Scared To Death — Scared To Death( DVD)
From 2024, Scared To Death is a haunted house horror blending in moments of thriller & comedy. It follows a film crew going to a house to do a séance, readying to make a film about a fake one- and things become very real. It features an ensemble cast headed up by Lin Shaye & Bill Moseley. The film takes a little while to get going, but when it does, there are some neat chills & thrills, as well as an inventive rolling 'n' snapping teeth decapitated head. Here from Jinga Films is a fairly bare bones/ region free DVD.
Scared To Death was written & directed by Scotsman Paul Boyd. He started directing in the 1990’s, at first focusing on making music videos for the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Seal, INXS, Shania Twain, etc. In 2009, he started dipping his toes in features with the likes of skater-meets-artist drama Vicious Circle. In the 2020s, he had a few more features, taking in the likes of stoner comedy I, Challenger, and COVID drama We Are Gathered Here Today.
The film runs for one hour and thirty-seven-minute mark. We open up with Jasper (Olivier Paris), a young PA/ aspiring film maker, going to look at an old house/ former orphanage with suited/ bow tied/ greased back hair realtor Felix (Moseley). While chatting, Jasper finds out Felix is also a part-time medium, which is handy, as his boss Max (Shaye) is in the process of making a horror film about a séance, so he goes back to her office to run the idea of doing a séance to give the cast/ crew a real experience.
For the first thirty-some minutes of the film, the focus is back at Max’s office’s/ studio, where we see her belittling/ taking down to Jasper/ the rest of her crew. The only real main cast member of the film within the film is The Grog (Kurt Deimer), a cult horror star. I’ll have to admit this first part of the film really seemed to drag- yes, Shaye is good as the bitchy/ obnoxious director - but this part of the picture just seems to lack shape/ plot.
Anyway, when they finally get to the house, things definitely pick up. We find out Felix is somewhat of a conman- setting up sound effects, a fake haunted radio, and a few other things. But as the group wanders around the house/ get ready for the séance, it seems it’s haunted for real, with the spirits of children who attended the orphanage/ their male tormentor appearing.
We get a half-shown ghoulish face darting out of/ then disappearing from sinks/similar. Unsettling shifting sheets & troubling goings-on in attic set bed, ghostly kids & their bearded/ long matted-haired tormentor, and most impressive/memorable a decapitated, rolling, and snapping teeth head.
We get a decent mix of unease, darting horror, and light touches of humour. Both Lin Shaye & Bill Moseley are on fine form- the former plays the unpleasant director wonderfully, and the latter a charming con man. The rest of the cast is a little mixed/ ill placed- for example, Deimer can act, but in the film with his heavily ringed hands, tattoos, black cut-off, and black beanie with a crucifix on looks like he’s come from the heavy metal world, not the cult horror world.
The only extras we get here are a few music videos, and a trailer.
When it finally got going/ we get to the house, Scared To Death is a decently creepy/thrilling haunted house film- though some of the plotting is a little predictable/ cliché. But I’d certainly check out another horror film from Boyd, as he certainly shows talent for the genre here