Writer's Note: Normally, I try to get the best quality pictures I can. Every now and then, I might use a more sub-par one because it's the only one available for a certain scene or actor, but on the whole, I'd rather use a decent picture from a film over a crappy one, even if it is more relevant, for obvious reasons.
However, as you might guess, some films are harder to find pictures for than others- the more obscure they are, the more the chances of finding quality pictures becomes harder. This was one of those cases, even more so than usual for a lesser-known flick. My apologies for the unfortunate quality of the majority of photos this time out- I tried my best! 😞
However, as you might guess, some films are harder to find pictures for than others- the more obscure they are, the more the chances of finding quality pictures becomes harder. This was one of those cases, even more so than usual for a lesser-known flick. My apologies for the unfortunate quality of the majority of photos this time out- I tried my best! 😞
Some of the movies I review here I have a long, illustrious past with that dates back to my childhood. Others I'm seeing for the first time. Then there are the ones that I've only seen a few times, but have a troubled history with, for one reason or another, such as the versions I've seen in the past look like crap (i.e. Humongous, which I finally saw in a far superior quality version a few years back, after having only seen the VHS version as a kid and not being able to tell what the hell was going on, half the time).
House of Death, aka Death Screams, is one of the latter. I first saw it around a decade or so ago, when I chanced upon it searching for obscure slasher movies I hadn't seen on eBay. I bought the DVD, and it turned out to be one of those pseudo-bootleg releases where they pretty clearly dubbed a copy of the film from VHS, which sort of defeats the purpose of a DVD, which are, of course, known for having better picture and sound than the likes of a VHS.
So, right off the bat, the quality factor was disappointing, but then things actually managed to get worse, believe it or not. As those of you who also got a hold of the same version I did (from Vipco, FYI, as pictured) already know, no doubt, adding to the misery was the fact that the film was dubbed out of order!
As such, characters who were shown to be killed would pop back up without explanation, and the plot was even more jumbled than it already was, making for a decidedly frustrating viewing experience. As much as I love David Lynch and his often non-linear approach to film-making narratives, this was ridiculous.
Also, keep in mind, I didn't realize what had happened until later on, when I put two and two together after the fact. In addition, I did a little on-line research and confirmed that others had the same experience, so I knew I wasn't just crazy. Or, not crazy in terms of this particular thing, lol. 😵
To make matters worse and add insult to injury, it turns out that it was a heavily-edited version of the film which ran around an hour-and-twenty-five minutes. I did eventually find a version of the film online, which was in the correct order, but still the edited version, so my second viewing experience wasn't much better than the first, albeit at least a bit more coherent this time around.
All of which is to say, I don't have a history with the film, nor were my first viewing experiences positive ones. As such, I'm not exactly sure what compelled me to put myself through the wringer yet again, but I'm happy to say that the third time was indeed the charm. Go figure.
And you know what? I really enjoyed it this time, which is rare for me. Typically, if I don't like a film the first time around, that's it for me. It takes a lot for me to watch such a film a second time, but every now and then, I will, particularly if the critical mass has shifted, making me wonder if I was wrong.
After all, a lot of the time, critics have to make snap judgments, so it's not unheard of them to reverse their stance after giving a film a second chance, once they've had a little time to sit with things, and get a sense of what others think, and wonder if they missed something the first time around.
Not that, mind you, House of Death is some lost, hidden gem that deserves to get the full-on Blu-Ray bells and whistles edition, per se, but I would certainly re-buy it if they did do such a thing, if only for the improved picture quality. As it stands, the so-so DVD copy will have to do for now- just make sure you get the proper, uncut sequential version, by all means! (You can watch one here, on YouTube, as of this writing, but as a rule, on DVD, look for the version that runs just over an hour-and-a-half, as opposed to 1:25.)
The plot is pretty simple, standard slasher movie fare. Around the time of a small Southern town's local carnival, young people start getting bumped off one by one by an unseen maniac, typically armed with a machete, but also the occasional bow & arrow, garrote, or plastic bag, a la the killer in Black Christmas.
Eventually, the killer goes on a full-on murder spree, after he follows a group of "kids" (and I use that term loosely, given the age of the actors playing them) from a riverside bonfire to an old graveyard (cue the spooky ghost stories), and finally, to an old, abandoned house nearby, which they seek shelter in after a rainstorm breaks out- presumably the House of Death of the title, which is a bit of a misnomer, given that only about ten minutes or so of the film is actually set there.
In the film's uncut form, it's pretty damn gory- at least when you can see what's going on- with several decapitations, one girl cut in half (shades of last week's Flashback Friday, Stage Fright: Aquarius, which features a very similar scene) and a brief-but-highly-amusing head explosion, which somewhat comes out of nowhere and is hilariously edited for maximum silliness.
The person in question has their throat slashed, falls from a window, impales themselves, and is basically already dead, when someone else fires a gun at them, blowing up their head somehow, Scanners-style, only not as good, effects-wise. That someone is then shown to continue to fire their gun, even long after said head explodes! It's pretty great, and nearly worth the price of admission, I must say.
While the film is admittedly leisurely-paced, I actually really enjoyed it a lot this time around. For one thing, I have a soft spot for films that revolve around carnivals, state fairs, and amusement parks, i.e. The Funhouse, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Rollercoaster, etc.
For another, I was born and raised in the South, so I appreciate it when a film has a distinctly Southern flair that is authentic and not put on. The older actors in particular feel real and I liked the way the film forms its own sort of self-contained world with as much unspoken as it is directly addressed.
For instance, the scene where the Coach meets a girl at the carnival who offers him some baked goods and flirts heavily with him, then gets all ticked off when she spots him making eyes at another girl later on and passive-aggressively takes it out first on another customer, then the Coach's car with a can of whipped cream.
You get a lot of information there, and much of it is unspoken, but all too familiar, especially to us Southerners, who know a thing or two about such women- there's a reason the whole "Southern Belle" thing has become such a stereotype, believe you me. Half the time we men don't have a clue what we did wrong, but you better believe we find out the hard way when we do, lol.
Alas, this particular Belle also finds out the hard way what happens to those who act out of spite- especially towards someone who already is a few nuts short of a pecan pie. (Spoiler alert, I guess, not that it matters much in this case, as there's absolutely NO indication of who the killer is until it's revealed, and their back-story/motivation is muddled at best -not to mention, you can barely tell who it is in the first place.)
We also get some nuggets of info about the various denizens of the town through dialogue, and though much of it is admittedly irrelevant, it does help with the movie's interior world-building, and I highly appreciated it for that very reason.
For instance, we learn that Lily's grandmother, who is sort of the town gossip, has been lying to her daughter about who her father really is since she was a child- and that Lily has known it for years, thanks to seeing the same photograph that grandma has been passing off as her dad in a random picture frame she saw in a store!
In another scene, it's implied that a guy we heretofore assumed was mentally challenged may have actually done it to himself, when he and a former girlfriend were out drinking and driving and he wrecked the car. She emerged relatively unscathed (physically, anyway- but mentally, not so much), but the guy in question is seriously messed up, peeping at girls and skulking around town spying on people.
Ever since that accident happened, the boy's father, the town Sheriff, has blamed the girl, Ramona, calling her out as a "whore" or the like every chance he gets, something she obviously resents, given that it wasn't her fault it happened in the first place. Note also that Grandma also has a few choice words for Ramona as well, implying that it is a sentiment held by most of the town, which is probably why Ramona is so messed up.
I guess my main complaint, beyond the obvious poor picture quality/possibly shoddy cinematography (by the same guy who shot the slasher Final Exam), is that the killer's motivations are so muddled. We get a quick flashback, showing that his mother was a stripper, and likely a prostitute on the side, and that's about it.
Maybe it would make more sense if he were only killing women, but he's basically just killing people at random that he comes across, albeit often when they're making out, skinny-dipping, etc. And yet, he doesn't kill the "bad" girl when she comes on to him, sneaking into his house and into his shower! (Nice role reversal on that shower scene, incidentally, given that it's usually women stalked in the shower in these movies.)
What's more- and this is such a Southern thing, too, I might add- the film also goes out of its way to have the couples that are having sex declare their love for one another at some point before they do the deed. For instance, in the opening scene, the girl won't go all the way until the guy says it- fat lot of good it does either of them, as they are killed shortly thereafter. Who does it on top of a motorcycle, anyway? Serves him right, getting it caught in his zipper, lol.
So, yeah, House of Death isn't the best slasher you will see, but it is better than average, thanks to details like that, and a really likable cast of characters that you really feel like you know by the end of the film. I could have dealt with a little more motivation-wise from the killer, but overall, it's a small quibble.
As with a lot of obscure horror films, there isn't much in the way of star quality here. As tends to be the case, many of the cast only have this film or a small handful of credits to their name, making a more thorough take on the cast and crew an uphill battle. But I'll do what I can.
Oddly enough, the most famous person involved is the director, former actor David Nelson. If you're one of my older readers, then you know that name as one of the children of none other than Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, as in "The Adventures of..." and brother to teen heartthrob Ricky.
If you're closer to my age, aka a child of the 80's, then you probably know him better as the father of Matthew and Gunnar, those long, flaxen-haired pseudo-metal rockers of the early MTV era. (Here's their big hit, for those who dare to click.)
David's also the uncle of Tracy, known for her turn in 80's TV shows like the much-beloved Square Pegs and Father Dowling Mysteries, as well as genre stuff like The Night Caller, The Perfect Nanny, Home the Horror Story (with Twin Peaks vets Richard Beymer and Grace Zabriskie), Fangs, Killer Bees and My Stepbrother is a Vampire!?! (their punctuation, not mine), plus lots of Lifetime/TV thriller movies and the episode of Seinfeld where he dates a girl that looks a bit like him, "The Cartoon." (She would be that girl.)
David eventually drifted out of acting in the early 80's, formed his own commercial production company, and turned to directing full-time, after getting his start directing his parents' show. He made his motion picture directorial debut with Childish Things (alongside John Evans and his then-wife, Linda, pre-Dynasty), following that up with a documentary about his brother Ricky's tour, Easy to Be Free.
After House of Death, he made Last Plane Out and Rare Breed, both of which he also produced, but largely dropped out of the business thereafter, save a small role in John Waters' classic Cry-Baby, as Wanda's father. Sadly, House of Death was his only foray into horror.
The film's lone "big name" was Susan Kiger, who has the dubious distinction of being one of the rare Playboy Playmates to have done porn before her stint in the magazine. However, if you grew up with pay-cable movie channels like I did, you probably know her better for her string of B-movies.
They include Angels' Brigade, a sort-of Charlie's Angels knock-off; the action/thriller Seven (alongside some of her fellow Playmates); the self-explanatory The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood, and the sci-fi B-movies The Return (with Cybil Shepard, Martin Landau and Raymond Burr) and Galaxina (starring the ill-fated Playmate Dorothy Stratten).
However, Galaxina notwithstanding, which Kiger only had a small role in (she was the blue alien hottie), the film I most associate with her is undeniably H.O.T.S., which, if you saw at a certain age, you're not likely to have forgotten. It was best-known for a nude football-playing scene. Talk about shirts and skins, lol. 😻
Oddly cast against type in HOD as a goody-two-shoes virginal type- she doesn't even do nudity in the film- Kiger is actually pretty good, and even convincing, especially if you don't know her background, which I wasn't as aware of when I first saw this film. The minute I saw H.O.T.S. on her resume, though, I knew exactly who she was. Sadly, this proved to be her final film before she retired from the business to become a hair dresser.
From here on out, things get pretty spotty. Interestingly, as with last week's selection, there's another movie out there, which serves as a bit of a class reunion of sorts for fans, Dogs of Hell, aka Rottweiler, features this film's stars, Helene Tryon (aka Edna, Lily's grandmother), Larry Sprinkle (who plays Ted), John Kohler (who played Diddle) and Curt Rector (aka Kurt Rector, who plays Bob), so be sure and check that one out if you're a fan of any of those actors or if you just want a fun dogs-gone-amok flick.
In addition, William T. Hicks, who played Sheriff Avery, and Hanns Manship (aka Bud French), who played Casey, were both in the 1981 slasher A Day of Judgment, alongside Helene Tryon and Larry Sprinkle, making it yet another family reunion of sorts. That film, which I hope to get around to reviewing here someday, is also worth seeing. Larry Sprinkle was also in Another Son of Sam, Firestarter, Trick or Treat (a personal fave of mine) and King Kong Lives.
Hicks and Martin Tucker, who played the Coach, were also in the movie New Girl together, with the latter once again playing a Coach character. Manship had small roles in the cult favorites Audrey Rose, The Fury and Eating Raoul and Tucker cropped up in Maximum Overdrive.
David Lenthall, who played Jackson, has the lengthiest resume of them all, having appeared in some 36 projects. Some of them include: Her Deadly Rival, Empire Records, The Stepford Husbands, The Lottery, The Rage: Carrie 2, Cherry Falls and Vampires Anonymous. He's also done lots of TV, including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, American Gothic, Dawson's Creek and several episodes in the Law & Order franchises.
After that, it's slim pickings. Andrea Savio, who played Kathy, was once married to Tony Curtis (thus making her Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis' stepmother for a while) and was in the fun post-apocalyptic sci-fi action flick Stryker.
Jennifer Chase, who memorably played Ramona, the "bad girl," also has a Tony Curtis connection, having co-starred with him in the film Balboa, which also features cult faves Martine Beswick (Dr. Jekyll Sister Hyde), Carol Lynley (The Cat & The Canary), Chuck Connors (Tourist Trap) and none other than Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
Jody Kay, who played Ann, was in the action flick The One-Armed Executioner. Mary Fran Lyman, who played Agnes, was in Brainstorm. Penny Miller, who played Angie, was also in The Hollywood Knights, another old-school fave of mine, which is like a B-movie version of American Graffiti and stars a young Michelle Pfeiffer and Tony Danza.
Finally, there's the amusingly-named Gene Pool, who played the gruff type that kept getting turned down at the kissing booth. He also has a bit part in the slasher Final Exam, and was a frequent camera and electrical department worker on such films as Shag, Little Monsters, Prancer and The Exorcist III.
Paul C. Elliott, who wrote the script, was the head writer on the TV variety show Dolly, starring country legend Dolly Parton, which makes an odd kind of sense, given the realism of the Southern characters.
In spite of this, the music is from the renowned Dee Barton, who actually started out solid as a film composer, providing the music for a string of Clint Eastwood classics, including Play Misty for Me, High Plains Drifter and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Maybe his bombastic stuff was better-suited to those films, but it sticks out like a sore thumb here.
He continued to score more B-Movies for producer Earl Owensby (Tales of the Third Dimension, Unmasking the Idol, etc.), but his film composing career cratered in the late 80's and he went back to playing and arranging music professionally with a Big Band vibe afterwards, which was probably for the best.
House of Death may not win any points for originality, but I dig the carnival setting, the authentic Southern atmosphere (the film was shot on location in North Carolina), and the wacky gore. The writing is slightly better than it has to be, and the acting is pretty decent for a film of this type, which has to count for something.
Granted, the titular house barely makes an appearance, and the lighting is atrocious, and I had to watch the film three times before I got a decent copy, but just make sure you get the right one from the start and you should be fine. And, perhaps needless to say, if you're not a slasher movie fan, this probably won't change your mind.
I know I do- I could watch a hundred slasher movies and still enjoy it, in spite of the predictable formula- and I probably have, at this point. Long live the slasher movie!
By all means, check it out!
Emoji review: 😎💦💏😱💀
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