Scared to Death

While Star Wars Episode V and The Howling were winning awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, this film was also a winner as Best Low-Budget Film. Low-Budget filmmakers could do worse in watching how William Malone (House on Haunted Hill ) managed to make an interesting film with award winning special effects for $74,000.

It was Malone's first film and it starred Diana Davidson, whom I am sure no one remembers as they girl who was shot in the swimming pool in Dirty Harry. It also stars John Stinson, Jonathan David Moses, and Toni Jannotta, in her only film. Malone made sure that he had a good selection of beautiful victims to keep your interest.

The staging was good in the respect that terror was built up gradually with a lot of suspense, and the creature was only partially shown until it got towards the end. You never really knew what you were dealing with.

And, of course, when it is all over, you don't really know if you solved the problem.

Something has emerged from the sewers of Los Angeles and started killing people. Private Investigator, Ted Lonergan (John Stinson) is brought in when the police are stumped, and unable to stop the slaughter. Not even roller skating enthusiasts are safe from hideous doom! It is soon discovered that the murders might have something to do with a genetics experiment gone horribly awry.

SCARED TO DEATH is an extremely low-budget monster movie. The monster itself looks a lot like some of H.R. Giger's early, rejected test drawings for ALIEN. The creature is best left in the shadows, since it isn't overly impressive. Others have commented on its glacier-like speed. Watching it creep through the sewer system is like watching an earthworm climb stairs!

While not at all frightening, this movie is enjoyable enough for one viewing. Just don't expect anything spectacular...

My review was written in December 1982 after a screening at Lyric theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

Made during the horror production boom of 1980, "Scared to Death" is an unusual amalgam of the standard Earthbound killer on the rampage format with many elements lifted from the sci-fi hit "Alien". Never trade-screened, this thriller has already played off and is reviewed here for the record. Picture is unrelated to Ovidio Assonitis's "Scared to Death", aka "There Was Once a Child", also shot in 1980.

Monster on the loose in L. A. is a synthesized genetic organism, known as the Syngenor, the result of a genetic engineering experiment. While local police are searching for a maniac, it is the real killer, using its long tongue to live off its victims' spinal fluid.

Picture works best in atmospheric chases through the storm sewers, a favorite haunt of monsters dating back to "Them" and "The Snow Creature" in the early 1950s. Filmmaker William Malone's self-designed creature is effective when glimpsed briefly, but looks like a man in a rubber suit when shown too fully in the final reels. Besides the careful "Alien" imitation regarding the monster's appearances and attacks, pic's climax for dealing with the beast is taken from "The Fly".

Cast is okay, though little interest is created during the sluggish non-horror scenes. Credits are below par, with an adequate blowup from 16mm.

I thought this movie (for being so bad) was very entertaining. The main characters are the biggest geeks! Especially the male lead. I'm talking about Dorkenstein with a capital D. It was fun making fun of them while hoping the monster eats them. This film seemed to merge cheesey 50's Sci Fi elements with 80's slasher gimmick to create a movie that worked on some level. Mystery Science Theatre would have a field day on this one. I must give it props though. The creatures actually looked good and were indeed creepy.

(Warning: I'm not fully bilingual, so please forgive me for my poor English vocabulary) This one was awful from start to finish! There was no notable action: the main characters were in a big investigation, full of dull dialogues, and the creature was just wandering around in the sewers doing some cheap kills once in a while, nothing too original, entertaining or gory.

Not absolutely painful, just plain boring.

If you want to see something a little better with the same creature, try Syngenor instead. I'm a big fan of the genre, especially the "so bad it's good" sub-genre, but this one is definitely not in that league. Avoid.