The Corner Penthouse

Death Screams (1982) (aka House of Death) was recently released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video. Read on to find out more about it...

[ SYNOPSIS ]

Late one night, a young couple are brutally murdered at a make-out spot by an unseen assailant, their bodies tossed into the nearby river. As the lifeless lovers drift slowly downstream, the residents of the town excitedly prepare themselves for their annual carnival, unaware that a machete-wielding maniac with a twisted grudge is lurking in their midst. When a group of teen revelers plan a late-night after party down in the local cemetery, they unwittingly set the stage for a bloodbath.

[ QUICK THOUGHTS ]

In the early to mid 2000s, I would find "public domain" DVDs for a Dollar at various discount stores. The usual suspects were there, but on occasion, I would find some obscure horror film. Such was the case with Death Screams, which was released by EastWest DVD on a single-layer disc with Dario Argento's Deep Red (which Arrow just released on 4K UHD; to be reviewed by me soon). When it came to these cheap DVDs with movies I never heard of, and thus didn't know if I would actually like, I bought them for cheap and filed them away in a "Decide To Keep" box. The idea being that I would watch it later, and if I liked it, I'd have gotten it for a mere buck. If I really liked it, I'd see if there was a better quality "official" version. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have been out very much money.

I recently found the crappy, highly-compressed (again, TWO movies on one SINGLE-layer disc) Death Screams/Deep Red Hatchet Murders DVD in the box, along with all of the other DVDs I still haven't found time to watch. I took a quick look at the DVD, and the copy of Death Screams on it looks like it came from a piss-poor VHS (which it probably did). As expected, this new Blu-ray from Arrow has superb picture and audio quality compared to the 4:3 Fullscreen copy of the film on that DVD. That's not a surprise. The bigger question is, "Is this a movie that I decided to keep?" Well, to be completely honest, if my only copy was the EastWest DVD, the answer would be "NO".

Simply put, Death Screams is a bad film. Not "so good, it's bad", but truly bad. It features the usual cliches. Horny "teens" played by people who are clearly in their late 20s/early 30s. Attractive women who show off their fine feminine forms. Where it differs from the usual 1980s slashers is that the story is non-existent. Potential plot points and backstory elements are brought up, and then promptly forgotten about. The "teens" friends are killed off, and then promptly forgotten about. Characters are introduced as red herrings, and then promptly forgotten about. The killer is revealed - even though I'm sure that person was killed off in a garage earlier in the film - and the killer's motivations make zero sense since there was never any previous indications of it.

Deaths are far and few between, and they're some of the crappiest death scenes I've ever seen in a slasher. Well, what little I can see of them. Either the photography is so dark that you can't see much of anything, the cuts are so quick that you can barely process what you've seen, or the editing is so disjointed that none of it makes sense until you do some mental detective work afterward. It seems that director David Nelson, who rose to fame as a child star playing alongside his real-life family in the wholesome TV show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, had never heard of "insert shots". He had no problem spending the majority of the film hanging with the "teens" at the carnival, but when it came to the death scenes, it's all quick shots, as if he wanted to get them over with.

There's also the unintentionally-funniest death you'll ever see. A pretty young woman takes a sip from a memorial water fountain in a fairly deserted area not far from a carnival. She gets shot in the shoulder with a sharp arrow. Showing a superhuman pain threshold, she runs - completely unbothered by her injury - not to the carnival only a few yards away, but to a remote abandoned carousel where the killer finishes her off by placing a plastic bag over her head. Her hands were not tied up, so she could have ripped a hole in the bag. I guess she wanted to die!

[ SPECIFICATIONS ]

The movie is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a runtime of 1:28:38. Audio languages include English (LPCM Mono). Subtitle languages include English SDH.

[ SPECIAL FEATURES ]

Here is a list of the special features that are included on the Blu-ray disc.

• Audio Commentary - with producer Charles Ison and special effects artist Worth Keeter, moderated by filmmaker Phil Smoot.
• Audio Commentary - with The Hysteria Continues.
• All the Fun of the Score: The Making of Death Screams (32:53) - A newly-produced making of documentary featuring interviews with producer Charles Ison, special effects artist Worth Keeter, writer Paul Elliot, actors Hanns Manship and Curt Rector, actor/producer's assistant Sharon Alley, and actor/talent wrangler Robert "Billy Bob" Melton..
• House of Death Alternate VHS Opening Titles (5:55)
• TV Spot 1 (0:32)
• TV Spot 2 (0:32)
• TV Spot 3 (0:32)
• TV Spot 4 (0:32)
• Radio Spot Reel (3:47) - Eleven radio ads that play while promotional material from the film is shown on screen.
• Image Galleries - Four separate still image galleries are included: "Production Stills", "Behind the Scenes", "Promotional", and "TV Spot Behind the Scenes".
• BD-ROM CONTENT - Two versions of the screenplay under the original title of "Night Screams" in PDF format; 132/123 pages and approx. 97MB each.

[ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ]

The "special features" don't end with what's on the disc. As is the case with Arrow Video, tucked inside the 14mm (as thick as a PlayStation 3 game or Criterion release) clear plastic one-disc Blu-ray case is a 23-page booklet featuring a cast and crew list, "Tar Heel Terror: Death Screams and the Rise of the North Carolina Film Industry" by Brian Albright, photos from the movie, and some notes about the restoration.

The case artwork is definitely the best part of this release. The slipsleeve and newly-commissioned artwork by Sadist Art Designs on the case liner work hand-in-hand (or should I say "mouth-and-body") to create a Retro VHS-style case that reimagines the original Video Gems House of Death VHS artwork. The front of the sleeve has a large die-cut/cut-out that when placed over the case, puts the hanged body and decapitated head inside of the "mouth", just as was seen in the original VHS artwork. The first time I saw a die-cut slipsleeve that worked like this was the Mask of the Ninja (2008) DVD, where the sleeve was the "mask" that went over the ninja's face on the case artwork underneath. The back of the Death Screams sleeve recreates the back of the VHS case, only with the film's original title. This is why the sleeve doesn't have any Blu-ray logos, disc specs, or even legal text. It is completely clean! The reversible case liner features the original motion picture artwork on the reverse, and that side includes the usual logos and disc specs.


No Digital Copy code voucher is included.

[ PURCHASE LINKS ]

While I absolutely love the VHS-inspired die-cut case and the EXCELLENT job Arrow Video did on a film that really didn't deserve it - there is no doubt that this release is the best Death Screams has ever looked - I really can't recommend the film. There are much better uses of 90 minutes of your life. If you collect Retro VHS-style Blu-ray releases, and don't care about the quality of the film itself, then go ahead and buy the Death Screams Blu-ray.


This item has been provided by Arrow Video for review on this site.