Very Cool!!!

Really Surprised!

An Exercise In Nonsense

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Following an insane urchin is not my idea of fun. The storyline isn't unpredictable: the movie simply lacks a plot. On the other hand, there is a market for this kind of thing, and people who enjoy finding out such fiction. The idea being that some find the creepiest psychotics, fascinating, and exciting to find things about. I know people who like such things. Grim slasher, an _uninventive exploitation of gruesomeness, a hitchhiker urchin, raw psychosis, this is something very sick and vicious, because a psychotic cereal killer is essentially a monotonous and creepy individual, and the movie merely indulges in this exploitation. The linear plot indeed only enhances the _unidimensionality of the insanity, leading nowhere. Its interest lies in its sheer morbidity. There's no suspense whatsoever, or chills. It's extremely specialized, in its monotonous meanness. It delivers only to those interested in its subject, and who watch it for the raw subject's sake. The only interactions in the movie are the urchin's, and he deals with people by slashing them. The movie itself has nothing to add to this, and this is indeed the level of its world-view, of sheer psychopathic bleakness.

Even before the opening credits roll "Scream Bloody Murder" lives up to its title.Little Matthew(Fred Holbert, in his only film performance) decides he digs his father better dead, and apropos of absolutely nothing, runs him over with a tractor. Even more inexplicably, he manages to mangle his own arm in the process.Sent away to a mental institution for many years he comes home a teenager with a hook for a hand and an axe to grind(literally) with his mother and new stepfather who soon die painfully for having the unmitigated gall to get married and seem happy about it on the very day he came home from the loony bin.He then goes on an all out run.... away from the mother of all Oedipus complexes, cutting a bloody swath through everyone he meets, from a young couple giving him a ride out of his small town, to whoever happens to stand in his way.Meeting painter/hooker with a heart of gold Vera(Leigh Matthews, a two film wonder), things look up a touch for our protagonist. He compliments her art, renames her Daisy,brings her flowers, and kills a john for treating her poorly. If that isn't love, he doesn't know what is.Desperate to impress and to make good on his claims of wealth and success to fulfill his weird white knight fantasy of "saving" Vera/Daisy, he murders the entire residency of the closest fancy house he can find, kidnaps his lady love and steals from locals to provide her with all the creature comforts you could possibly need while tied to the stolen bed of a psychopath. The resulting action/reaction struggle of Vera/Daisy's survival instincts and Matthew's manias eventually lead to a quirky but extremely satisfying bloody climax, proving the old adage of "where ever you go, there you are".This film is amateurish on near every level (hammy acting, garish color, jerky cinematography, thin as gossamer plot) and the print that has passed into public domain and an epic ton of multi movie DVD sets is blown out and grainy.However, "Scream Bloody Murder" succeeds almost in spite of itself. It doesn't bother with overambitious story touches it wouldn't have had the budget for, keeps the plot moving quickly, the body count mounting tidily and the dialog simple. Holbert rips through his campy lines with delightful abandon, and Ms. Matthews manages to be appealing enough to root for despite being little more than a cliché archetype. It isn't trying to teach us moral lessons or have pretensions to high art. It's the mania, madness and mayhem fans of the genre want to see....and while it is often goofy, it is never boring.By going further than is necessary at every possible turn, the creators of "Scream Bloody Murder" managed to polish their turd into an excellent bloody Valentine, and a forgotten little gem of B film.6.5 stars

Matthew is a young man just released from a mental hospital after many years for murdering his father.In the process of driving a bulldozer over poor man his hand is damaged terribly and in place he has a sharp metal hook when he returns home he finds that his mother has remarried to a man he doesn't approve of.After killing both he flees on a cross country murdering as many people as he can.Marc Ray's "Scream Bloody Murder" is an quintessence of early 70's trash.The killings are bloody and alarming and the gore effects are lovingly cheap.Of course one can treat "Scream Bloody Murder" as another flick about a momma-obsessed prudish psycho on the prowl.He is full of Oedipal rage and thinks that all decent women should hate sex.The score by Stephen Burum is wonderfully campy and the film is impossible to take seriously.So if you are into amusingly trashy and unpleasant 70's horror you can't miss it.7 out of 10.

This is actually a very good movie if you like Saturday night B movie sci-fi or slasher films. The ending is weak, but OK. They might have tried to leave room for a sequel, but the mindset wasn't into sequels back then. A young, very good looking guy with a hook for a hand is a bit fascinated by a lady of the evening who lives in a very dumb looking house. A few killings with various methods of smashing or slashing build up the character study. The hero is very charming but of course he is a slasher, hook handed recently released mental patient, but he is still charming. He looks like a 30 year old who happens to look like a teenager. The killings are nice, but not up to Alfred Hitchcock level. Lots of blood. A beautiful old Rolls Royce is seen and used to well advantage to supply prestige. I would not recommend it for anyone under 12 or over 75. I would recommend this as part of a double feature with Psycho 2.