts indeed. The rest is second unit shots of the two cops driving their car doing their job.

The only thing that makes the movie worth watching 8and that is only the first 40 minutes of it) is a long scene in a brothel where an old pervert is doing his thing on a masseuse. The dialog is really fun.

The two or three scenes with the killer an his victims are mediocre at best. You don't get to see any stabbing, just the results.

This movie is real turkey and can only be beared when intoxicated. This film should NOT be viewed by minors.

This jaw-droppingly odd and obscure softcore crime film was on a double-feature cassette with "Axe" and that's how I saw it. It starts off with the most jarring set of opening credits ever. Basically, a booming male voice shouts over a black screen "A Scream in the Streets!" then it abruptly cuts to the Fastest Scrolling Titles Ever superimposed over footage of an unconvincing drag queen killing someone (1970's police show music raging in the background). The film settles down a bit after this into something resembling a story, although I can't remember what it is. My only memory is that it involved a massage parlor and lots of sex scenes (one, at least, verging on hardcore). The men were the ugliest beasts I've ever seen with their clothes off. They couldn't have found more hideous men for this film. Towards the end, the ludicrous drag queen from the opening credits shows up again and implausibly stalks a park while going completely unnoticed. Then something happens and the film ends.... For fans of runny color and grainy cinematography only.

"A Scream in the Streets" fulfills its requirements as a 70s trash film. It's basically a variety of sex scenes occasionally interrupted by the plot. And the plot involves two police detectives, Ed Haskell (Joshua Bryant, the original 'Salem's Lot'), and Bob Striker (Frank Bannon, in his only film role), who must deal with various lowlifes: a young punk robbing a deli, a peeping tom, and the kicker: a rapist who is able to avoid detection because he's always dressing in drag!

The movie does have its moments. This viewer liked best the scene where two lesbians decide to "put on a show" for the peeping tom while surreptitiously placing a call to the police. Also among the thoroughly depraved male characters is a massage parlor customer who gets his kicks by whipping an employee with his belt. Her boss calls in the cops, but is far more concerned with the damage that the customer did to HIM. (He smashed his head with a beer bottle, and yet later we don't see a single drop of blood on the dodo's face.) The rapist is a total creep and yet is undeniably a hoot because there is no way in real life anybody would be fooled by this guy.

The dialogue is often quite amusing, and the performances likewise have a cheesy appeal. Also appearing are Linda York ("Chain Gang Women"), Colleen Brennan ("Delinquent School Girls"), Sandy Carey ("Drive In Massacre"), and John Tull ("Below the Belt").

Viewers hoping for a copious mixture of cheese & sleaze will likely have a good time with this one.

Six out of 10.

Previous reviewers said pretty much all about the scene, so I'd just add that this scene looks more like an insert or even a short film that had been shoot prior or during the main production and than edited into the film before its release. A guest in massage parlor, Mr. Heat was played by the well-known softcore actor from the early 1970's, Norman Fields. The question is who played the girl. Does anybody saw her in any other movie , either feature length or short one? If someone has some information about that actress or can get it somehow, please let me know via e-mail. Thanks in advanced. P.S The DVD is very likely edited down version. I found the French version with running time of 120 min and also one Swedish site mentions approx. 119 min.