The tranquility of a quiet town (located somewhere in the North Carolinian zone) is shattered when a crazed killer goes on a rampage, slaughtering the teen population. Woops, I kind of wrote myself into a corner with that one sentence plot summary. Damn it! There’s also a lengthy carnival sequence and adult-aged teenagers telling stories in a graveyard. And skinny dipping! What else? Oh crap, I almost left out all of the melodrama that small town life breeds like crazy (if the movies are to be believed). There’s also a cranky old grandma that tells it like it is. I should follow her lead and tell it like it is too. This whole paragraph stinks to high heaven, y’all!
If you crave the local flavor of regional horror filmmaking, then Death Screams (1982) is for you. This has got small town charm up the wazoo. You could say this is all filler, almost no killer but for my money, this is a joy to behold. Much like one of my all-time favorites Girls Nite Out (1982), the folks behind the camera on this one ain’t gonna to let some pesky kill scenes get in the way of the character development. There are so many Good Time Charlies in this movie that it should be up for a retroactive award of some kind. Kids making out, drinking beer, stealing dirty magazines, goofin’ on each other, and partying are the order of the day here.
Director David Nelson and screenwriter Paul C. Elliott are really in love with every one of the characters in this movie and it shows. The final act of this slasher is when they remembered that they have to kill off these wonderful silly people we’ve been hanging out with. And they really go for it in the gore department as there’s plenty of grue on display once things get going. The music score by Dee Barton is definitely unique in the slasher genre, it’s very robust and classy, sneaking in some wicked drums and funky basslines here and there.
The only thing I can think of to complain about with Death Screams is the writer pulls a fast one on the identity and motivation of the killer. This one requires a couple of viewings before you go “ohhhhh, now I get it”. I think they were actually going for a more satisfying gotcha moment that kinda didn’t come off at all and I was just left a bit baffled and thinking I’d missed something. Did that bother me? Not really. I was already going to be watching Death Screams multiple times the moment it showed up in my mailbox. And I’ll be watching it again before too much longer. Highly recommended for slasher fans who love the characters as much as they love the kills.
Arrow Video rescues Death Screams from VHS hell. Every time I tried to watch the old rip of this one, I just gave up immediately. Luckily, for fans of this title and newcomers like me, this looks and sounds pretty darn great. There is some noticeable grain and scratches throughout this presentation but who gives a ding dang? Seriously! There’s an audio commentary from one of the film’s producer Charles Ison and Worth Keeter, the special effects artist who brought the blood. This incredible conversation is moderated by producer and director Phil Smoot. These old boys get to talkin’ about filmmaking and have some excellent stories to share.
If there’s a forgotten slasher getting a Blu-ray, you better have The Hysteria Continues podcast on it and Death Screams totally has them on it. As always, they bring their excellent insights into the film, discuss its place in slasher history, and deliver all the trivia and cast and crew info you could hope for. The disc also has the film’s House of Death alternate title sequence And finally, there’s some great TV spots, a radio spot, and a trailer for the film.