Part scuzzy early 80’s police procedural, part gooey monster movie, SCARED TO DEATH is the debut of writer/director William Malone, who would most famously go on to helm such films as CREATURE, and the 1999 remake of THE HILLS HAVE EYES, here we have him in ultra-low budget mode, crafting a real down and dirty LA police/monster movie. There has been a rash of murders through the streets of LA, and detective Lou is coming up empty handed as the bodies continue to pile up. Lou turns to an ex-detective turned novelist Ted. Ted is trying his darndest to keep away from his old life, but the peculiarities of the case capture his attention and soon enough he is drug into the investigation. Once a scientist is brought into the mix, the truth is out about what the two detectives are truly up against and it is a race against time to stop the Syngenor before it can reproduce. Take elements of the police procedural, slasher film, and creature feature, throw that all in a blender with a dusting of early 80’s LA locations and you have SCARED TO DEATH. I truly enjoyed this film, got on its wavelength right away and rode the wave. Malone designed a truly awesome monster design and when you see it in action, it’s a sight to see. The performances are pretty stock and standard, but that’s exactly what this kind of movie calls for, for a first-time director, Malone does well, showing the signs of the talents he later will show on CREATURE, and especially HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL.

Vinegar Syndrome have really, really done some good work here, this 4K restoration from the original 16mm negative looks fantastic, getting the movie to look as good as the 16mm will allow. Colors and details all look great across the board, especially the monster when you get to see him in all his glory. The only thing one can really comment on, is that since the materials for the opening credits don’t exist anymore, those had to be taken from a 35mm release print, and the picture is soft, and incredibly grainy, once the credits are over with though, then it goes into the restoration and stays looking great for the entire run time. The audio is alright, due to the nature of its low budget, the audio really isn’t anything to write home about, audio levels kind of fluctuate a bit but there’s nothing particularly bad about the sound mix.

On the extras front, Vinegar Syndrome have given SCARED TO DEATH the red-carpet treatment with this two-disc package. On disc one along with the feature film is an audio commentary with director Malone, and creature actor Bryce Eller and actress Diana Davidson. Then we have the very enjoyable RISE OF THE SYNGENOR, a full-length documentary on the making of the movie. Multiple cast and crew reminisce about the making of the film, you can tell they had a great time making it and are proud of the work they did, a really well done making of. Rounding out disc one is an on-location featurette with Malone touring different filming locations and comparing how they look now to how they looked back when the movie was filmed. Disc 2 offers an alternate restoration/edit that Malone himself did in 2021, before Vinegar Syndrome did their own for this release. While it is nice to have this version too, as Malone did a little tweaking to the edits of a few scenes, added in some sound effects, it does lack behind the VS restoration because there is some usage of DNR so portions of the movie look waxy and smeary, but it is still nice to have this work be included as well.