Death Screams

source: Death Screams

House of Death gets by with a lot of regional charm and a few decent death scenes. There's not much of a plot to speak of besides a bunch of people are terrorized by a serial killer in the south who's killing without much rhyme or reason. Since this has never made it to DVD or Blu-Ray, it's fairly dark and hard to tell what's going on most of the time, but there are a few daytime death scenes, which is a rarity among horror films. None of the characters have a lot of meat on their bones, but the special effects work is solid. It's just a shame that most of the death scenes take place within a 5 minute span towards the end of the movie. It deprives the film of a lot of potential suspense and makes sure that the film is a bit too front loaded with not much going on until the end.

Ha ha he he he. This is laughable. There is NOTHING worth watching in this pile of badly made cheapo trash. Even if you enjoy a good 'bad' movie (which I am partial to) this should be avoided. The only truly special thing about this film is the incredible soundtrack. Even random music plucked from a library catalogue would have occasionally hit the mark, this is so way off you may think that the guy writing it knew he wasn't going to get paid! The 'story' as such revolves around a typical stalk and slash formula without the benefit of an explanation as to why he's slicing and dicing the 'young' folk. Nudity and cheap effects just don't cut the mustard even in the straight to video days of the 80's. Avoid!

A group of teenagers attending a carnival are stalked by a mysterious, hidden in the shadows psycho who proceeds to stalk and kill them after they leave the carnival and party at an old run down farm house. The identity of the killer is very easy to figure out in this not very surprising slasher film that features an over the top finale that will produce unintentional chuckles instead of having you shiver in your seat. So poorly made it went unreleased for quite some time. Rated R; Nudity, profanity, and graphic violence.

Despite the mysterious disappearance of a teen couple, Ted and Angie at the riverside in north California a group of the nearby-town teenagers goes having ghost story in the local cemetery. However the unnaturally sudden rain forces them to movie into an old wooden house in the cemetery. Then the not-well-motivated murderer begins to kill them one by one, and the cemetery becomes their own... I think the only one uniqueness this post-Friday-the-13th-Part2 film has is its expressive way of the first and silliest two victims, Ted and Angie who originally tried to have a woodland-****-on-a-motorcycle in the middle of the cold night. They are not simply cadavers; they are strangely cinematic bodies who have their own ongoing flowing expressiveness, and intermittently show something about their cadaveric existences. Although I find this coupled-bodies-with-their-coupled-expressiveness interesting I have to say the most of the elements of this film are nothing but those of a bad B-movie; Dee Barton's old-TV-movie-like easygoing music is entirely unsuited to the 1980's horror film especially to its horror scenes, and Worth Keeter's special effects are not only cheap but also unnatural, and so forth.

"My God, why"?! "I don't know"? The above exchange between two characters are the last few lines of dialogue in the film, which might explain how you could feel after watching this one. One of the strangest and vaguest 1980's (although it looks more late 70s) low-budget slasher films I've ever witnessed. Not that there's anything surreal and to tell the truth it's a very run-of-the-mill fare. It's more got to do with how everything goes onto pan out. Nothing seems all that connected and scenes/actions are very random and plain loopy. At best very unconventional in its story threads. After the obligatory opening death scene, the thirst three quarters slowly plays focal point to small town atmospherics, carnival traditions and teen dramas/fooling around. As if it was trying for character development and mystery building with its numerous characters. However the latter doesn't work with an incoherent script. Like it was trying for a "Halloween" vibe, especially in how it was shot and early on it has the killer slowly stalking his victims in the background. Their attempts in building suspense from those moments were lacking. While the music score sounding like a grandstand band was just overkill. There's one or two more death scenes sprinkled throughout to remind that you are watching a horror film. One of those needs to be seen, to be believed, because of how bizarre and stupidly it plays out. But it really doesn't come into its own until the confined hysteria-laced backend, as the teens (although they do look much older) start partying; boozing, skinny-dipping, making out by a lake late at night then moving onto a cemetery to tell spooky stories. This is when the FX and dismemberment of the cast begins to occur. Sadly some of it happens off-screen, but there are unpleasant moments or two with mild, but charming low-rent make-up effects involving machete hacking and a head explosion. I just wished the carnival setting could have been put to better use. We only get to see the killer's arm and machete throughout, until the final reveal. I don't think it's hard to guess the killer, but the motive behind it is told through a bogus flashback before meeting their demise. The sheriff character on the scene is a lot more switched on then you would expect... although he sure does take his time on this particular investigation and stumble across many things. Although he does show he's a shoot first, ask questions later guy. You know playing it safe, as if he's watched too many horror films. I thought the cast was acceptable for such an outing. Susan Kiger made an agreeable heroine of sorts and Susan Kiger added some life with her floozy character. "Death Screams" aka "The House of Death" is an oddball, if at the same time unimaginative rough-around-the-edges slasher.

I have no idea what I was doing watching this film. I purchased it from Family Video for $2.99 to add to my already impressive horror collection, and I ended up suffering through the worst "horror" film in modern history. The movie takes over an hour to even get to the "House of Death", the characters are under-developed and not memorable, and - not to give away the ending - I was staring dumbfounded at the screen for a good six minutes after the credits rolled. Let's not even get started on the music, because I wouldn't know how to characterize the noise I heard. The only credit I can give this film is... no, I changed my mind, this film is worthless in every way. You'd be better off watching "The Beast Must Die."

Just when you think you struggled yourself through all the lousiest and most pointless slasher the 80's decade had to offer, you allow yourself to be fooled by yet another one. One that may even be lousier than all the others. "House of Death" is a totally sordid and fatigue effort, and the worst thing of all involves having to acknowledge that the whole premise actually had potential and a handful of sequences were even marvelously staged. The opening sequence, for example, is close to genius as it seems to be a clichéd situation but turns out surprising and original. It's almost depressing to watch a movie that never at one point succeeds in surpassing the quality level of its very own prologue. We're in a random little American town, inhabited with stereotypical teenager and dumb overweight redneck coppers, and there's a vicious killer at large. The only problem is that nobody seems to care about the menace of any killer. Teen boys and girls vanish without a trace, but the whole town is too busy attending the annual carnival or trying to score with the hot new coach of the junior baseball team. But why should they care about a killer, honestly? The script never once reveals any clues regarding his/her identity, let alone hint at his/her motivations for prowling around town with a machete. There's zero tension throughout the entire movie, the lamentable attempts to insert comedy elements fail miserably and all the characters are uninteresting and empty-headed losers. One notable exception, though, is one of the teenagers' grandmother. Granny hates everything in town and makes cynic remarks about everyone who approaches her or her granddaughter. Too bad even granny can't save "House of Death" from complete boredom and irredeemable stupidity. The last 15 minutes are good, stuffed with gory massacres and explicit make-up effects, but it's too late by then. Besides, why the hell is it called "House of Death"? Did you see a house? I sure didn't.

--Death Screams, or House of Death as it is known here, is one of the most absurd horror films I've seen next to Drive-In Massacre. I had friends over while watching this movie, but afterwards I think they considered me their worst enemy after putting them through this trash. --The first 40 mins. are so boring, I felt like ejecting the tape. Nothing happens, just some stupid dialogue at a carnival scene. The agony of sitting through this is too great. The most annoying character in this film is the grandma, she should have been the first victim. The true "suspense" starts in the last 10 mins. literally. Before that, just some cheesy killings. --House of Death has the most funniest death scene that is the only "plus" side to this movie ** IF you get pierced in the shoulder with an arrow, go and scream for help. Surprisingly this girl with an IQ of 1 just moans and groans, falls down (you know the rest). She ventures onto an abandoned carousal and surprisingly, it starts moving. If a plastic bag is then put over your head, and your hands are free, poke a hole so you can breathe (or take it off). This one just groans until she is suffocated, yet never attempts to save herself. Someone that stupid just made me laugh so hard. I know most characters in horror flicks don't think... but c'mon! --I do not even know who the killer was, it was revealed, but House of Death has more holes than a fish net I was confused. Do me a favor...avoid this one. Do something more productive than wasting your time.

This early 80's slasher effort should receive some kudos for being somewhat original. Unfortunately, it's not original in any way that makes it especially effective or good. The movie does a good job of establishing a bucolic small-town setting (perhaps, it's not a coincidence that the director is the grown-up David Nelson of "Ozzie and Harriet" fame). There is also a lot more character development than usual, but regrettably the characters are still the usual annoying teen stereotypes. The murders are few and far between until the very end when the bodies start to stack up in a hurry. They're pretty low-tech (they obviously couldn't afford Tom Savini), but they try to make up for by being bizarre. The first victims are strangled simultaneously somehow while having sex on a motorcycle. Their bodies are thrown in a river where, as a running joke, they are seen floating down at various points throughout the movie. Another victim wanders away from the town carnival and is struck by an arrow, but instead of screaming for help or anything, she staggers over to an abandoned carousel and sits down so the killer can (somehow) finish her off with a plastic bag. The actors are all ridiculously over-aged considering they're supposedly high school students, but this is actually a good thing considering the male protagonist is a "coach" who apparently both parties with and dates his students (which they tend to frown on in real high schools). The goody-good female protagonist is played Susan Lynn Kiger, who had an interesting career going from hardcore * to "Playboy" to more legitimate acting. While it is nice to see a young woman in Hollywood have the opposite of the usual career trajectory, Kiger's talents unfortunately were probably better suited to her earlier career choices. Kiger stays dressed, but there is some gratuitous nudity, of course, including the girl on the motorcycle, a girl who showers with her bra on (which quickly becomes so transparent you wonder why she bothered), and a pretty blonde girl who goes for a full-frontal skinny-dip (which ALMOST keeps you from contemplating the absurdity of why anyone would go skinny-dipping in a RIVER). I don't want to imply this movie is in anyway good, but it sure is weird.