Five couples head up to a cabin in the woods and frighten each other on a windy night with scary stories. "Moss Point Man" tells the familiar story of a couple on a date terrorized by a killer. "Green Light" is about three frat brothers enduring an initiation at an abandoned building thats second floor is supposedly haunted. And "Crazy Annie" covers a girl named Annie who is, well, crazy. This 70s anthology is pretty hard to find, but don't begin thinking it is some long lost classic. Shot entirely in Louisiana, the film isn't going to give TALES FROM THE CRYPT or ASYLUM any sleepless nights. The main problem is the stories just aren't very good, delivering more of a thud than a punch at the end of each one. The only inventive thing going on here is that the people telling the stories also play the different characters in them. The film's end - where a giant gust of wind kills everyone - is actually the best part of the film and pretty creepy. Look for a very young William Ragsdale (FRIGHT NIGHT) making his screen debut as a gas station attendant.
40 Reviews
Scariest B-movies I have seen yet!!!!
tweets266330 October 2005
I seen this movie when I was about 17 yrs old. We snuck in so I never caught the title of the movie, but It really gave me the creeps. I finally found the title searching the internet. Toward the end was the scariest. LOL This movie really scared the daylights out of me. It definitely was B-rated though. I really have to see it again. I hope it still gives me the heebee-jeebees. If anything my kids should get a good scare out of it. The only part I didn't get was the last scene. I'm not sure if the director was leaving that part open for a sequel or left it up to the audience to decide. I definitely have to see this one again.
Great Title For A Horror Movie
Steve_Nyland14 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Are we all watching the same movie here?? I'll admit that SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT is a great title for a movie, and a sound premise which would eventually be put to better use: Nine or ten college aged acquaintances who don't seem to really like or even know each other take a road trip to a summer camp cottage closed for the off season where a gruesome mass murder (oddly heard but not seen during the opening credits) took place 30 years prior. On the way they stop at a local hick cracker gas station operated by what appears to be the evil twins of the Beverly Hillbillies, who try to warn them off to no avail. So far so good.
The problem begins when the kids start sitting around telling each other ubran legend-ish scary stories to pass the time. Which would be just fine except that they seem to be telling each other these stories because they don't have anything else to talk about. There is no exposition, no character development, and no visible bonds exist between them except for one couple who don't even have sex on-screen since the movie was only rated PG.
Then there is John, the knucklehead who organized the road trip. To call him annoying is complimentary. He is insufferable. The idea was to try and portray his character as some kind of a nerd or dork whose family used to frequent the cottage. The film unintentionally does a good job as setting him up as a potential lunatic who lured his associates to this setting just to brutally murder them all, but no dice. He's just annoying and we don't even get the satisfaction of watching him die in an amusingly ironic manner after being inflicted with his presence for an hour plus.
The horror anthology angle is interesting though, and all three of the stories shown have effective moments. The CREEPSHOW films are still the modern day kings of the horror anthology tradition, one that stretches back to the 1940s with the incomparable DEAD OF NIGHT, another classic being Mario Bava's fabulous BLACK SABBATH from 1963 and the overlooked H.P. Lovecraft collection NECRONOMICON: BOOK OF THE DEAD from 1992. Usually a horror anthology has some sort of linking story connecting three or four segments that each tell their own twisted tale of the macabre. The unique angle this time is that the stories are actually populated by the people in the linking segments as sort of alternate identities.
Which could have been a great idea except that the people are so unlikeable that the story segments don't serve as a reprieve from their company. There's one really odd part when the "kids" start tapping & clicking out a rhythm which slowly builds into a cacophony that drives one of the females into a rage. I would have cold-cocked them all for being so childishly obnoxious. They don't even seem to be drinking from the empty beer cans they wave around as props, and John's antics of deliberately trying to startle the females in the group quickly becomes unlikely. Somebody would have knocked a couple of his teeth out for being such a dick and split the scene. It isn't funny, it isn't scary, and the tension that builds is not based on fright but a diminishing ability to be patient with him.
Eventually the film does build to a satisfyingly gruseome supernatural climax that apparently took so much of the movies' low budget production cost that the filmmakers appear to have literally run out of money while four of the ten were making a frenzied escape through the woods. The movie ends with a freeze-frame of them running hand in hand, and I can't help but wonder if maybe the last few minutes of intended action was abandoned at the film lab when they couldn't afford the processing bill.
So again I ask, are we all watching the same movie here? I enjoy low budget regionally made horror movies starring no-name talents and have a particular fondness for anthology chillers. But the legends surrounding the film are more interesting than anything which takes place on screen. One of the college dorms used for one of the story segments is rumored to be haunted, and maverick wunderkind Quentin Tarentino has championed the movie, supposedly owning his own print which he screens for people who don't know any better than to go do something else just because it's Quentin Tarentino showing it. He could show old toothpaste commercials and people would watch in rapt awe.
The film was pioneering in the sense that it did beat "Friday The 13th" into theaters by over a year with a story of college kids being menaced at an off-season summer camp. And it also proceeded THE EVIL DEAD with a story of college kids sitting around a disused cabin running afoul of some sort of hyperkenetic supernatural force of evil. But since this evil is never explained and the summer camp angle isn't ever explored as a setting the result is a null-sum gain. They could have been anywhere, the summer camp angle only serving as a device to make it more difficult for them to seek out help when their lamps start running out of fuel. Which might be the most frightening aspect of the movie: Being stuck sitting around in the dark with John and his creepy, disturbing sense of humor & not even having a radio to listen to. A college road trip to a disused cabin with no tunes? Come on.
So I just don't get it. My expectations were perhaps a bit high, especially based on the title which suggested a winter time setting and horror hijynx involving snow, sleighs, rusted shovels, colorful scarves, lost mittens, homicidal Christmas elves, maybe a possessed snowman. If you ask me it looks like they made the wrong movie. Great title though!
4/10
The problem begins when the kids start sitting around telling each other ubran legend-ish scary stories to pass the time. Which would be just fine except that they seem to be telling each other these stories because they don't have anything else to talk about. There is no exposition, no character development, and no visible bonds exist between them except for one couple who don't even have sex on-screen since the movie was only rated PG.
Then there is John, the knucklehead who organized the road trip. To call him annoying is complimentary. He is insufferable. The idea was to try and portray his character as some kind of a nerd or dork whose family used to frequent the cottage. The film unintentionally does a good job as setting him up as a potential lunatic who lured his associates to this setting just to brutally murder them all, but no dice. He's just annoying and we don't even get the satisfaction of watching him die in an amusingly ironic manner after being inflicted with his presence for an hour plus.
The horror anthology angle is interesting though, and all three of the stories shown have effective moments. The CREEPSHOW films are still the modern day kings of the horror anthology tradition, one that stretches back to the 1940s with the incomparable DEAD OF NIGHT, another classic being Mario Bava's fabulous BLACK SABBATH from 1963 and the overlooked H.P. Lovecraft collection NECRONOMICON: BOOK OF THE DEAD from 1992. Usually a horror anthology has some sort of linking story connecting three or four segments that each tell their own twisted tale of the macabre. The unique angle this time is that the stories are actually populated by the people in the linking segments as sort of alternate identities.
Which could have been a great idea except that the people are so unlikeable that the story segments don't serve as a reprieve from their company. There's one really odd part when the "kids" start tapping & clicking out a rhythm which slowly builds into a cacophony that drives one of the females into a rage. I would have cold-cocked them all for being so childishly obnoxious. They don't even seem to be drinking from the empty beer cans they wave around as props, and John's antics of deliberately trying to startle the females in the group quickly becomes unlikely. Somebody would have knocked a couple of his teeth out for being such a dick and split the scene. It isn't funny, it isn't scary, and the tension that builds is not based on fright but a diminishing ability to be patient with him.
Eventually the film does build to a satisfyingly gruseome supernatural climax that apparently took so much of the movies' low budget production cost that the filmmakers appear to have literally run out of money while four of the ten were making a frenzied escape through the woods. The movie ends with a freeze-frame of them running hand in hand, and I can't help but wonder if maybe the last few minutes of intended action was abandoned at the film lab when they couldn't afford the processing bill.
So again I ask, are we all watching the same movie here? I enjoy low budget regionally made horror movies starring no-name talents and have a particular fondness for anthology chillers. But the legends surrounding the film are more interesting than anything which takes place on screen. One of the college dorms used for one of the story segments is rumored to be haunted, and maverick wunderkind Quentin Tarentino has championed the movie, supposedly owning his own print which he screens for people who don't know any better than to go do something else just because it's Quentin Tarentino showing it. He could show old toothpaste commercials and people would watch in rapt awe.
The film was pioneering in the sense that it did beat "Friday The 13th" into theaters by over a year with a story of college kids being menaced at an off-season summer camp. And it also proceeded THE EVIL DEAD with a story of college kids sitting around a disused cabin running afoul of some sort of hyperkenetic supernatural force of evil. But since this evil is never explained and the summer camp angle isn't ever explored as a setting the result is a null-sum gain. They could have been anywhere, the summer camp angle only serving as a device to make it more difficult for them to seek out help when their lamps start running out of fuel. Which might be the most frightening aspect of the movie: Being stuck sitting around in the dark with John and his creepy, disturbing sense of humor & not even having a radio to listen to. A college road trip to a disused cabin with no tunes? Come on.
So I just don't get it. My expectations were perhaps a bit high, especially based on the title which suggested a winter time setting and horror hijynx involving snow, sleighs, rusted shovels, colorful scarves, lost mittens, homicidal Christmas elves, maybe a possessed snowman. If you ask me it looks like they made the wrong movie. Great title though!
4/10
Superior anthology
Cujo1085 February 2012
Superb regional horror film about a group of friends who go on a weekend excursion to a lakeside cabin in the wilds of Louisiana. Once there, they start telling each others various "true" stories of the macabre. The place they're staying happens to have a morbid history of it's own, but is it really true? I had been wanting to see this film for many years, but with the tape being exceedingly rare, it took a good while before I got the opportunity. After finally checking it out, it rapidly became my new favorite anthology.
The first story, "Moss Point Man", is a combination of bigfoot tale and old urban legend. It's the weakest of the lot, but it's short. The second bit, "The Green Light", is the best as three fraternity pledges must spend the night in an old building where a mysterious green light has been seen emanating from the upper floors. This one has a unique ending and some creepy moments with the guys hearing sounds from the floors above them. The third and final tale, "Crazy Annie", involves a girl who goes crazy after an attempted date rape. The story is typical, but it's well-acted by the main girl.
That said, this is the only omnibus I've seen where the wrap-around segment is actually the strongest aspect of the picture. The area our characters are staying is said to be plagued by an Indian wind demon. The opening credits are very effective as one family's encounter with the malevolent entity plays out via sound only. Once our main group arrives, John, the one guy who know about the place's history, shows another guy the old house and graves of the family. This is another unsettling scene, one that gave me a "Blair Witch" vibe.
As the film plays out, the wind builds and builds, culminating in a terrific ending. There's also some intriguing subtext about the nature of scary stories and the basis behind them.
The first story, "Moss Point Man", is a combination of bigfoot tale and old urban legend. It's the weakest of the lot, but it's short. The second bit, "The Green Light", is the best as three fraternity pledges must spend the night in an old building where a mysterious green light has been seen emanating from the upper floors. This one has a unique ending and some creepy moments with the guys hearing sounds from the floors above them. The third and final tale, "Crazy Annie", involves a girl who goes crazy after an attempted date rape. The story is typical, but it's well-acted by the main girl.
That said, this is the only omnibus I've seen where the wrap-around segment is actually the strongest aspect of the picture. The area our characters are staying is said to be plagued by an Indian wind demon. The opening credits are very effective as one family's encounter with the malevolent entity plays out via sound only. Once our main group arrives, John, the one guy who know about the place's history, shows another guy the old house and graves of the family. This is another unsettling scene, one that gave me a "Blair Witch" vibe.
As the film plays out, the wind builds and builds, culminating in a terrific ending. There's also some intriguing subtext about the nature of scary stories and the basis behind them.
Screams amateurism.
BA_Harrison1 July 2017
Shot on 16mm and featuring a cast of students from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, horror anthology Screams of a Winter Night can be excused for having a grainy drive-in aesthetic and mediocre performances. It doesn't, however, excuse the lack of imagination regarding the stories themselves, which range from the extremely predictable to the downright dull.
After two and a half minutes of credits over a black screen, while terrified voices can be heard in the background, the film starts proper as ten friends (who don't seem to like each other all that much) travel to a remote cabin by a lake where they spend the weekend telling each other spooky stories.
The first is a variation of a well known urban legend wherein a couple run out of gas on a lonely road only to meet with a vicious killer (in this instance, a weird, diminutive sasquatch type creature). Tale number two has a group of fraternity pledges spending the night in a deserted, run down, supposedly haunted hotel. And the last story to be told sees a repressed college student becoming a deranged murderess. The film closes with the friends in the cabin being menaced by a malevolent Indian wind spirit (serving as inspiration for The Evil Dead, perhaps).
As a cost-cutting exercise, the characters in the stories are played by the same actors that are telling them, something that adds a little novelty factor to proceedings, but with such unlikeable protagonists, forgettable stories, uninspired direction, and an ending that looks like the makers simply ran out of money or ideas (freeze framing on four of the group as they run for their lives), this obscurity is destined to remain so.
After two and a half minutes of credits over a black screen, while terrified voices can be heard in the background, the film starts proper as ten friends (who don't seem to like each other all that much) travel to a remote cabin by a lake where they spend the weekend telling each other spooky stories.
The first is a variation of a well known urban legend wherein a couple run out of gas on a lonely road only to meet with a vicious killer (in this instance, a weird, diminutive sasquatch type creature). Tale number two has a group of fraternity pledges spending the night in a deserted, run down, supposedly haunted hotel. And the last story to be told sees a repressed college student becoming a deranged murderess. The film closes with the friends in the cabin being menaced by a malevolent Indian wind spirit (serving as inspiration for The Evil Dead, perhaps).
As a cost-cutting exercise, the characters in the stories are played by the same actors that are telling them, something that adds a little novelty factor to proceedings, but with such unlikeable protagonists, forgettable stories, uninspired direction, and an ending that looks like the makers simply ran out of money or ideas (freeze framing on four of the group as they run for their lives), this obscurity is destined to remain so.
Overlong rural horror anthology full of filler and dull stories.
b_kite16 June 2022
Extended Director's Cut
This runs nearly 30 minutes longer than the theatrical cut and puts back in a story that was pulled out by the distributor. That story doesn't really add anything to this already blah little Louisiana rural horror anthology flick. It's watered down with tunes of filler especially a grueling first half hour where your forced to watch the cast walk around in the woods. No way this needed to be nearly 2 hours long.
This runs nearly 30 minutes longer than the theatrical cut and puts back in a story that was pulled out by the distributor. That story doesn't really add anything to this already blah little Louisiana rural horror anthology flick. It's watered down with tunes of filler especially a grueling first half hour where your forced to watch the cast walk around in the woods. No way this needed to be nearly 2 hours long.
Puzzled
gothamgrrl15 September 2013
As to why some have mentioned this film to be creepy, scary, uneasy, etc. Maybe I had to have first seen this when I was a teen or for that matter a pre-teen to appreciate this movie but seeing this as an adult after all the build up on how good this movie is supposed to be was a huge let down. And this is coming from someone who even to this day and age is still a sucker for scary movies. I recently watched "The Turn of the Screw", "Full Circle" (Mia Farrow), "Don't Look Now" (Donald Sutherland) and "The Ring" & those movies got under my skin and had me feeling uneasy and looking back over my shoulder for days. Not this film.
Scary!
Scott-21211 February 2006
I was 14 in 1979, and my brother and I went to a twin theater in Bowie, Maryland. I don't remember what film we intended to see, a comedy I believe, but when I saw there was a horror movie playing in the other theater I decided to watch it while my brother saw the comedy. So there I was, sitting by myself in the near empty theater with about ten other people sporadically seated throughout. I figured a PG horror flick might be good for some cheap thrills, maybe a few laughs, but nothing I couldn't handle. Then the movie started, and from the scary opening which is comprised of sound effects over the credits through the second story, I was scared nearly to tears by this. It's hard to say exactly what it is, but this movie just has that special "something" that can't be planned, but must come through in the execution. I recently attained a copy of this and watched it again after all these years, and I still think it is quite effective. Reading the other reviews here, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with a soft spot in their heart for this little unknown movie. To the filmmakers who just might read this, I say ignore the negative critics. That little movie you made way back in the 1970's still holds up well, and has a good creepy atmosphere that many of today's big-budgeted have not a clue of how to accomplish. Oh well, thanks for reading!
This had somethings right but more things wrong
kevin_robbins14 January 2022
Screams of a Winter Night (1979) is a movie I recently watched on Shudder. The storyline follows a group of campers who go out to a cabin and tell ghost stories one cold night. Unfortunately for them they may be in their own ghost story and not know it.
This movie is directed by James L. Wilson in his only directed project and stars Gil Glasgow (JFK), Ray Gaspard (The Iceman) and William Ragsdale (Fright Night).
The settings in this had a lot of potential. They did a great job setting up up the stories with the right looks and feel; unfortunately, the kills were bland and there was really no gore or well done special effects. The zombie storyline was probably my favorite as that ending had the best makeup and use of lighting.
Overall this movie doesn't have much going for it. This had somethings right but more things wrong. I would score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.
This movie is directed by James L. Wilson in his only directed project and stars Gil Glasgow (JFK), Ray Gaspard (The Iceman) and William Ragsdale (Fright Night).
The settings in this had a lot of potential. They did a great job setting up up the stories with the right looks and feel; unfortunately, the kills were bland and there was really no gore or well done special effects. The zombie storyline was probably my favorite as that ending had the best makeup and use of lighting.
Overall this movie doesn't have much going for it. This had somethings right but more things wrong. I would score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.
Good word of mouth is building on this one. Slowly, but surely.
Kelly G.25 May 2004
In the era of the DVD, when video stores already pressed for space now find themselves in the position of having to clear out mucho shelf space to make room for both VHS and DVD copies of the newest Kate Hudson film, many odd and obscure VHS films that have sat for ages are now disappearing.
Sure, many of these films will probably be refurbished on DVD someday, but will these releases trickle down to the rental market? The answer to such a question could really hurt the horror industry in the long run.
For instance, how many people would buy a DVD special edition of "Screams of a Winter Night" if they haven't paid 99 cents to rent it first? If the answer to that is zero, like i think it is, than distributors who dare to spend lots of money attaining the rights to obscure films like this will end up taking a bath when no one buys them.
So, I guess it all comes down to the rental outlet. Which is where my interest in this movie began. One of my local video haunts is a semi-major chain, at least in my area. And it's one that has the biggest rep for stocking odd and offbeat VHS films. But I had noticed that within the last few months, many of these films were being sold off to make room for DVD's like I mentioned earlier. So, in and effort to see as many of these "targeted for deletion" movies before they were gone, I started renting them A through Z.
By the time I reached "Screams," most of these movies were already gone, either bought by geeky film dweebs like myself, or just carried away by the staff.
"Screams" caught my eye thanks to it's thick black clamshell VHS box (an increasing rarity) and odd picture of an indistinct monster trudging through the woods. The title of the film was written in a jagged font that remined me of those off beat comics from the 70's like Marvel's "Man-Thing" or DC's "House of Mystery." The text on the back promised an anthology film, and since I have always had a weak spot for those, I gave it a chance.
I'm glad I did. Over the course of around 90 minutes, I knew I had found that dusty, out of print VHS rarity: The nugget of gold amongst the dirtpan.
The Plot: A group of college students about to graduate travel to a woodland cabin for some R and R. Once there, many of the girls start to feel uncomfortable (something which I'll come back to) after which the guys start telling "true" horror stories they heard from someone who heard them from someone else.
The three tales include:
1. A couple taking a late night drive start hearing scratching noises on the roof of their car. 2. The best of the bunch, and oddly enough, the one people rag on the most, has three frat pledges fufilling their dare to spend the night in an abandoned hospital with a rep for having a haunted second floor. 3. A quiet and shy college girl turns out to be a psychopath, much to the surprise of her roommate.
What surprised me the most was the material in between the stories. There's something really unsettling about this gathering, and the way they all interact with each other. Has anyone out there ever been to a party of some kind where you could just tell the vibe wasn't right? Well, that's what this is like. From the way the girls seem to be uncomfortable around the guys, to the way that the guys seem to be divided into little sub-groups, there's just a feeling that their little trip wasn't going to go well even if evil, supernatural things didn't happen.
As for the stories, yes, that first one is real moldy by today's standards. But you have to keep in mind, that while talk of "urban legends" are pretty commonplace today, back in the late 70's, these legends were just that: Legends, not the stuff of Discovery Channel debunking programs, or community college courses.
It's the second one that really got me. Dark and dingy, with the characters pretty much spending the whole telling cowering near the stairway to the second floor, there's a real feeling of danger as each one of them goes upstairs and dosent come back. The director could have easily copped out and just not showed what the evil green light was, but he did. And while the revelation of the light is a common snickering point among reviewers, I have to admit, something about the unexplainable nature of the explanation has stayed with me to this day.
Add some colorful touches such as the opening sequence: A dark screen backed with increasinly nightmarish sound effects that follow a linear pattern (something which has been done recently in movies like Cabin Fever and the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and an impressive finale where chaos breaks out.
I've seen movies that try to scare by cranking up the wind machine and having the cast yell before. "Screams" is just about the only one where I really felt fear for the characters. These actors may have been amateurs, but when called upon, they really do make the ending of this one sing with apocalyptic passion. I almost expected at least one person to survive only to throw open the cabin door only to find a yawning black abyss.
"Screams" is no four star classic, don't get me wrong. But it is proof that not all zero budget cheapies are made equal. I can see I'm not alone on this one. The call for a DVD release here is small, but definitely there. Hopefully, we'll get what we want someday.
As for the copy I rented, I hovered over it for months, waiting for a "sale" sticker to appear on it. I showed up one day, and it was already gone. Oh well, I hope it found a good home.
As long as it didn't get bought by the same jerk who snatched "Her Summer Vacation" out from under me too. I'll probably never see that film again, no matter how popular DVD's become.
That's another story though.
Sure, many of these films will probably be refurbished on DVD someday, but will these releases trickle down to the rental market? The answer to such a question could really hurt the horror industry in the long run.
For instance, how many people would buy a DVD special edition of "Screams of a Winter Night" if they haven't paid 99 cents to rent it first? If the answer to that is zero, like i think it is, than distributors who dare to spend lots of money attaining the rights to obscure films like this will end up taking a bath when no one buys them.
So, I guess it all comes down to the rental outlet. Which is where my interest in this movie began. One of my local video haunts is a semi-major chain, at least in my area. And it's one that has the biggest rep for stocking odd and offbeat VHS films. But I had noticed that within the last few months, many of these films were being sold off to make room for DVD's like I mentioned earlier. So, in and effort to see as many of these "targeted for deletion" movies before they were gone, I started renting them A through Z.
By the time I reached "Screams," most of these movies were already gone, either bought by geeky film dweebs like myself, or just carried away by the staff.
"Screams" caught my eye thanks to it's thick black clamshell VHS box (an increasing rarity) and odd picture of an indistinct monster trudging through the woods. The title of the film was written in a jagged font that remined me of those off beat comics from the 70's like Marvel's "Man-Thing" or DC's "House of Mystery." The text on the back promised an anthology film, and since I have always had a weak spot for those, I gave it a chance.
I'm glad I did. Over the course of around 90 minutes, I knew I had found that dusty, out of print VHS rarity: The nugget of gold amongst the dirtpan.
The Plot: A group of college students about to graduate travel to a woodland cabin for some R and R. Once there, many of the girls start to feel uncomfortable (something which I'll come back to) after which the guys start telling "true" horror stories they heard from someone who heard them from someone else.
The three tales include:
1. A couple taking a late night drive start hearing scratching noises on the roof of their car. 2. The best of the bunch, and oddly enough, the one people rag on the most, has three frat pledges fufilling their dare to spend the night in an abandoned hospital with a rep for having a haunted second floor. 3. A quiet and shy college girl turns out to be a psychopath, much to the surprise of her roommate.
What surprised me the most was the material in between the stories. There's something really unsettling about this gathering, and the way they all interact with each other. Has anyone out there ever been to a party of some kind where you could just tell the vibe wasn't right? Well, that's what this is like. From the way the girls seem to be uncomfortable around the guys, to the way that the guys seem to be divided into little sub-groups, there's just a feeling that their little trip wasn't going to go well even if evil, supernatural things didn't happen.
As for the stories, yes, that first one is real moldy by today's standards. But you have to keep in mind, that while talk of "urban legends" are pretty commonplace today, back in the late 70's, these legends were just that: Legends, not the stuff of Discovery Channel debunking programs, or community college courses.
It's the second one that really got me. Dark and dingy, with the characters pretty much spending the whole telling cowering near the stairway to the second floor, there's a real feeling of danger as each one of them goes upstairs and dosent come back. The director could have easily copped out and just not showed what the evil green light was, but he did. And while the revelation of the light is a common snickering point among reviewers, I have to admit, something about the unexplainable nature of the explanation has stayed with me to this day.
Add some colorful touches such as the opening sequence: A dark screen backed with increasinly nightmarish sound effects that follow a linear pattern (something which has been done recently in movies like Cabin Fever and the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and an impressive finale where chaos breaks out.
I've seen movies that try to scare by cranking up the wind machine and having the cast yell before. "Screams" is just about the only one where I really felt fear for the characters. These actors may have been amateurs, but when called upon, they really do make the ending of this one sing with apocalyptic passion. I almost expected at least one person to survive only to throw open the cabin door only to find a yawning black abyss.
"Screams" is no four star classic, don't get me wrong. But it is proof that not all zero budget cheapies are made equal. I can see I'm not alone on this one. The call for a DVD release here is small, but definitely there. Hopefully, we'll get what we want someday.
As for the copy I rented, I hovered over it for months, waiting for a "sale" sticker to appear on it. I showed up one day, and it was already gone. Oh well, I hope it found a good home.
As long as it didn't get bought by the same jerk who snatched "Her Summer Vacation" out from under me too. I'll probably never see that film again, no matter how popular DVD's become.
That's another story though.
can someone tell me why this is for many a cult flick?
trashgang24 February 2011
Can someone tell me why this is a hard sought OOP flick. Really i mean, I have searched a long time to catch it and finally it is in my possession. I thought, well, this is going to be a classic. In the genre. I knew that the quality of the reel is terrible with a lot of bad editing and hue problems and bad sound, that I don' mind. I have seen a lot of drive-in flicks and exploitation ones but this one really has nothing to tell. It starts of pretty well. You got the prologue credits and while they are given with black intervals you hear people screaming and you hear some kind of howling. But still it's black on your screen. I was hooked on the television to see what would happen next, but nothing really happened. It's just a bunch of friends telling scary tales, and while telling they cross over to that story on screen. But being 1979 and being in the heydays of the slashers this doesn't deliver. No blood, well, not to mention, no knifes going in, no nudity just a lot of blah blah. Only the ending, the last 7 minutes things go wrong with the friends and that's the best part. The monster (bigfoot) shown on the cover of the VHS, well, he appears maybe for 2 minutes. But still a lot of geeks are searching for this for me boring flick. The only thing I can say is, I have it in my collection. Not my cup of tea. Only available on VHS.
hit or miss anthology film. but with more hit then miss
KINGYDINGY18 July 2005
a film i first saw in 1979 at the drive in. i was very young, but the'green room' story really shook me up. seeing the film years later it's a really odd and weird film. there's a weird aura to the whole film. its very amateurish, but a lot of it really works. the great ending is bizarre, but haunting. overall a good film to watch for the anthology fan. it's not easy to get hold of. but originals on VHS do exist, though any DVD is a bootleg as of this writing. i'd say overall it really fits the times, as it was filmed in the late 70's. the acting isn't great, but it is pretty fitting for the film. and i'd expect the 'green room' episode to be the favorite story to most.
To this day I rate this as one of the scariest movie I ever saw as a child at the drive-in
wakeeladee7 September 2004
When I was 10 years old, I saw the previews for this movie on television. Seeing spooky shows/movies on t.v. and in the safety of my home, I was intrigued as a little girl to see this movie. I begged my family to take us to it when it would come to our local drive-in. It happened to show the week of July 4th in our town. My family and my dad's brother's family all loaded up two full size vans to go see this movie I begged for all of us to go see! My dad and uncle tried to make light of the spookiness for the rest of us by laughing and joking at crucial parts in the movie, but I was already spooked. I got half way through the movie and climbed over the back seat of the van to try and avoid seeing or hearing anymore! It didn't work. I was too curious and would peek over the seat at what seemed to be the worst parts of the film. I was thoroughly scared and regretted that I got what I asked for. This movie gave me more nightmares than any other movie or story I had ever seen, read or heard. Not even the Exorcist or The Shining scared me as much as this movie and I don't know why. The story telling was creepy and the visuals were just enough to frighten!
I Mutsof seen a different flick
wburke-991633 March 2019
All the reviews on here says that there are three stories. The Version I saw was 2hrs and had a story about dead indians killing two guys in a graveyard. The wrap around was dull especially the fake monkey mask window scene. I don't think it woulde be worth it even if it had a larger Budget. At two Hours it was boring. As has been said on many posts this film would of worked as a 10min short as the last 10mins were the best part. Even though it was PG and I've Seen plenty of them and I was MST#King it to the end.
Don't Know Why People Hate This
vanity6fan18 March 2003
This flick is way better than the garbage Hollywood produces today.
I think to truly enjoy this movie you need to be interested in indie horror low budget films. You won't get no Gone with the Wind out of these old films. The stories were interesting, but a little bit more needed to be explained in "The Green Light" story. What was it? The ending could've explained better too. Anyway, this is better than the low budget shot on video trash you end up getting at Blockbuster. I hope this finds a re-release on DVD and in a cleaned up letterboxed format if possible.
I think to truly enjoy this movie you need to be interested in indie horror low budget films. You won't get no Gone with the Wind out of these old films. The stories were interesting, but a little bit more needed to be explained in "The Green Light" story. What was it? The ending could've explained better too. Anyway, this is better than the low budget shot on video trash you end up getting at Blockbuster. I hope this finds a re-release on DVD and in a cleaned up letterboxed format if possible.
Wait, what?
afrocut18 February 2023
With an incredibly bad first half filled with unlikable characters and boring stories, this movie does a complete turn around in its last half. Primarily an anthology film with numerous stories being told at your stereotypical cabin in the words by your stereotypical adults playing teens, complete with the nerd, the sexist jock, his lover and Mistress, the unlikable female friend, the cool guy and his girlfriend and a bunch of others ready to die screaming when the film deems it time. Sadly the stories don't live up to the wrap around one and it's insanely over the top finale. But its that last 10 minutes or so filled with pure bad movie insanity, including over the top acting and screaming, outlandish effects and crazy lore that will leave you so in shock you will feel you've seen a so bad its good masterpiece. Unfortunately it's not quite so, it's very very tedious in set up, it's bad print will have you questioning flashes on screen, it's actors choices will have you rolling your eyes, and it's side stories can feel like major slogs to get through. Still, it's something that needs to be witnessed, especially by those brave souls who truly love trash.
Stupy Dookie
saint_brett29 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
This movie was produced by a dude named Wadsack. Tough break, Mr. Wadsack.
Well, what am I watching here? The screen's dark, yet people are screaming and crying, shots just rang out, a werewolf is howling, and it sounds like people on a rollercoaster just dropped their guts in the dip of the ride, but none of this action is visible, so I ask again, what am I watching here? Wow, three and a half minutes of darkness as an intro.
Sally, Franklin, and co pull into the Sawyer gas station, and they're in luck as petrol is in season and readily available. We meet the Deliverance locals, and I can't help but notice the four-hundred-pound Blues Brother among 'em.
The quality of my copy survived nuclear testing drop zones. It's less than 100p quality.
An odd mix of human beings travels up to an Evil Dead cabin resort and break and enter.
I don't know how the 70-year-old ducky fits in with all the forty-something crowd. She looks like Dahmer's mother, Joyce, when she was younger.
Take my advice and avoid the 13:34 to 13:51 minute mark, as it is seizure-inducing on the eyeballs. First, the movie started out completely black for three minutes. Now, two knuckleheads are walking through the woods, and they're blue and purple. Is the movie on hallucinogens, or am I?
Pause the movie at the 19-minute mark! This beer-swilling 48-year-old man says, and I quote, "There you go, and here's to getting away from school." Pardon me! Dude, you haven't stepped foot in a classroom since you were 16. What do you mean, cheers to getting away from school?
The odd mix of adults sit around exchanging woefully written lines until Poindexter here starts in on the local lore about a moth man legend, and apparently the movie's going to break away from the "school kids" and go all 'Creepshow' with a trio of short stories.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the car roof killer with the hook on his hand. How original. Out in the woods, waiting for Zodiac to come along. We've heard all this before. I did see 'Urban Legend.'
Oh boy, an invisible man kills some dude who's out exploring Fungai by a tree trunk. One of the Three Amigos hangs himself. Woman screams. Wind blows.
The quality of this movie reminds me of elementary school and how we used to put that cellophane over our eyes. This entire movie is in purple. They must have filmed it on an out-of-date Kodak film reel.
The movie's so dire that I can't help but draw a comparison between Poindexter and John Denver. He even plays a character named John.
Look, I know this movie's only trying, and all the actors are making fools of themselves - you didn't think this judgment was coming, did you, movie? Never thought someone in 2024 would be rating your performance - but I'm curious what we humans would look like if we didn't possess bums.
It's embarrassing that the 40-year-old schoolchildren are sitting around a campfire drinking beer and telling ghost stories, but the second fable of three tells of some pledges entering an abandoned manor, and they're just using the same 40-year-old schoolchildren actors as the ones in the 'Creepshow' fables. This locomotive has no wheels.
I must have a lot of time on my hands to waste it on all this garbage I watch every night.
Take my advice and fast forward from the 43-minute mark till the 45-minute mark as two inaudible 40-year-old kids just talk the entire time, and the only thing I could make out was something about the Sigma Sigma fraternity. Wow, Laurel or Hardy just shoved a door open and fell on his face. It's the most intense moment of the movie so far.
P'worrrr.
And the Academy for best motion picture.
Jeez, this whole second story is chewing up a large percentage of the running time, and nothing is happening. They're just filming corridors, walls, and doors in the dark with the two 40-year-old schoolchildren walking around, petrified of their own shadows. There's a difference between building suspense and boring your audience, you know, movie? Okay, so some green zombie with ribbon noodles for hair commits suicide via hanging, and you drew that second fable out for 15 minutes.
I've had my fill after an hour. I'm still trying to envision myself bumless.
This Sally actress is about 62, and she's one of the 40-year-old children.
"It was a joke, is all." You said it, guy. Best sums up this movie.
Elaine here is a mother superior in training. She should be back at home, minding her grandchildren.
A third story is hatched about the least suspected in school, aka Little Miss Goody Two Shoes, and again, they're just using the same recycled actors. The beer-swilling 48-year-old school kid is the baddy in this third story.
This movie won't end anytime soon. It has aids. If you watch it, you may become infected and slowly die.
The senior citizens are of vintage age, but you know what? They are acting like children, so I guess they really are schoolchildren after all.
This movie's in the same D block as 'Skullduggery' and 'Demon Lover.' Embarrassing.
Oh, and one more thing I neglected to mention. When I used to do videos for YouTube a long time ago, sometimes I'd wear a G-clamp on my head when discussing certain movies. True story.
Well, what am I watching here? The screen's dark, yet people are screaming and crying, shots just rang out, a werewolf is howling, and it sounds like people on a rollercoaster just dropped their guts in the dip of the ride, but none of this action is visible, so I ask again, what am I watching here? Wow, three and a half minutes of darkness as an intro.
Sally, Franklin, and co pull into the Sawyer gas station, and they're in luck as petrol is in season and readily available. We meet the Deliverance locals, and I can't help but notice the four-hundred-pound Blues Brother among 'em.
The quality of my copy survived nuclear testing drop zones. It's less than 100p quality.
An odd mix of human beings travels up to an Evil Dead cabin resort and break and enter.
I don't know how the 70-year-old ducky fits in with all the forty-something crowd. She looks like Dahmer's mother, Joyce, when she was younger.
Take my advice and avoid the 13:34 to 13:51 minute mark, as it is seizure-inducing on the eyeballs. First, the movie started out completely black for three minutes. Now, two knuckleheads are walking through the woods, and they're blue and purple. Is the movie on hallucinogens, or am I?
Pause the movie at the 19-minute mark! This beer-swilling 48-year-old man says, and I quote, "There you go, and here's to getting away from school." Pardon me! Dude, you haven't stepped foot in a classroom since you were 16. What do you mean, cheers to getting away from school?
The odd mix of adults sit around exchanging woefully written lines until Poindexter here starts in on the local lore about a moth man legend, and apparently the movie's going to break away from the "school kids" and go all 'Creepshow' with a trio of short stories.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the car roof killer with the hook on his hand. How original. Out in the woods, waiting for Zodiac to come along. We've heard all this before. I did see 'Urban Legend.'
Oh boy, an invisible man kills some dude who's out exploring Fungai by a tree trunk. One of the Three Amigos hangs himself. Woman screams. Wind blows.
The quality of this movie reminds me of elementary school and how we used to put that cellophane over our eyes. This entire movie is in purple. They must have filmed it on an out-of-date Kodak film reel.
The movie's so dire that I can't help but draw a comparison between Poindexter and John Denver. He even plays a character named John.
Look, I know this movie's only trying, and all the actors are making fools of themselves - you didn't think this judgment was coming, did you, movie? Never thought someone in 2024 would be rating your performance - but I'm curious what we humans would look like if we didn't possess bums.
It's embarrassing that the 40-year-old schoolchildren are sitting around a campfire drinking beer and telling ghost stories, but the second fable of three tells of some pledges entering an abandoned manor, and they're just using the same 40-year-old schoolchildren actors as the ones in the 'Creepshow' fables. This locomotive has no wheels.
I must have a lot of time on my hands to waste it on all this garbage I watch every night.
Take my advice and fast forward from the 43-minute mark till the 45-minute mark as two inaudible 40-year-old kids just talk the entire time, and the only thing I could make out was something about the Sigma Sigma fraternity. Wow, Laurel or Hardy just shoved a door open and fell on his face. It's the most intense moment of the movie so far.
P'worrrr.
And the Academy for best motion picture.
Jeez, this whole second story is chewing up a large percentage of the running time, and nothing is happening. They're just filming corridors, walls, and doors in the dark with the two 40-year-old schoolchildren walking around, petrified of their own shadows. There's a difference between building suspense and boring your audience, you know, movie? Okay, so some green zombie with ribbon noodles for hair commits suicide via hanging, and you drew that second fable out for 15 minutes.
I've had my fill after an hour. I'm still trying to envision myself bumless.
This Sally actress is about 62, and she's one of the 40-year-old children.
"It was a joke, is all." You said it, guy. Best sums up this movie.
Elaine here is a mother superior in training. She should be back at home, minding her grandchildren.
A third story is hatched about the least suspected in school, aka Little Miss Goody Two Shoes, and again, they're just using the same recycled actors. The beer-swilling 48-year-old school kid is the baddy in this third story.
This movie won't end anytime soon. It has aids. If you watch it, you may become infected and slowly die.
The senior citizens are of vintage age, but you know what? They are acting like children, so I guess they really are schoolchildren after all.
This movie's in the same D block as 'Skullduggery' and 'Demon Lover.' Embarrassing.
Oh, and one more thing I neglected to mention. When I used to do videos for YouTube a long time ago, sometimes I'd wear a G-clamp on my head when discussing certain movies. True story.
A thrilling horror movie
gaus2 November 1999
A cheap and unknown, but scary horror movie about some teens who travel to a cabin, deep in the forest. On their way to the cabin they get some warnings from a local drunk who scare them with ghosts and other horrible things which took place there some years ago (I wonder if the people behind "Friday the 13th" got some inspiration here). Inside the cabin and around the fire place the kids start to tell scary stories about a blood-thirsty female student and a legend of an Indian ghost. This stories is what the movie mostly is about, but in the end the teens find them selves right in the middle of a rather unfriendly storm which seems to come from nowhere.
Recommended for horrorfans which liked Friday the 13th.
Recommended for horrorfans which liked Friday the 13th.
Cheesy + Creepy Atmosphere = TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT !
shango720014 May 2011
I saw this in high school around 1979. It was playing at our local Century theater and it was a blustery fall night. This movie was paired with another low budget movie called "The Redeemer" that was like an early slasher film about a masked killer knocking off people at (I think) a high school reunion. I cannot add anything more or repeat the plot as the above posters did, but I will say that low budget 16 MM film is the perfect medium for horror and nothing has surpassed it! This movie proves it. The stories are pretty tame but the atmosphere is perfect. With all the garbage that turns up on DVD....why not this?! I so expected this to show up in one of those "20 Chilling Movies" sets for $9.99. I have a bootleg copy from a VHS and that first story (shot as "day for night") is WAY TOO DARK. This played on cable TV in the early 80s and I told all my horror fan friends to watch it but they did not enjoy it as I did. I miss the old days when you'd go into a movie and see things like this. No hype, no stars, no fanfare. Just unexpected terror!
A Classic...
awitzel10 November 2005
The first time I saw this movie, I was a kid and we'd gone to the drive-in. This movie was so deliciously scary that it's haunted me for years! I spent 10 years trying to remember the title and the last 5 trying to find it to rent it. The vignettes in this movie were all scary, and at the time, our local residents were trying to claim the frat brothers' vignette was based on the old Oregon Institute of Technology -- several buildings that were abandoned and haunted. "Gravity Hill", a place where your car could be pointing uphill and you'd put it in neutral and it would roll... UPHILL... existed near old OIT as well.
No big budget, no known actors, and yet it was one of the best scary movies I've ever seen. I want this movie in the worst way. Somehow, somewhere, there has to be a copy!
No big budget, no known actors, and yet it was one of the best scary movies I've ever seen. I want this movie in the worst way. Somehow, somewhere, there has to be a copy!
Not good, but something about this scares me
preppy-310 September 2004
I rented this film way back in 1987. I had never heard of it and the PG rating had me expecting the worst. Still I love horror films so I gave this a try. I saw it on a dark, cold winter night. There was a snowstorm going on outside, I was alone in the house and I turned off all the lights. Under those conditions this film scared me silly.
The opening is all sound effects against a black screen of something attacking a family in their house on a winters night. It gets in and kills them all. Very effective--the sound effects are realistic and NOT seeing the monsters makes it all the more scarier. That opening alone is worth seeing this for.
It's an anthology movie--a bunch of kids telling horror stories around a campfire. The movie is tame (remember--it's PG rated) and the stories are kind of predictable but the middle one got me going. It's about a bunch of guys spending the night in a deserted, supposedly haunted house. They're on the first floor...and then they hear noises on the floor above...THAT scared me silly. The ending was REAL bad but, for a while, that had me shaking.
So, it's not a good film, but there's something about it that really works. I (cautiously) recommend this.
The opening is all sound effects against a black screen of something attacking a family in their house on a winters night. It gets in and kills them all. Very effective--the sound effects are realistic and NOT seeing the monsters makes it all the more scarier. That opening alone is worth seeing this for.
It's an anthology movie--a bunch of kids telling horror stories around a campfire. The movie is tame (remember--it's PG rated) and the stories are kind of predictable but the middle one got me going. It's about a bunch of guys spending the night in a deserted, supposedly haunted house. They're on the first floor...and then they hear noises on the floor above...THAT scared me silly. The ending was REAL bad but, for a while, that had me shaking.
So, it's not a good film, but there's something about it that really works. I (cautiously) recommend this.
Screams of a Winter Night
sardonic_girl26 June 2006
This is certainly no award winner, but I was very pleased to have found out the name of this film. For many years, I've had a memory of a particular scene where a guy has gone bonkers and is clawing at a green light bulb that is covered in cobwebs. I located it at a local video store (to think, they've had it all these years!). I saw this with my sister and her friend during one a horror movie marathon at our little local two-screen cinema back when I was only 6 or 7 years old. It scared me to death! In watching it recently, it has some spooky parts, but it's definitely not the horrific movie of my memories..... All in all, it's a low-budget trilogy of spooky stories....
Scared the crap out of this teen!
yairdann29 October 2008
I watched this on Halloween night that year with the whole town and it scared the heck out of everyone at the theater. Good enough for me to look it up after all these years. Just something way creepy about the green light scene I can't forget. Im sure some of it is my youth perspective in 1979 but I think its in the class of something like Legend of Boggy Creek which is a classic because it brought something new though campy as all heck. Screams is dated by now Im sure but still good fun compared to a LOT of other bigger budget movies. Be nice to see it posted somewhere like on you tube as Im sure its a rarity! I gave it a seven meaning you ought to check it out for yourself.
Unforgettable movie!
clynch-958-3544431 January 2016
My daughters and I saw this movie in the Main Theatre in Nacogdoches, Texas, when it came out. My youngest was three and very vocal, and announced as she sat in my lap that it scared her half to death, which cracked several of the audience up. That broke the tension a little, because it was quite the scary movie. I read where one of the episodes, set in a graveyard, was cut before release, but it was included in the version they showed us. When I tried to watch the horrible copy on you tube, it was gone. It was the episode that sent my 12-year-old daughter running up the aisle and through the doors, where she nervously watched through the crack. I wish they would issue the original four-episode film as a DVD, because I know there is a big audience who's been waiting to see it and show their children as well. I'd pay to see it at a theater again, but I'd certainly buy the DVD.
One of the first low budget urban legend horror films
mmorton-411 November 2003
This film is a sinful pleasure. Granted it is not the best film to come out of Hollywood, but that's because it did not come from Hollywood. Here is my point: First of all the film was written, directed and produced by kids (early twenties) from Louisiana. The initial distribution was with 4 prints they carried around to their local north Louisiana theaters. After it performed quite well it was picked up by a "Hollywood" distributor ( and of course the kids who made it got screwed). The film then performed very well both here and abroad. Another point is they raised all the monies to make the film(the movie cost less than 2 tickets and popcorn at a theater today) so you got to give them credit. Horror buffs can certainly see where some of the other films borrowed from this little indie. In conclusion, if you have ever thought of or dreamed of making your own film this is worth seeing (if you can find it).
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