Screams of a Winter Night (1979)

Pretty Good

A different way of telling a story

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

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Shot on 16mm and featuring a cast of students from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, horror anthology Screams of a Winter Night can be excused for having a grainy drive-in aesthetic and mediocre performances. It doesn't, however, excuse the lack of imagination regarding the stories themselves, which range from the extremely predictable to the downright dull.After two and a half minutes of credits over a black screen, while terrified voices can be heard in the background, the film starts proper as ten friends (who don't seem to like each other all that much) travel to a remote cabin by a lake where they spend the weekend telling each other spooky stories.The first is a variation of a well known urban legend wherein a couple run out of gas on a lonely road only to meet with a vicious killer (in this instance, a weird, diminutive sasquatch type creature). Tale number two has a group of fraternity pledges spending the night in a deserted, run down, supposedly haunted hotel. And the last story to be told sees a repressed college student becoming a deranged murderess. The film closes with the friends in the cabin being menaced by a malevolent Indian wind spirit (serving as inspiration for The Evil Dead, perhaps).As a cost-cutting exercise, the characters in the stories are played by the same actors that are telling them, something that adds a little novelty factor to proceedings, but with such unlikeable protagonists, forgettable stories, uninspired direction, and an ending that looks like the makers simply ran out of money or ideas (freeze framing on four of the group as they run for their lives), this obscurity is destined to remain so.

I decided to watch this movie because I've heard a lot about it. I figured it must be a pretty good movie, even though I knew it would be a little cheesy (also, I always love getting my hands on rare stuff). I wasn't expecting anything close to a masterpiece, but at the same time I feel like it fell a little short of my expectations.To start off, give this movie the award for scariest title of all time. If the title alone doesn't make you curious about this movie, then I don't know what planet you're on. The opening scene is also pretty great. The movie is basically about a small group of young adults who go up to an isolated cabin for some time while they take turns telling pretty lame scary stories to each other. At the same time, the very area that they're staying at has quite a frightening legend of its own.There isn't anything scary in the slightest about the stories they tell. It's really quite boring actually. The bit that I found to be pretty chilling is the atmosphere when they're telling them. You can just tell that something isn't right, so kudos to the director for being able to create that vibe. Unfortunately, that's the only scary part of the entire movie. The rest of it is interesting (I guess), but fails to accomplish the task of scaring you.The end is pretty bizarre, which makes me wonder if there's more than meets the eye with this movie. Is there some kind of point, or message that they're trying to get across here? Is this supposed to be some kind of representation of how people can turn stories or ideas into a bigger deal than they need to be (especially since that's kind of a recurring theme throughout the film), or is it really as pointless as it seems? I honestly don't know. Either way I'd give it 4/10 because its scary moments did legitimately spook me, but the majority of the movie falls a bit short in my view.Also to be fair, it truly appears they had NO budget to work with on this film. I think they did okay with what they had.

Five couples head up to a cabin in the woods and frighten each other on a windy night with scary stories. "Moss Point Man" tells the familiar story of a couple on a date terrorized by a killer. "Green Light" is about three frat brothers enduring an initiation at an abandoned building thats second floor is supposedly haunted. And "Crazy Annie" covers a girl named Annie who is, well, crazy. This 70s anthology is pretty hard to find, but don't begin thinking it is some long lost classic. Shot entirely in Louisiana, the film isn't going to give TALES FROM THE CRYPT or ASYLUM any sleepless nights. The main problem is the stories just aren't very good, delivering more of a thud than a punch at the end of each one. The only inventive thing going on here is that the people telling the stories also play the different characters in them. The film's end - where a giant gust of wind kills everyone - is actually the best part of the film and pretty creepy. Look for a very young William Ragsdale (FRIGHT NIGHT) making his screen debut as a gas station attendant.

A bunch of young adults go deep into the woods to a remote cabin and tell each other several scary urban legend-style stories. First and coolest vignette - A diminutive albino Bigfoot creature stalks a teenage couple who find themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere after their car runs out of gas. Second and most frightening tale - Three college fraternity pledges spend the night at an old abandoned hospital that's said to be haunted. Third and most disturbing yarn - A mousy, repressed young coed turns out to be a deranged murderess. Finally, our motley group of young adults discover that the local legend of a vicious Indian wind demon isn't far-fetched in the least. Director James L. Wilson and writer Richard H. Wadsack neatly craft a fun and engrossing omnibus outing that eschews the usual graphic gore and bloodshed in favor of creating and sustaining a potently creepy and nightmarish midnight-in-the-graveyard gloom-doom atmosphere; the opening credits sequence in particular is very chilling and the conclusion packs one hell of a terrifying punch. The isolated sylvan setting projects a truly unnerving sense of dread and vulnerability. The spirited shivery'n'shuddery score by Don Zimmers does the flesh-crawling trick. The pretty, fairly polished cinematography by Robert E. Rogers likewise hits the spot. Moreover, the game no-name cast all contribute winningly sincere and enthusiastic performances. A shamefully neglected and unheralded drive-in terror treat.