Release Date: 1989
Studio: MVD Entertainment
Genre:  Horror
Unrated    1 hr 9 mins

Scream Dream

June 16, 2012

Reviewer: Peter

*Comments:

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When it comes to horror movies, it seems like any hack can, and usually does, make a movie; a competent video camera, a lot of fake blood, and some willing participants are all you really need.  Story can come later, and in some cases, not at all. That said, Scream Dream is the definition of “low-budget,” and I mean it in every possible way.

The plot of the movie is actually promising, as you have the lead vocalist Michelle Shock (Carr) of a “heavy metal” band who is under fire from reporters about practicing the occult, much of which stems from the disappearance of a fan after one of her shows. This prompts the band’s manager Lou Sharkey (Amonette) to fire her from the band through one of her “bandmates” Derrick (Riggins). If you’ve noticed at all, I put bandmates in quotes, as it seems that all he does is grind next to a mic stand as one of the backup singers. When he has to deliver the news to Shock at her home, she attempts to kill him, but she ends up on the wrong end of a knife. The next day, Derrick meets Jamie Summers (Moore), the replacement for Shock as vocalist, but when they go to retrieve Shock’s stage outfits at her home, the spirit of Shock (in reality, some purple demonic monster) takes over Summers’ body, and soon, things get interesting in a hurry, with Summers/Shock killing off people left and right.

The plot of the movie is promising, as is the opening sequence, where some unidentified woman is tied down while a chainsaw is ready to give her an unpleasant death. Where the movie takes an immediate downturn is even before the first scene, as the entire movie looks like it was recorded from a VCR tape. The music on the movie is actually done by Rikk-O-Shay, a band that no one knew about before the movie, and no one has heard from since, for that matter. The music isn’t bad, but since you have Shock, and later Summers, gyrating to the music while lip syncing, it can be quite distracting in more ways than one. Summers has a habit of going topless in specific scenes, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and in fact, provides some of the “brightest” moments in the movie. When Summers transforms into a demonic creature, it shows another one of the movie’s strengths, being the makeup category, as the demon looks quite believable. Other favorites in the movie include the often foul-mouthed Lou Sharkey and his interaction with the often nosey reporter (Raye).

As for the negatives of the movie, there’s the recording, which was obviously recorded on a VHS camcorder. The acting is quite atrocious, particularly the minor characters and Derrick, who sounds less like an 80’s hair metal fan and more like a bumpkin who just discovered heavy music for the first time. The kills in the movie are mostly tame, with only Lou Sharkey meeting a fairly impressive demise. The movie has a running time of just less than 70 minutes, which is good, considering the issues that befall Scream Dream.

CAST:

Carol Carr:  Michelle Shock
Melissa Moore:  Jamie Summers
Nikki Riggins:  Derrick
Jesse Raye:  Reporter
Gene Amonette:  Lou Sharkey
Michelle Uber:  Linnea

DIRECTOR:

Donald Farmer