Screamplay (1985)

Too much of everything

Fresh and Exciting

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

SCREAMPLAY is a very low budgeted, black and white comedy horror film about a horror writer called Edgar Allan (go figure) who finds, to his horror, that his fictional creations are coming very much to life. It's a film with a cult, old dark house-ish feel to it, similar to SPIDER BABY but nowhere near as good. In fact, I found it quite tiresome for the most part; it goes on and on, trying to be so quirky and so funny, and simply isn't. There are some engaging slapstick-infused moments and a lot of weirdness, but overall it's simply not that interesting.

Rufus Seder belongs to that extremely select club of film directors who have only made one film ever and a masterpiece at that. (The other one in that club being Charles Laughton for "The Night of the Hunter"). Screamplay is one of my all-time favourite movies. George Kuchar is his usual sweaty, smarmy, sleazy screen ego, but not as outrageously so as in Curt McDowell's "Thundercrack". Rarely have I been entertained so much during a film screening - the film works really well on the big screen despite scratchy and fading grays in the footage. The story rocks and the projected backgrounds in many scenes are gorgeous. Even went to see it twice in a row!

Sort of a "Sunset Boulevard" plot meets "Cabinet and Dr. Caligari". It works best with the stiff silent-film or expressionist acting, and the reusing of old-time "special effects" (such as scratches on the film to represent rain, or peculiar use of rear-screen projection to suggest depth). Gets a little slow in the middle but it's worth it to the hear the LAST LINE for the worlds worst/best pun, which sort of suggests the whole film was designed just for that. We gave it a standing ovation at the Brattle in Harvard square (the filmmaker lived in Brookline). This film was released on video by TROMA in 1999, but thank god is not like a Troma film.

This film reminded me a lot of THUNDERCRACK which was also shot in black & white with overly melodramatic acting and also with filmmaker George Kuchar in an acting role. The grainy black and white photography, primitive double exposure effects and harsh lighting bring to mind old silent movies (some old movies like NOSFERATU are edited into the movie). It's basically a twisted and slightly nightmarish look at a screenwriter whose scripted murders happen in real life. The director plays the lead role like Dwight Frye on speed. Definitely recommended to fans of strange and unusual experimental cinema.