Scream Bloody Murder

APRIL 20, 2007

GENRE: EXPLOITATION, HERO KILLER, WEIRD
SOURCE: DVD (BUDGET PACK!!!)

I LOVE MY BUDGET PACK! I really should just confine myself to watching the entire 50 movie set before bothering with anything else. I have yet to be disappointed.

Scream Bloody Murder starts off with a kid named Matthew (which the film is sometimes titled) running his dad, and then himself (?) over with a tractor. He survives, but his hand is now a hook. 10 years or so later, he is released from the hospital by what would have to be the least competent doctor in history. The rest of the movie concerns his trials and tribulations as he attempts to rid the world of men and women who enjoy touching one another. I could watch it all day long.

The sound design on the film must be seen to be believed (hey that makes no sense). There’s a scene early on with 3 people in a car, chitchatting. But the dialogue is cut together without pause, so people instantly have responses to questions. It’s like: “Whereyoufrom?I’mfromBoiseOhmyuncleisfromthere.” There are also bizarre sound effects and grunts and groans from our characters during kill scenes that are obviously dubbed in later. And the music is almost never appropriate to the scenes, which just makes it all the more enjoyable. If you're like me and are endlessly amused by incompetence.

The ending is what earns the film its “Weird” status. Matthew kills the final girl after apparently teleporting outside to meet her at the door she is trying to escape from, then he drives around until he begins seeing visions of his mother. Freaking out, he runs into a church and a group of mother-visions apparently come into reality, and then he slashes his belly with his hook, which kills him. Huh?

But it’s a great deal of fun throughout. There so many highlights during the film, I wouldn’t even know where to end. Let’s see, there’s an old woman duel-wielding canes; another woman reacting with borderline nonchalance to seeing her husband all chopped up (on their wedding night no less); a pair of honeymooners offering Matthew a ride when he’s not even hitchhiking; Matthew killing a dog for no apparent reason… all of this in the first half hour!

But, like Cathy’s Curse, the true highlight of the film is the strangely angry tone in much of the dialogue. Lines like “What do you think of this? A steak! Well who else ever bought you a steak before, huh? NOBODY, that’s who!” are delivered with such intense hatred, one has to wonder what the hell the writer’s problem is. Why would someone assume no one has ever bought another person a steak? Another gem: “See what I do for you? I get you groceries and clothes and art stuff and kill people!” is delivered in a whiny tone, making it all the more hilarious.

It should be remade, however, due to the instant dating of the film that occurs when a character gets “2 dollars of gas”. Today, that will take him approximately 4 miles.

Sadly the lead actor has never made another film. He’s kind of an emo version of Kevin Bacon, and his performance is Oscar-worthy (that is, if they awarded Oscars based on actual entertainment). If anyone knows where he is, tell him to get back into the pictures! Or, at least, grab a beer with me.

What say you?