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| Images courtesy of Visual Vengeance |
Visual Vengeance, that newfound boutique label that started
with Wild Eye Releasing and MVD, have really set the SOV (shot-on-video)
filmmaking world ablaze with their deluxe special edition rereleases of
forgotten off-the-beaten-path monster movies.
Their newest acquisition The Screaming is unique for including a
complete original soundtrack album in the set, a remastered director’s cut of
the film and a collectible mini-poster in the package. Representing one of the more formally and
technically ambitious offerings in their ongoing slate of buffed up rereleases,
Jeff Leroy of Creepies and Rat Scratch Fever brings to Visual
Vengeance a new director-supervised SD tape transfer of his 2000 occult
Tinseltown/Scientology horror flick The Screaming in the VHS equivalent
of Starry Eyes or MaXXXine and a dose of lo-fi Ray Harryhausen sprinkled
in for good measure.
Bob Martin (Vinnie Bilancio of Rat Scratch Fever) is
a boozing smoking twenty-something college student renting a room from Crystal
Traum (Wendi Winburn) his landlord who also proves to be a sultry seductress
strutting tight running gear in front of him regularly before nudging him into
joining her morning workouts. Their
encounters lead him to her choice of New Age religion called Crystalnetics
(a plain riff on L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics textbook for Scientology)
whose equally seductive well-dressed secretaries trick Bob into signing on with
the group not knowing it is in fact some sort of sacrificial demonic cult
thriving off of the inhuman energies of an extraterrestrial being locked away
behind closed doors and padlocks. Eventually
however a mercurial German detective on the hunt for the true nature of Crystalnetics
uncovers a conspiracy to feed off of human sacrifices for eternal youth and
beauty and that Bob is next on the chopping block.
A mashup of videotape, filmstock in one or two shots,
stop-motion animated miniatures, practical effects makeup and props of a tentacled
The Thing-like manifestation with bloody fleshy wings, a wild original
score by Jay Woelfel included on CD in the set and some innovative video
effects montages and blurring, The Screaming is an inspired little engine
that could. A microbudget yet ambitious
effort with a sense of vastness and scale to it including some brilliantly lit
and choreographed sequences, all handsomely lit and shot largely by Jeff Leroy
himself who also did the animation and co-produced the film with actor Vinnie
Bilancio who also served as production designer, the creative filmmaking
transcend the source limitations whether it involves budget or format. Performances are fine with most of the action
trained on Vinnie Bilancio and the awkward sexual tension between him and Wendi
Winburn who has an ulterior motive in warming up to the boozing chain-smoking
loner. Mostly, the effects team are the
real stars of this do-it-yourself homegrown regional effort what at times is as
well rendered as a theatrical lean mean indie.
Visual Vengeance have once again prevailed with this deluxe
release which includes the soundtrack as well as a completely revised version
of the film entitled The Screaming: Reborn. A film that could’ve been just another
beer-and-pizza distraction that wound up being a proto-dress rehearsal to the
subsequent occult demonic human sacrificing group movies popularized by the Mia
Goth film series, The Screaming is another winner for the boutique label
in the midst of their leveling up in the SOV world with the double-feature Born
a Ninja/Commando the Ninja set. One
of their first offerings to also include the soundtrack album amid the bonus
features which include a mini-poster and reversible sleeve art and a
collectible slipcover, The Screaming was a nifty little blast excoriating
the evils of Hollywood through the prism of an occult microbudget creature
feature. Collectors who have been
stocking up on the Visual Vengeance back catalog (myself included) won’t be
disappointed.
--Andrew Kotwicki
