I know this is a weird place to start a movie review, but here we go… Promotional materials are an integral part to getting your project out to the public. You really want to make sure the product you’re pushing to cinema viewers has the very best representation of all its best attributes. As a reporter, it was my job to share any news in regards to Pat the Bull Films and Lightbeam Productions’ House of Screaming Death. But, as a horror film fanatic, I looked at all the promotional materials surrounding the movie and said “nope, not interested.” However, a screener of the new movie came across my desk and I decided to watch it despite my initial reservations. And, boy, was I surprised! The House of Screaming Death was a fun, laid back movie that was also creepy and campy in all the right places. It was a subdued yet frightening anthology with a ton of old school vigor. Reeling it back to my point, the press materials failed to match the overall quality of this film. I guess what I’m trying to say here is – don’t be fooled by what you see online. Give this one a chance by watching it in its entirety. And, I mean, with a title like House of Screaming Death, how could you not want to see it?
The House of Screaming Death is a five part, independent anthology flick that was filmed in 2015 and 2016 in the areas of Staffordshine, Sandwell and Walsall, UK. The goal of this movie was to bring British Gothic Horror back into modern day cinema while also mimicking the feel and atmosphere of Hammer Films, with a ton of admiration for those cult classics. I don’t know if the production succeeded in its second hurdle, but I was certainly a fan of how this movie looked. Very refined, very crisp, very ominous. The anthology starts with our host of sorts, The Architect, as he makes his way through the halls of Bray Manor, or as the locals call it – The House of Screaming Death. The Architect is played by Ian McNeice, an actor with over four decades in the entertainment business and roles in hit titles including Around the World in 80 Days, “Doc Martin,” “Doctor Who,” “Dune,” From Hell, Grizzly II: The Concert and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Through his tales of terror involving ghosts, witches, vampires and other sinister creatures, viewers get drama, mystery, suspense, grand locations and gore mixed in with twisted, macabre short films. Sha’ori Morris, Brett Dewsbury, Lean Solmaz, Craig Edwards, Troy Dennison, Sarah Gain, Matthew Kinson, Tom Loone, Ernest Vernon, Tony Gibbons, Theresa Roche, Charles O’Neill and Chelsea-Jo Dennison also star.
This upcoming horror anthology was a major collaboration between a number of talented film-makers. Writers include David Hastings, Troy Dennison, Mark Lees and Alex Bourne; with Kaushy Patel, Troy Dennison, Rebecca Harris-Smith, Alex Bourne and David Hastings all sitting in the director’s chair for each of their respective segments. Hastings and Patel also produced the feature, with Benjamin Thompson as cinematographer and Sam Woodhall as editor. It’s important to note that this production team pulled off a very successful effort with The House of Screaming Death, especially with the budget in mind. Oftentimes I look for errors in a movie, both in production and continuity, but I couldn’t find any here. The Screaming Death Gang got down to business and pulled off a homey, memorizing, horror romp with supernatural elements at the edges. There isn’t a lot of over the top material to be found in this feature, nothing that’s going to scare audiences out of their seats. There’s nothing that’s going to make them laugh, either. By keeping it simple, professional, and nostalgic, The House of Screaming Death went off without a hitch and, with the team fulling understanding their product and expertise, created a fully actualized return to old school horror that just works on every level.
The House of Screaming Death is currently performing well in the film festival circuit. It’s quite obviously going to have a massive appeal to horror fans in The UK, especially those who have a fondness for Hammer Films. In The United States, I think it’s going to be a bit of a different response. I don’t think the younger generation of horror fans are going to embrace it, but the pre-1990’s generation is going to see it as a valuable piece in their movie collection. While I can appreciate a strong dramatic performance – and this one has multiple – and know a good production designer when I see one, most audiences are swayed by nonstop gore, suspense and nudity. The House of Screaming Death works because it isn’t in your face with its craziest scenes. It allows for mystery over suspense, and plot twists and character development over hardcore gore. And it just works. This is the type of movie you watch in front of a fire place place while sipping a good glass of wine, and I’d definitely file this under classical horror. It’s so classical, in fact, that it reads like a Broadway play adapted to film because everything is much more enriched, vibrant, and palpable than most movies. It was like I could smell the rotting pine of Bray Manor every time we revisited The Architect. The House of Screaming Death was more than a movie, it was an old school experience that’ll brought me back to a better time in horror when ghosts and vampires reigned supreme instead of torture porn and found footage features.
Final Score: 7.5 out of 10.
