Screamtime (1983)

Admirable film.

Absolutely the worst movie.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

For some reason, three British short films were turned into an anthology with framing segments about two stereotypical Noo Yawkuhs who steal some videocassettes from a Times Square video store and hide out at a friend's apartment to watch them. I found this movie on some lists of 80s slashers, and I was pretty confused for a while about why. The first story is about a cuckolded husband, his mean loser stepson, his shrewish wife, and a killer puppet. The third story is about fairies. But the second story, "Dreamhouse" is pretty fantastic. Newlyweds move into a house and the wife starts seeing things. She even consults a psychic who assures her that there are no ghosts in the house. What the wife IS seeing is the twist of this segment, and it's pretty fun. I'm still not sure that I'd put this one on a list of slashers, but that second story makes it worth a watch.

Compilation of three short horror films: "That's The Way To Do It", "Dreamhouse" and "Do You Believe In Fairies?" plus some linking material...Part one features a puppeteer who simply is not appreciated by his family -- they think his love of Punch and Judy is just silly. Well, that sort of attitude is not going to stand, and they begin being killed. But who is the killer? The puppeteer or the scorned puppets themselves? This section is pretty much your standard fare. Not necessarily great, but 1980s slasher fans should enjoy it enough.Part two features a couple who have moved into their "dream home", but it is not quite finished yet. The wife begins seeing blood in the bath tub, hears rats in the attic, and other strange things. Is she crazy, or is the house really haunted (or worse)? This section more or less revolves around jump scares (technically called "bus" scares), so if you like sudden images mixed with a loud noise, this is for you. It actually gets grislier as it progresses if you like that...Part three features a dirt bike rider who needs some extra money, so takes up work in a group of old women's garden. They warn him to respect the fairies and garden gnomes... and he does not take them quite as seriously as he should. This one has all the makings of a "Tales From the Crypt" episode, and I am kind of surprised they did not rip off the idea (or maybe they did).

This was a decent horror anthology movie. Two New Yorkers steal some videos from a video store, and take them to a female friend's apartment to watch.In the first one, an old man loves doing Punch & Judy shows for kids, and takes meticulous care of his puppets at home. His wife is fed up with it; they don't make enough money, and she wants him to burn them and move with his stepson to Canada for reliable work. We then see his family being attacked by a wooden board. Has Punch come to life, or has the old man gone nuts? This one wasn't all that good, but it wasn't terrible.In the second one, a couple move into a house their father was unable to sell. The wife sees a boy bicycling in the yard that no one else notices. She hears noises, and sees blood in the bathtub, then on a knife in the kitchen, then on the bannister. She starts seeing other people in the house, and then starts seeing those people bloody or dead. This one was quite a bit better.In the last segment, a young man races motorcycles, and works at a clothing store. He needs more money, which his boss offers to loan him. He takes a job gardening for a pair of old ladies to make the money he needs to pay his boss back. They're quite eccentric, believing in fairies and gnomes, and a pact their 16th century ancestor had with the fairies to help conceal her affairs from her husband. The young man discovers the old ladies have a chest full of money, and he decides to rob them with the help of his younger brother and a friend. This one was pretty good too.Finally, the wraparound segment brings everything together.

"Do you believe in fairies?" the elderly woman in the television set queried. If you now what's good for you, Jeff (or Jeff-ette), you will after taking a gander at this videotape-within-a-videotape-within-a-videotape-within-a-videotape (unless you own the DVD edition.) The movie does not star so much as feature a cast of actors put to the test as they watch video after video after video, and we watch them watching. Then they die (9 out of 10 viewers of Screamtime did not die after watching it, and those who did died of natural causes.) The phrase, "you get what you pay for," is given new meaning as two hooligans steal three videos (thus not "paying for" them), and are then murdered by them, fortunately after viewing them all the way through. These hepcats probably weren't even kind enough to rewind. At least there were no late charges, just late patrons. As in dead!!!