Abbreviated Entry...
So most of June has been pretty brutal for me schedule-wise. Big Time Life Events™ of close family members (weddings/funerals/reunions) have conspired to make the movie-every-day thing rather difficult. I've still managed to watch one every day, but the end result of everything life has thrown my way is that I'm as exhausted as I've ever been. So to keep my sanity (and this blog going), I'm going to do things a bit differently for a little while - I watched the movies, but rather than the standard entry, I'll just do a little synopsis, a little imdb research, quote some of the reviews (can you do that?) and bounce off of them. Followed up by my general impressions.
Okay, thanks!
Scream Bloody Murder
In the opening scene, a young boy named Matthew murders his father while helping him with some farming chores, cutting off his own arm in the process. (Say what you will about Scream Bloody Murder - it doesn't waste any time.) He's sent to an asylum, but it's unclear if he's blamed for the murder, or if he was just traumatized. What is clear? He's crazy! And has a hook for a hand.
Now that Matthew an adult, he's released from the asylum and heads home. His mom has remarried, which really pisses him off; so he figures he should continue his youthful practices of murdering his parents. He eventually falls in love with a prostitute, and creates a fake identity for himself, claiming he's a millionaire and whatnot. In reality, he's just killed some people in a mansion and is pretending it's his. Anyways, he eventually kidnaps her and keeps her captive in this mansion and tortures her. Good times!
First off the bat this is a ZERO budget production from all points down but, in truth, thats never hurt a movie in my opinion anyway.
This was made in 1973 and you can pretty much feel the influence of certain other movies which had made such an impact from 1968 onwards, it strives for that Last House feel and almost succeeds in some cases. The opening is pretty cool (love that squashed Dad effect!) but the actual storyline seems like its pretty jumpy and zooms along from start to finish, which is where it gets interesting.......
-Thanks "elmondomacabro" via imdb
Scream Bloody Murder is definitely a cheap looking film, and really feels as though the production process was rushed along. The acting and direction is never that good (and is even outright goofy at times), but you get the idea that the main point was to have nasty violence... even the promo poster on wikipedia has the bold claim that this was the first film to be called "gore-nography." So there's that. I don't remember anything outright offensive about the gore, but the film does have a cheap, sleazy, exploitative feel, especially the scenes where our psycho is taunting his captive victim.
This is easily seen as an early slasher flick, in which the audience is shown everything from the killer's point of view as he moves from victim to victim. Matthew's compulsion to kill is explained away as an innate, yet strongly Oedipal, evil that society mistakenly labeled an illness.
SCREAM BLOODY MURDER is, overall, among the better movies made during the slasher craze of the 1970's and 80's, and could be considered a forgotten gem among fans of the genre. I got my hands on this movie through Mill Creek's Chilling Classics 50 Movie pack, meaning that this movie is probably public domain and anyone interested might be able to see it for free through online sources.
-Thanks "yetanotherharris" via imdb
I'd be hard pressed to say this is among the better movies of the slasher craze - and I'm not even sure if "slasher" is the right word for it. Yeah, Matthew a killer, but it's never mysterious or supposed to be fun. Plus, he's the main character - you don't really have anyone outside of his world of insanity to invest in. It's really a one-man show... and honestly, some sort of outside influence, or outside character, really could have helped things. As it stands, Scream Bloody Murder is a little interesting at times but ultimately just kind of drags. The idea that "Matthew is crazy" is repeatedly beat over your head, but nothing too exciting really comes of it. Plus, Matthew is just annoying. I wasn't scared of him - he just kind of pissed me off. That's never a good trait for your bad guy.
Although Scream Bloody Murder is not a very well-acted movie, it actually is quite effective. The tension generated near the end in the scenes where the poor woman is incarcerated and attempting to escape from the house is well handled. So too the various murders, they are certainly brutal enough to give the film an agreeably sleazy veneer.
-Thanks "Red-Barracuda" via imdb
The acting is distractingly bad at times - and it sometimes ends up being a lot more funny than scary. (Matthew threatening his captive with meat comes to mind... "I bet no one has ever bought you meat before!") The ending scenes of Matthew's prisoner trying to escape are okay, but by the time those scenes come around you aren't really invested in the film anymore. I guess the kills were okay in a grindhousey way.
Overall, Scream Bloody Murder just didn't win me over. Normally I'm into sleazy 70s stuff, but this film just felt off. While the story had some potential, the acting, direction and overall feel of the film just never cohered into an interesting whole.
I would not recommend this film.
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