Scream Dream — Scream Dream( Blu Ray)
Scream Dream is an ultra-low-budget slice of 1980s heavy metal horror shlock. It’s a SOV offering from long-time active horror ‘n’ sleaze merchant Donald Farmer (Cannibal Hookers, Red Lips, Shark Exorcist, Scream Queens Weenie Roast )- focusing on a long-clawed, horned, and big-teethed demon connected to a up & coming/ female fronted metal band… and every time they roll into town, fans seem to disappear. Here from Visual Vengeance is a recent Blu-ray featuring directors' commentary, a few interviews, and a heavy metal horror primer.
Scream Dream is from the year 1989- it was Mr Farmer’s third feature. It features a fairly short runtime of around an hour and nine minutes- though there are one or two pacing issues, so at points it does feel longer than that…though more on that later!.
The film kicks off in prime horror sleaze territory- as we see a woman lying on a bed in a skimpy nightdress. Hands come up to grab her hands & feet- then a chainsaw starts sawing through the bed, upwards towards her crouch- as she screams & screams, as her top is ripped open, breasts are exposed, and blood splatters.
As the film unfolds, we get to meet the big raven-haired Michelle Shock (Carol Carr), who's the lead singer in an up-and-coming heavy metal band. Though there’s controversy around the band, due to its seemingly satanic lyrics/themes ( we don’t really get to see any of these), and that fans are disappearing from concerts after the band has played.
We find out, yes Michelle is involved in the black arts- as she has a home/ ritual hideout- with constantly lit red candles, fake cobwebbed chandeliers, and demonic/ teethy snake creature that lives under one of the place's tables….oh, and one night after a show a geeky guy slips back stage, she goes down on him- her hands go clawed, and she comes up with more than ejaculations in her mouth.
I won’t detail the plot beyond this- as it is fairly slim/ vague. But along the film's length we get several performances from the band- I guess you’d say they play fairly run of the mill/ not that heavy metal. More gullible fans go backstage with big hair & boobs transformations. There are a few bloody attacks- either by the snake demon/ hand puppet, or by our long-clawed demon with a ritual knife. A possessed hand is lopped off with an axe, and a few other brief effects. During the attacks/ killings, we get some rather nice lo-fi/ at points a little wonky metal jam-outs, for example when the hand is lopped off we have this great doom metal track.
The films main/ lead character, Derrick (Nikki Riggins), the band's backing singer/ backing head banger who has curly long hair, a tasselled jacket, and brown boots(!). He beds more than a few women, wakes up confused, and chats with the band's manager- as bizarrely, he’s the main contact between band & management.
Scream Dream is an entertaining enough slice of heavy metal-themed horror from the late 80’s. The only real issues here are that some of the scenes/ live tracks go on way too long, and even though the film has been remastered, the sound is truly terrible in places- with moments of low-key feedback hum, and a few scenes where it’s very difficult to make out what is being said.
On the extras side, we get a good selection of what I believe are all new extras. First up is a commentary track with director Donald Farmer & SOV filmmaker Kevin J. Lindenmuth. It starts with Farmer commenting that 1988- the year the film was made was one of his busiest, as he helmed two features, as well as being a line producer on a third. He talks about the credits scene with the woman on the bed with a chainsaw as his nod towards Nightmare On Elm Street, and the whole dream horror sub-genre it created. He chats about how, over the years, so many people have seemingly got the film's title wrong. We find out the backing band in the film was called Ricochet- the real club band of The Sword & Stein where the film was largely shot. We find out the film's other key location was a photo studio turned abandoned factory. He talks about how Gene Amonette- who played the band's manager- had produced records for The Allman Brothers in the 70’s, but when he appeared in the film, he was a used car salesman. Later on,d he talks about the piano that appears in the film had been his grandmother's, and when he & his sister where youngster, she got them to sing bad-taste songs, including one about a kid eating worms to commit suicide. All in all a decent track.
Otherwise there's: Interview with Donald Farmer ( 52.47). Interview with actor Nick Riggins ( 5.04). Interview with actress Jesse Raye ( 11.36). The Art of the Scream: Special Effects Artist Rick Gonzales Interview (15.50). Excerpt of Q & A with Donald Farmer ( 6.01). Heavy Metal Horror Primer (32.26) Video Essay/ interview with Justin Decloux and Adam 'Riot' Thorn. They start defining what they mean by Heavy Metal. Touch on key films in the horror metal genre, before going in-depth on some of their favs… It’s well worth a play.
Also, we have a Behind the Scenes Image Gallery. Trailer, Visual Vengeance trailers. This first edition comes with an O-Card slip, guitar pick & mock concert ticket, and VHS stickers.
If you dig low-budget SOV horror & 80’s metal, then Scream Dream is a no-brainer. With this Visual Vengeance new edition offering up a good selection of extras, I enjoyed in particular the commentary track and the heavy metal horror primer.