Digital Watch

Scream Theater

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Fans of bad horror films, rejoice! VCI Entertainment has unleashed four of the very worst in bargain-bin quality DVDs with two features per disc. These are the types of films that promise a great deal with their ad campaigns but deliver very little. Each sells for about $6, so no one's complaining...

On disc one we have Sisters of Death (1978 / 87 minutes / Rated PG) and Scream Bloody Murder (1973 / 85 minutes / Rated R). In the first, five beautiful women are invited to a mansion and unexpectedly held prisoner by an electric fence. It all has something to do with a girl who died a year earlier during a sorority ritual. Former Playboy playmate Claudia Jennings (Gator Bait, Fast Company) stars.

In Scream Bloody Murder, a lunatic child kills his father and returns years later when his mother remarries.

Disc two contains The Last Slumber Party (1988 / 72 minutes / Not rated) and Terror at Tenkiller (1986 / 90 minutes / Not rated). The Last Slumber Party has nothing to do with The Slumber Party Massacre, but features the usual band of teenage girls and their boyfriends who die one by one at the hands of a sadistic killer.

In Terror at Tenkiller, a woman tries to avoid her psychotic boyfriend by taking a trip up to a remote lake with a college friend. But of course, dead people start turning up.

If cheesy horror isn't your thing, and you're really more of a cheesy action fan, then you're in luck! VCI has also released four more must-see titles, The Killing Device and Murder Rap.

The Killing Device (1992 / 93 minutes / Not rated) involves a race for control of a weapon of mass destruction that will enable the holder to rule the world. It stars Clu Gulager, Antony Alda and Playboy playmate Gig Rauch.

A cousin to Blow Out, Murder Rap (1988 / 115 minutes / Not rated) follows the adventures of an audio nut who accidentally records the sound of a murder and winds up deep in trouble. John Hawkes, currently seen on HBO's "Deadwood," stars.

Death Game (1976 / 88 minutes / R) has one of those vague video-box descriptions about how the object of the game is to stay alive. The dreaded Sondra Locke stars along with Seymour Cassell.

Cry of the Black Wolves (1972 / 90 minutes / PG) is actually a German film, but the video box makes it sound like a Hollywood adventure film. It's based on a Jack London novel.

October 15, 2004