Scream (1981)

Great Film overall

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

***SPOILERS*** Incredibly bad and totally bloodless, despite a person getting decapitated, slasher film that has a group of people stuck in this Texas ghost town being hunted down and murdered by an unknown and faceless psycho killer. It's only when this guy Sailor Charlie, Woody Strode, rode into town with his dog Brutus that we got some kind of clue in what was going on and who was the person doing all the killing. Up until then some half dozen people were murdered with the survivors having no idea who the killer is but why he has it in for them.It seems that the killer was once the Old Salt's, Charlie the Sailor, captain who went crazy after sailing the Cape of Good Horn for the 35th, a world record, time that finally freaked him out and turned him violent. After Sailor Charlie explained to the huddled survivors what exactly was gong on he and his dog Brutus disappeared from sight only to reappear in the end to put an end to the killer's madness. Why Charlie waited that long where the killer added some two more victims to his body count can only be explained in lengthening the movie to over 80 minutes so it can qualify as a feature film.Very uninteresting and one dimensional characters including Charlie the Sailor makes "Scream" one of the most boring and deadest, in putting its audience to sleep, of the many slasher movies that came out back in the 1970's & 1980's. So dead that if you were staring in it getting killed would be the only reason, forget about the money, to take the part so you wouldn't have to suffer through the entire movie.P.S It's reported in the IMDb that "Scream" made a whopping $1,023,000.00 in ticket sales after it's release on New Years Day 1981. I'd be surprised if it even cost as much as $10,000.00 to produce! And most of that going to actor and former San Francisco 49er running back Woody Strode who was in it for less then five minutes!

I have to agree with the other reviews. And I LIKE bad horror. I especially get a kick out of bad 70's and 80's horror. I will take The Mutilator, Slaughterhouse Rock, or Don't Go In the House any day! Ever seen Inn of the Damned? Yeah, it's a piece of dung, but nowhere near as bad as this. This movie has no plot, little dialogue, awful pacing, just boring as hell. The whole movie is like a power-outage, all dark and lanterns, and NOT scary. I don't need things spoon-fed to me, but the movie does not explain anything! Where did any of the characters come from? Where is this set? Why is everyone a useless wuss... oh wait, I guess that applies to most horror. But seriously, I was eagerly awaiting all these folks to die just so it would be over. One of the most infuriatingly inane movies I have ever seen. Don't do it.

Scream, or the Outing as it's known in the UK, has one of the most bizarre opening scenes I've ever seen. A slow moving camera shot over some horrible wallpaper revealing a painting of a boat in an incredibly cheap wooden frame, eventually the camera comes to rest on an antique looking clock (considering the films budget it's probably a fake) which is striking 12 O'clock. The camera then moves along to three doll like figures, two of which are decapitated & the third has splashes of blood on it, then the film cuts to the opening credits & three rafts travelling downriver. At this point I was confused about the painting, clock & figures. Unfortunately the filmmakers don't really care & it never becomes clear what the opening was all about, although I will return to this opening scene later. Anyway, three rafts stop ashore and the passengers get off. They are all on a $100 each tour. The guides, two cowboys called Stan (Etan Wayne) & Rudy (Joseph Alvarado) lead them to a deserted ghost town for the night. Just think of an old western set & your pretty much there. Everyone starts to bed down for the night, in sleeping bags on dusty floors no less. Great holiday choice. While outside on his own having a cigarette an old man named Allen (Alvy Moore) is hung. Some woman whose name is never mentioned finds him. After everyone has finished discussing the situation and decided that there is a killer running around a fat guy with a beard named Ross (Gregg Palmer) thinks going outside on his own in the dark to fetch a can of beer is a good idea, hey this guy deserves to die. Luckily the killer does his job and Ross is dead within minutes. The next morning the rafts are gone, the remaining tourists are trapped. Luckily two bikers show up, Rod (Bobby Diamond) & Jerry (John Nowak). Unluckily their soon both dead, along with another couple of our main group. And that's about it as the film plods along as they try and survive the night, half way through which a man on a horse named Charlie Winters (Woody Strode) and his Rotwieler turns up, tells them a story about how he used to be a Sailor & then rides off again! I really don't want to discuss Scream anymore so if you want to find out how it all comes together and ends then you'll have to track a copy down & watch it for yourself, although I'd strongly advise against it! Executive produced, written & directed by Byron Quisenberry this is one sorry lame excuse for a horror film. First lets talk about the script, most of the characters are never given a name & absolutely no personalities or background. This makes caring and emoting with anyone almost totally impossible, none of the characters are given any human qualities. Nor do we discover anybodies relationship with anyone else. Logic, or a lack of it to be more precise, why do people insist on splitting up all the time when there's a psycho killer running around? The killer or their motives are never revealed, hell we don't even know whether their a man or woman. The film as a whole is also very slow, boring & ultimately frustrating because nothing is explained or revealed to keep anyone unlucky enough to be watching this interested, & I haven't forgot about that opening scene which still baffles me even now! Almost the exact same shot is repeated at the very end of the film too, only this time all three figures are decapitated and the camera zooms in on the painting and reveals the date which is '1891' & then the film finishes and the end credits roll, what the hell is all that about?! Forget about any decent murders or gore, there's a meat cleaver with some blood on it and a decapitation from a really bad camera angle that basically shows the viewer nothing. That's it, I can't remember anything else that might keep you awake. On a positive note, hey I'm trying to be generous here OK, there is a cool shot where the camera moves along a wall with the killers collection of weapons, an axe, a meat cleaver & a scythe which as I said is quite a cool shot, unfortunately the killer doesn't really use them to any great effect. It is also competently made, not brilliant but at the same time not too bad, & that's about it for good points I'm afraid. Scream is absolutely terrible & doesn't deliver anything that a slasher film should, avoid at all costs. Trust me you'll be glad you did.

I am sorry but I have seen tons and I mean tons of bad movies before. You name it and I have probably seen it but this movie was pain old terrible. There are so many characters and they look actually the same you cant tell who is who and there is little diagolue I doubt they even had a scirpt. There is no plot. People are stuck on an island as people die. I love 80's slasher movies but I can't get over how bad this movie was. They really don't give any information on the killer and they don't really show any death scenes. I have watched this film 3 times because I could not get the point. I tryed to understand it but I just couldn't. I recommend you try to get this film so you know what I am talking about. After you see this movie email me and tell me what you think. Ifyou can sit through this whole movie strait without falling asleep I have tons of respect for you. 0* out of ****