Scream Bloody Murder (1973)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Following an insane urchin is not my idea of fun. The storyline isn't unpredictable: the movie simply lacks a plot. On the other hand, there is a market for this kind of thing, and people who enjoy finding out such fiction. The idea being that some find the creepiest psychotics, fascinating, and exciting to find things about. I know people who like such things. Grim slasher, an _uninventive exploitation of gruesomeness, a hitchhiker urchin, raw psychosis, this is something very sick and vicious, because a psychotic cereal killer is essentially a monotonous and creepy individual, and the movie merely indulges in this exploitation. The linear plot indeed only enhances the _unidimensionality of the insanity, leading nowhere. Its interest lies in its sheer morbidity. There's no suspense whatsoever, or chills. It's extremely specialized, in its monotonous meanness. It delivers only to those interested in its subject, and who watch it for the raw subject's sake. The only interactions in the movie are the urchin's, and he deals with people by slashing them. The movie itself has nothing to add to this, and this is indeed the level of its world-view, of sheer psychopathic bleakness.

Even before the opening credits roll "Scream Bloody Murder" lives up to its title.Little Matthew(Fred Holbert, in his only film performance) decides he digs his father better dead, and apropos of absolutely nothing, runs him over with a tractor. Even more inexplicably, he manages to mangle his own arm in the process.Sent away to a mental institution for many years he comes home a teenager with a hook for a hand and an axe to grind(literally) with his mother and new stepfather who soon die painfully for having the unmitigated gall to get married and seem happy about it on the very day he came home from the loony bin.He then goes on an all out run.... away from the mother of all Oedipus complexes, cutting a bloody swath through everyone he meets, from a young couple giving him a ride out of his small town, to whoever happens to stand in his way.Meeting painter/hooker with a heart of gold Vera(Leigh Matthews, a two film wonder), things look up a touch for our protagonist. He compliments her art, renames her Daisy,brings her flowers, and kills a john for treating her poorly. If that isn't love, he doesn't know what is.Desperate to impress and to make good on his claims of wealth and success to fulfill his weird white knight fantasy of "saving" Vera/Daisy, he murders the entire residency of the closest fancy house he can find, kidnaps his lady love and steals from locals to provide her with all the creature comforts you could possibly need while tied to the stolen bed of a psychopath. The resulting action/reaction struggle of Vera/Daisy's survival instincts and Matthew's manias eventually lead to a quirky but extremely satisfying bloody climax, proving the old adage of "where ever you go, there you are".This film is amateurish on near every level (hammy acting, garish color, jerky cinematography, thin as gossamer plot) and the print that has passed into public domain and an epic ton of multi movie DVD sets is blown out and grainy.However, "Scream Bloody Murder" succeeds almost in spite of itself. It doesn't bother with overambitious story touches it wouldn't have had the budget for, keeps the plot moving quickly, the body count mounting tidily and the dialog simple. Holbert rips through his campy lines with delightful abandon, and Ms. Matthews manages to be appealing enough to root for despite being little more than a cliché archetype. It isn't trying to teach us moral lessons or have pretensions to high art. It's the mania, madness and mayhem fans of the genre want to see....and while it is often goofy, it is never boring.By going further than is necessary at every possible turn, the creators of "Scream Bloody Murder" managed to polish their turd into an excellent bloody Valentine, and a forgotten little gem of B film.6.5 stars

Matthew has Mommy issues. He kills his dad, loses his hand, is institutionalized, comes home, kills some more people, and that takes care of Act I.At the beginning of Act II he meets Vera/Daisy and becomes obsessed with her. He kills a family so that he can use their house, kidnaps her, and holds her captive. And thereby hangs a tale that could have been so much better.I've done enough acting, and a little directing, that I sat through this movie wishing I'd been on the set so I could have taken over. There's nothing wrong with the basic premise, and these young actors are far from untalented. But they get no direction and scenes that should have had tremendous impact just fizzle to nothing.The photography is good: Stephen F. Burum went on to bigger things with Coppola and DePalma. I appreciated that there were dialog scenes where the camera simply sat still and observed.But the two leads are very obviously acting. A strong director could have gone over what the characters were experiencing, helped them have the emotion of the moment and let the viewer discover it.The idea in play here isn't all that original. I was often reminded of William Wyler's THE COLLECTOR, which got three Oscar nominations, with touches of Robert Aldrich's WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, which received five nominations and one win.Not that this movie would have won any Oscars, by any stretch of the imagination. But it could have been an awful lot better.By the way, if I directed it the business with the dog would have been eliminated and the ending would have been very different. Then again, maybe that's why I've never directed a movie.

Yes I truly gave this flick an 8. Well done movie for a B Flick. Fixated Oedipus Complex Matthew, imagines every woman to be his mother from as early as 7.... leaving nothing but blood for every poor soul that dares to touch a woman or a woman that dares to like being touched, if you know what I mean. From murder, to theft to hostage holding . This film features a villain that is truly a villain in the true sense of the word. Just a teen but evil beyond his years, Matthew with his hook hand delivers before Freddy,Saw and of course Jason. We have a highly , intelligent bad guy here that dresses to impress so to speak, murdering into upper class. Good acting and done mostly in PG mode. Would have liked some R action with maybe some gratuitous nudity . Still, a nice unexpected surprise .