Hell of the Screaming Undead Review from TerrorVisions!
Director Dustin Ferguson, damn this guy has made so many films. Doll Killer, Night of the Clown, The Last Roommate, and he also had a tinkle with A Taste of Phobia (see review here). So, it’s really confusing to us (me and my Partner in Gore, Willow Brian) as we settled down to review Hell of The Screaming Undead, released via Rob Ceus on his TerrorVisions label, that such a build-up can create a fractured review such as we worked on.
We wanted to like this so much. The idea is wonderfully trashy and the fact the film pays homage in huge spades of grave soil to the classics of the zombie genre, made our evening, plus the music… ohhhh, more on that soon…
“They’re all dead, they’re really messed up!”
We open to a droning voice sounding over a totally desolate city, “Hello….can anybody hear me?” then we cut to a girl sat in a room, against a wall, facing a lone calendar on the opposite wall. This introduction simply oozes Day of the Dead in crimson pools. Yep, a load of rotted hands burst through wanting to give her a reach around. The soundtrack is very atmospheric, Willow weighed up a huge inspiration taken from Halloween and a dash of Night of the Living Dead, whilst she vibed along.
Mary wakes from her nightmare and receives a call from her mum (played by movie legend, Lynn Lowry of The Crazies, I Drink Your Blood, and Cat People). They arrange to hang out sometime. After some padding, including a bloke asleep and prolonged city shots, we meet a couple of tough looking dudes Warren and Trapper are inmates allowed to help two scientists (Shaw and Mattei) currently injecting a serum into a cadaver (“He moved his thumb,” chuckled Willow pointing to the corpse before the needle went in) to fight the spread of a virus, H-73. Naturally the corpse takes a bite, as does another that rushes over to attack Dr. Shaw. The duo see this happening so make a run for it.
It’s the city shots again. Nice city, but we actually want to see a story, and some more zombies. Mary and her friend, Heather, crash a retro museum via a pal who is security at the building. We witness a few more zombie attacks, and then a bearded scientist updating info to a pasty-faced fella that is a cross between Bad Grandpa and Sid the Puppet. Weird. He’s Governor Adams (played by Mel Novak of Truck Turner and Game of Death). By now we were both getting high just off the onslaught of a disjointed surreal fucking jumble this film was becoming. Zombies are everywhere now. Warren and Trapper have the vaccine. H-73 is taking the city over.
After a couple who are making out get nibbled, a national state of emergency is announced. We have long padding shots of the museum – man these shots are really irritating. Warren and Trapper end up at the same museum as Mary, taking everybody hostage, planning to take off soon and hide at a ranch. Warren has been bitten on the leg, however, whilst Trapper has a serious Richard Gecko (From Dusk Til Dawn) pervert vibe going on.
“Zombies are real??!!” gasps Heather at one point, “It’s not fake news??!!” Indeed, they are, and the make-up isn’t bad either. Unfortunately, this doesn’t save a film that runs so short but has way too much padding. Let me just draw attention to this fact, Hell of the Screaming Undead runs at around 60-minutes, one hour, yet most of it drags balls and chains of padding – city shots, building interiors, streets (“Oh yes, that tree is very important!” quipped Willow at one point) and small groups of undead staggering around. The latter isn’t too bad. I pointed out how one girl has a most unique stagger to her as she slugged along with others. Many of the same zombies appear in a majority of scenes so I got to see more of her, and I grinned.
There’s chow downs, stabbings, a penis bitten off, and city shots. The issue at hand (aside from padding) has to be the timing in places, and worst of all how a one-hour flick can really seem like three hours. Plus, points though, the effort was there in places, the cast have fun, and the effects do their duty.
I watched it twice, first with subtitles on, neither of us twisted techo-phobe numbskulls realized (after checking the DVD menu for options to remove the subs) all we had to do is press ‘Subtitles’ on the Blu-ray player remote – I contacted Rob Ceus after the movie and he explained what to do, then second viewing by myself to see if lack of distracting words would change things – it didn’t!
Robert (House of 1000 Corpses, The Last Horror Show) Mukes and Ken (VHS Violence, Meathook Massacre 4) May, as Warren and Trapper are both the highlights of the movie, by the way. They criminally aren’t given enough to do, same with the wonderful Lynn Lowry. I know budget restrictions mean hiring certain people for a short length of time, but I just wish a fair bit more forward planning had gone into it all.
Hell of the Screaming Undead works like a video shelf rental that trapped you by showcasing an awesome cover, only to reel you in. It’s fun and quirky in places, and the gore is plentiful. Oh yeah, and a certain chap known well to Severed Cinema was second unit director.
Anyhow, the film is available via Rob (contact him via the Facebook link here).
Directed by: Dustin Ferguson
Written by: Dustin Ferguson
Produced by: Alexander McIntosh, Gregory Paul Smith
Cinematography by: Dustin Ferguson
Editing by: Dustin Ferguson
Music by: Joshua Palace
Special Effects by: Julia Hapney, Mark Lunn
Cast: Robert Allen Mukes, Lynn Lowry, Mel Novak, Jennifer Nangle, Traci Burr, Ken May
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 59 mins
Distribution: TerrorVisions Productions
