Death Screams

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.

There's a lot of charm in House of Death (or Death Screams depending on which version you watch). The film feels like a homespun passion project where all local community theatre performers and fame struck locals came out and had a good time trying to make a movie. Charm will only go so far and, while House of Death excels in creating a believable and quaint small town atmosphere, it fails at supplying any memorable chills. Some of the death scenes are inspired such as a moment where a young woman is attacked on a deserted merry go round or when another unfortunate soul is sliced in half after falling through a rotten staircase, but the killer's big reveal happens so quickly and is lit so dark that you'll have to rewind to figure out who they were.

(** out of *****) The titular `house' only appears in the last ten minutes or so of this overly familiar, early-'80s horror flick. That detail aside, this movie isn't the worst of its kind (that would be "Hell High"), but it's also far from the best. If you can make it past the interminably long carnival scene -- with a group of young, vacuous girls and hunky, meat-head guys walking around making jokes and playing games -- you'll get a few so-so chills and thrills (and mostly off-screen machete murders) once the gang winds up in the cemetary to tell ghost stories (the lead heroine tells a lousy version of the classic urban legend about the girl who's home alone and thinks that's her dog under the bed licking her hand.) Other than a decapitated head or two, there's more nudity than gore, including an interesting, role-reversal shower scene in which a man is stalked in his apartment while taking a shower. There's some minor backplot and attempts at character development, but there are also gaping plot holes and a weak attempt to make the killer's identity a mystery (you should have no trouble figuring it out.) The film quality's pretty crummy, and the out-of-place, Sesame Street-sounding soundtrack is one of the worst I've ever heard.

HIGHLIGHT: Speaking of the soundtrack, if you do happen to run across this movie at the video store, go ahead and rent it solely for the opening credits sequence -- the music that plays over this sequence is so hysterically over the top that you will not believe it. Listening to this ludicrously epic music play over slow-motion scenes of dead bodies floating underwater was a surreal experience. I had to rewind it and watch it over three or four times. Seriously, some underground techno or indie-rock band needs to find this movie and sample the soundtrack. It blew me away. Of course, drinking helps.

I saw this film under the title "House of Death". Although it may seem standard and cheesy, it's lots of fun to watch, and it's fairly gory, too! Nine teenagers who live in a small North Carolina town go to the local carnival and have lots of fun. What they don't know is: a killer is stalking them! They proceed to go to a cemetery, tell ghost stories, and camp out in a creepy old abandoned house. Could the killer be lurking inside? Though predictable, "Death Screams" is rather fun, exciting, and scary. The music, I thought, was pretty good, and the actors weren't bad either. Many scenes are atmospheric and misty, and believe me, there are "Death Screams" aplenty in this one!