Scream For Help! It's the Return of RebelScope!
As all five of you reading this have realized, yes, it's been a long time since I've updated our beloved RebelScope. The reason for that is actually quite exciting; I wrote and directed a short slasher film, Gluten Freek, under the RebelScope banner that's currently doing the rounds at film festivals worldwide (for those hungry to see the Freek in action, look for its online debut in February!). Now that all that chaos has calmed and the dust has settled, it's time for RebelScope the site to rise from its grave and once again shine its undead light on genre cinema obscurities all over the world. So join me, once again, as we deep dive into more weirdo cinema and discuss all things rebellious.
This week, I wanted to shine our unholy light on Michael Winner's trashy, sexual fright flick, Scream For Help (1984). A genre obscurity hated by its own writer Tom Holland (Fright Night, Child's Play), Scream For Help starts in what is essentially a second act conflict; teenager Christie (Rachael Kelly) is convinced her stepfather Paul Fox (David Brooks) is out to kill her and her mother (Marie Masters) and collect their inheritance. The film literally begins with Christie already having come to this conclusion but via a silly narrative devise we're whisked back in time to see just how Christie knows of Paul's nefarious plans. See, Christie follows her stepfather Paul to a far off house where she sees him having an affair with a young woman. Paul immediately sees her and later confronts her, telling her his sexual indiscretion is all in her head. Christie then turns to anyone that will listen to her declaring Paul a homicidal sex maniac but realizes no one believes her. Will someone come to her aid before it's too late?
Winner's Scream For Help is notable for a few reasons. Firstly, it's got such a strange blend of talent behind it. It's directed by trash master Michael Winner who had helmed the Charles Bronson revenge drama Death Wish. It's written by the previously mentioned horror legend Tom Holland who'd just finished Psycho II with Richard Franklin and it's scored (most randomly and I assume, regrettably) by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame. That mash-up should get any cinephile intrigued but oddly the film seems to have fallen through the cracks of time, rarely mentioned in the same circles as similar 80s killer thrillers like The Stepfather.
Is it the same quality as films like The Stepfather? No, but it certainly deserves to be mentioned. Where The Stepfather embraced horror tropes and largely succeeded, Scream For Help exists as part slasher, part Nancy Drew episode with a bizarre commentary on sexual exploration. Shortly into the film, Christie goes to confide in a friend about her suspicions with Paul. Bursting into her friend's bedroom she finds her mid-banging another friend. Immediately after telling her about her possibly homicidal stepfather, she yells "You promised you'd tell me before you did something with a boy!" to which her friend coolly retorts that sex is cool and quite normal. This happens repeatedly throughout the film as Christie seems sickeningly bothered by the act of sex and the idea of sexuality, highlighted and underscored by the particularly weird piece of dialogue, "I don't want to sleep with you and I honestly don't want to sleep with anyone anymore". It's a strange, under-explored subplot in the film that only serves to elevate the picture's hilariously sleazy tone. It certainly has its horror moments too, with the final twenty minutes becoming a cool Home Alone style kill-the-killers finale, but it would've been great to see a version of Scream For Help that's more horror and less weird porno.
Still though, the moments of suspense and horror made it from Holland's script to Winner's final film should be celebrated, as when they're good, they're great. One particular stand out scene involves Christie being trapped in a bathroom as two of the film's villains argue about their plan. It ain't exactly Hitchcockian, but for that brief moment Winner had me on edge and that's no easy feat for any filmmaker. And that aforementioned Home Alone style finale deserves a round of applause, as Winner cranks it up to eleven with Christie running around the house taking revenge on her would-be assassins in the most complicated ways. No, it's not a scary or suspenseful climax but rather a cathartic violent crescendo where the baddies get off'ed in the goofiest ways possible. And with a film so concerned with confusing sexual commentaries and slightly schizophrenic tones, it's great that in its final twenty minutes it can settle into one thing and simply do that thing well.
The Scream Factory Blu-Ray of Scream For Help is now available on Amazon and Diabolik DVD.