Screaming Dead

I happened to like the script. I liked the writing and thought when Rossiter appeared and his eventual demise was an idea that worked well and one I had never seen before, even in higher budget horror films. The actors did a good job, the house it was filmed in looked genuinely spooky.

Of course sex sells and there were plenty half naked girls in the movie. There wasn't too much of it though, and there wasn't lesbian scenes or anything like that (though it was suggested by one of the main characters). So depending upon your preference that could either be good or bad.

Low budget wise I think the special effects was more computer generated in nature. Lots of computer generated ghostly images and billowing smoke kind of stuff. Rossiter had some special effects work and there was some scenes where gory effects were used. I would give them a pat on the back for the effort. It was better than some of the other low budget horror movies I've seen recently. I do have one complaint and that was the fake blood. Fake blood should look real and not fake right? Well in this movie it's clearly FAKE blood.

Overall for a low budget film the script was well done in my opinion. I liked the writing in the fact it did a good job bringing out Neal's character and his penchant for dominating women. You really want to hate the guy. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see half naked girls (that's clearly why they're there) and have that half-nakedness revolve around a horror movie plot. As long as your expectations are low...you won't be disappointed.

This is a clever little horror flick and clearly underrated. It demonstrates the idea of split personality when the photographer Roger (Joseph Farrell) meets his 'alter ego' Rossiter (Kevin Shinnick). Whereas the photographer only arranges scenes with the girls that scare them, but don't actually hurt them, the devil in him breaks out and then takes the job to the extreme. Transformed into Rossiter, Roger may at last torture and kill.

Some reviews below give me the impression most people take movies much too literally, so I elaborate a bit of the transformation idea. Check out 1:00:47 when Roger discovers Rossiters machine. Fascinated, he pulls the lever and says "this is ingenious"! We shall see Rossiter stand at the machine later just like that. Check out 1:10:41 when a hand seems to reach out of Rogers brain (or rather: mind) and smashes him against the door so that he 'dissolves' into an unrecognizable pulp. But when in 1:16:00 Sam Rogan enters the room, there is no body on the floor. Roger has disappeared - he was replaced by Rossiter.

Roger was still full of excuses (his artistic purposes), fear and restrictions. His released inner demon knows nothing of this and just does what Roger may only have had (wishful or terrifying) fantasies about. The actually scary idea behind the movie is therefore that once you lose control, you'll never be the same again. If that involves covering Misty Mundae in red paint, it may however seem negotiable ;-)

SCREAMING DEAD is the story of a crazed photographer and his unsuspecting female subjects (aka: victims).

Filmed in an abandoned asylum, it has plenty of creepy atmosphere and dark places, including a hidden torture chamber.

Is it a masterwork of brilliant filmmaking? Um, no. However, it's fairly entertaining in its own schlock-tastic way. Plus, it has Misty Mundae in a semi-serious role, and a semi-scary ghoul at the end.

Recommended for followers of Director Brett Piper...

Certainly, if the movie carried a specifically designed tone to make the viewer's heads explode it would've been worse. Actually, halfway through, I was praying for such a tone. I've never fast-fowarded through a nude scene before this movie, but the dialog voided out the excitement from the nudity.

Misty Mundae is an attractive woman; however, it takes more than beauty to save this movie. It would take all the best doctors in the east to save this movie and, even then, I doubt it could be anything more than something to separate channel 357 from 359.

Well, that was what was bad about the movie. What follows is what was good about the movie:

A perverted photographer takes three models into a haunted mansion for his next big photo shoot. One thing leads to another and we see that this isn't your average photo shoot. The girls are locked in cellars and treated like prisoners, but soon the photographer realizes he's not the only perverted one in the house...

Gore could have saved this movie's final outcome. There were plenty of opportunities that left us feeling ripped off. There was a severed hand briefly, and a few horrible CGI cuttings. I don't understand why this company always uses lame CGI instead of putting their low budget into cheap "real" gore effects.

At least it stars Misty Mundae. This is the most redeeming value of the film.

The script was pretty weak, so that didn't help. Misty Mundae really isn't a bad actress...I think she has potential to do real horror if she ever wants to. Kevin G. Shinnick was the photographer -- he was also pretty good and understood his part pretty well. The other females were all typical bimboesque characters. None of them really had too many lines, and that was a good thing. Rob Monkiewicz played the cool guy trying to save all of the girls. He got on my nerves horribly throughout the entire movie. Not much to say -- typical shock-o-rama acting.

They're really learning how to make movies look pretty good without much of a budget. The film quality was great, the lighting was good, and the sets and props were great too. BUT this is shock-o-rama, therefore, there are horribly lame CGI effects instead of gore and bright red paint used as blood. The audio was pretty low and muffled as well. For every good aspect, there is also a bad one.

Final Thoughts: This was supposedly shock-o-rama's attempt at a real horror film. Though they are progressing nicely, butthis didn't cut it. Keep the actors, keep the directors, DUMP THE CGI EFFECTS. Get some nice "real" gore in here and we might get some really decent horror movies instead of this.