COLLECTOR'S CRYPT - SCREAM QUEEN (VISUAL VENGEANCE BLU RAY)
Life imitating art is something that has been discussed over centuries. The notion that things are born of creation and the impact that creation has on the tangible world around us. The irony of the statement is that this is not a mono-directional engagement, rather, it is a reciprocal one. Life imitating art is best understood as how artists create an interpretation of the world around them that exposes others to that same point of view. In the case of film, we have seen time and time again how genres like science fiction have been the foundation for how we innovate the world around us. Just look at the changing design of cars over the years, and how much the current looks reflect future prognostications from films of the past. This doesn’t mean that innovation is always the goal, sometimes art life imitating art is simply demonstrating our lived experience through storytelling. Such is the case with the newest release from Visual Vengeance, Scream Queen. This “lost” film from the early 90s starring Linea Quigley is more meta than you might expect considering the period it was made, but is it a lost film worth finding?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Horror star Malicia Tombs mysteriously dies after leaving the set of her latest, now unfinished, low-budget Shot-on-video shocker. Soon, an unseen masked killer is chopping and hacking his/ her way through the cast and crew as punishment for Tomb's death - leaving a bloody trail of revenge.
HOW IS IT?
Scream Queen is just another in a long line of films that were forgotten about only to be released years after production wrapped. Oftentimes we wonder, “Why do these films get shelved?” and “How does this happen?” only to be unsurprised with the results. In most cases, the films just aren’t that great to begin with. Then there are films with good ideas that are executed haphazardly. You know the ones, where you want to like them because of their potential despite the output being somewhat unfulfilling. Scream Queen is such a film. One where a solid premise is wonkily delivered and ironically reflective of the film’s journey to completion. Despite its flaws, there is a lot to appreciate here even if it isn’t always entertaining.
The premise may sound familiar to those who are a fan of meta-horror: an aging and volatile scream queen, Malicia Tombs, dies after leaving the set of her unfinished film, and the remaining cast and crew are picked off one by one by a secret killer obsessed with this unfinished production. This proto-Scream and New Nightmare type of storyline is the most novel thing about Scream Queen in that it came long before so many other meta-horror films, but like some “first attempts” this one falters mostly on account of the pacing. You see, the story and premise are good enough to keep you locked in for the first half of the film, but after that, it becomes somewhat of an exercise in patience. Even clocking in at 78 minutes, it isn’t until the 50th minute that we get our first on-screen kill. While things do pick up from there, getting to that point can be a bit of a slog. It is quite a shame too, since a simple reorganizing of the story beats would’ve evened out the action some while also keeping the viewer engaged.
While the pacing and story take a while to get going, once they do things don’t stop until the end. The reveal of the killer is anything but surprising, but it is a lot of fun and we also get our fair share of ultraviolence as well. While not as gory or exploitative as other Visual Vengeance releases, there is enough here to whet the appetite of most horror fans save for the gorehounds. One can’t help but wonder if this film would’ve been a hit had it been released closer to when it was made rather than over a decade later. Given it has all the trappings of the best late-night slashers and a relatively novel premise for its time, it is still a case of “better late than never” that this film sees the light of day. For those that enjoy a bit more Agatha Christie or Giallo in their horror, Scream Queen is sure to provide some base entertainment if you can look past some of the obvious production issues and pacing.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
If you’ve read any of our previous Visual Vengeance reviews you’ll already know that video quality is not where these films thrive. Such is the case here with Scream Queen, which is presented in its original fullscreen aspect ratio of 1.33:1 via a 480p SD version of the original film elements. The Visual Vengeance team does the best with what they are given, but that won’t eliminate issues like poor lighting, dirty lenses, and low-quality recording formats. Then again, that’s part of the charm of movies like these. Images from this release are used throughout the review and are seen below:
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
Normally, we would give a pass on the audio efforts considering the production quality, but Scream Queen is plagued with a myriad of sound issues. The first of which is a muffling sound that sometimes makes the dialogue sound muted. The same can be said of the diegetic sound in that it sometimes overwhelms the dialogue or action making it hard to hear what is being said and what is going on. Thankfully, Visual Vengeance includes English subtitles making this problem a little easier to bear.
ANYTHING SPECIAL?
Once again, the devil is in the details with Visual Vengeance. In this case, the details are the special features that are befitting much larger releases than these forgotten SOV gems. The first feature we checked out was the 29-minute Once Upon a Time in Horrorwood mini-documentary. This is essentially a long interview with writer and director Brad Sykes where he goes into detail on how the film came to be and where he drew the inspiration for the story. The most fascinating thing about what Brad shares is that he came up with this premise based on a loose set of experiences working as a PA and other various odd jobs on film sets. Additionally, one of the primary reasons the film took so long to release was that it changed editors’ hands so many times. Brad even jokes that every editor in LA probably had their hands on it at one point and that he wasn’t involved in the process at all since the film was essentially taken from him after production wrapped.
The second feature we took in was a 12-minute Interview with Linea Quigley. As always, Linea is beyond gracious when she speaks about her experience with these kinds of films and is careful never to trash the production even if certain people aren’t the easiest to work with. Her involvement mostly came as a favor through mutual connections, and she was completely in on the joke about how self-reflective the premise is concerning her standing in the late 80s. There is a humbleness about her reflection, and she even veers off of this film and speaks more broadly about the genre. Specifically how she was excited to see there wasn’t a nude scene, and how today’s final girls are far tougher than the ones from the 70s and 80s. A full list of special features included with this release is listed below:
SPECIAL FEATURES:
New director-approved 480p SD master presented on Blu-ray from original tape elements
Commentary with Writer / Director Brad Sykes
Once Upon A Time In Horrorwood: Behind the Scenes Documentary
Second Feature: Original Producer’s Cut of Movie
New Linnea Quigley Interview
Editor Mark Polonia Interview
Behind The Scenes Image Gallery
Linnea Quigley Image Gallery
Original Script Selects
Original Trailer
Visual Vengeance Trailers
Six-page liner notes by Tony Strauss of Weng's Chop Magazine
Collectible Linnea Quigley folded mini-poster
‘Stick your own’ VHS sticker set
Reversible sleeve featuring original home video art
Optional English subtitles
Region-Free Blu-ray
LAST RITES
Scream Queen is a prime example of a great idea that came to the party too late. Thanks to the fine folks at Visual Vengenace, these films aren’t forgotten and we can all enjoy what could’ve been. Fans of early 90s thrillers and giallo are bound to get more out of this than the average slasher fan, but for those that are curious there is a great package to behold with this release that goes far beyond the film itself.
THE GORY DETAILS
Thank you to the fine fiends over at MVD ENTERTAINMENT for providing a review copy for the crypt! Scream Queen is available NOW and can be purchased via MVD DIRECT!
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