Trying to fairly evaluate a film this far down the totem pole is a pretty difficult task – it's no secret how poorly-made it'll be and leaves you comparing it to weaker selections in order to justify a viewing of it. Night Screams is a title, like some of the others I've reviewed thus far, that arrived late to the game and was immediately engulfed by the ever-growing Slasher cesspool. Whether it was looked at as an exercise in futility or a point of experimentation directors were forced to introduce something new and shocking to grab audiences or release the same old drivel in order to gain back what was spent. I can boldly say that Night Screams is not a good film; it sucks, to be honest, but somehow the premise isn't all that far-fetched.The film sets the stage with a married couple watching Graduation Day on television (now you can see why I reviewed these films back-to-back, eh?). While the husband is outside preparing hamburgers on the grill his wife is stabbed to death by an intruder. After he notices the body he immediately calls the authorities; the call is cut short when he is murdered in turn. The story shifts its focus to David, the star of the local high school football team who's pressured by the presence of a scout from Oklahoma University. David and his friends decide to throw a party at his parent's house in celebration of his achievement. Meanwhile, across town, two mental asylum escapees kill a few police officers and after they arrive in town, hide out in David's basement. Added to this complex equation is David's mental state; prone to bouts of anger without his prescribed pills. With the maniacal duo hidden away in the cellar, David's volatile temperament, and the demented knife- wielder, who is responsible for the deaths of the party-goers?I mentioned a moment ago the inclusion of archival footage of Graduation Day. The initial thing that occurred to me was, "…of all the movies to reference, why that one?" I wish I had an explanation. If you haven't seen the murderous segments from Graduation Day, fear not! Night Screams does a fine job of spoiling them for you – I suppose it's not much of a let-down anyway. After several wasted minutes of this in the opening segment the husband displays the most hysterical reaction to his wife's murder...I don't think it's possible to sound any less shocked. Speaking of less than shocking, the quality of his deliverance doesn't come as much of a surprise since the majority of the cast debut'd their acting talents with this movie. In the same swift motion, they exited the business – even the director, Allen Plone, would only make three more films after Night Screams (spread out over the span of 12 years). The only actor worth mentioning in this affair is Ron Thomas. Viewers may recognize him as "Bobby Brown" from The Karate Kid parts 1 & 2; certainly not the most prestigious credentials but among the other bit players featured in this film he comes across as a master of the arts.The audio, specifically the intro music, is laughably bad. I can envision the composer's son sneaking into the recording studio, laying down a few stock tracks, and messing around with the volume dials. It's rickety and experimental sounding; an experiment gone terribly awry. Clearly, the composer's body of work in this feature is an uninspiring, synth-based cling-a-clanged crescendo of awfulness. Whoever had the displeasure of being the first to listen to this monstrosity would have been better off reproducing similar sounds by throwing a few pots and pans into the dryer and walking off the set.The herrings displayed in Night Screams aren't vividly red; they are dressed up in nice little outfits so you aren't aware of their intended purpose. You may feel that your intelligence is underestimated with the use of obvious over-aged guys and gals to portray high schoolers. It's really that bad. I seem to make this complaint with every Slasher that I review but the creators of Night Screams must've desperately been in search for actors and actresses that appeared age-appropriate. For instance, the football locker room in the beginning of the film looks like a police precinct with all of the bravado, extreme chest hair, and mustaches to go around. Even David, the film's star character, looks as if he's been married with a kid for a few years with another on the way.Night Screams isn't as bad as I predicted. The production values are bottom-of-the-barrel stuff. The acting is mostly crappy and the use of special effects is limited because of the angles used during the death sequences. While there are many clichés to point and laugh at Night Screams tried its little heart out despite the lack of budget. It's a disgraceful movie for sure but at least they tried. I've chosen to happily accept their sentiment but I'll never watch the movie again.

By the late 80s, slashers were past the peak of gracing theaters with their ill-fated characters and their cliché murder scenes, only giving slasher fans Friday the 13th sequels, and direct-to-video terrors. Every now and then, something new would come around, such as Evil Laugh, Slaughter High, Doom Asylum, and this. Night Screams is a pretty typical cheesy slasher romp with enormous trends of big curly perms, catchy pop music, numerous red herrings, and fake looking death scenes.David (Joe Manno), a hunky high school football player, is throwing a party for his friends at his mansion while his parents are out of town. His shy girlfriend, Joni (Megan Wyss), is looked down upon by David's friends, who would prefer David to be with someone else. The only person who likes Joni is Lisa (Jeanette Allyson Caldwell; one of the few characters that are actually likable), whom defends Joni whenever someone is rude to her. During the night, David is horrified to realize that he can't find the pills that help his hyperactivity, making him short tempered and easily angered. What David and the rest of his friends don't know is that two maniacs who escaped from an asylum, Snake (John Hines) and Johnny (Troy Mays), broke into his house and are hiding in the basement (Why does this strangely remind me of The Majorettes?). Also, they don't realize that someone is beginning to kill them off one by one. Could it be the two maniacs? Could it be David? Or could it be someone else...? (I bet you can already guess who the killer is!) The movie, while not completely original, does try to stray from most slashers, taking on the sub-plot of the two escaped lunatics to help out the killer add to the body count. The identity of the killer, while obvious and cliché, is interesting in that they have a motive that is understandable and actually makes sense. Another interesting thing about the movie is that part of the film is made up of two other movies, Graduation Day (1981), and a softcore porn shown towards the end. The movie's climax, which consists entirely of characters walking around in the dark and one character strangely disappearing, is pretty unimpressive and muddled. We see three characters outside, fighting, then one of those characters is stabbed. Next we see one of the two surviving characters back inside the house without giving any explanation as to what happened to the OTHER survivor.The movie overall is pretty bad. There are a couple of interesting deaths (such as a character having their face grilled, a character being poisoned in a sauna by toxic fumes), some characters that are pretty likable (Lisa, Joni, and D.B.) and a twist ending that is cliché but pretty well executed (it would've worked better had it have been a little bit less ambiguous). The movie tries it's best at being different and unique, and while it fails, it does give a good effort considering the budget and the bad acting.

HUGE SPOILERS Little known-obscure Slasher deals with three escaped convicts (killers) who make their way to a mansion filled with drunken-partying teens. One by one our teens start to get brutally murdered but who is behind the murders? We also see that the ex-convicts are getting killed so, what the hell is really happening?! Little do us, the audience, know that the ex convicts have LITTLE or nothing to do with the murders.Well I HAD to spoil half of the ending because face it, you'll never find this movie, or you won't be interested on it.If you, on the other way, tracked down this movie, you will be pleased with it if you like the Slasher sub-genre. Expect the occasional boobs and gore.

This film is so incredibly dreadful. That dialogue is, crazy, and mix that with bad acting! Its so, jerky and forced sometimes. I think the women are the worst, they are falling all over their men, really bad image. And oh my god, the killings, they are ridiculous! in the bathroom at the start with the fencing sword, and all shes saying is "what are you doing", she doesn't try and stop him or run or anything, typical. I don't get why in these films, they gotta constantly have topless women. I watched Hellgate on the same night, topless women once again, daft. Its good for a laugh. I watched it at about, 1:30am, cos i was bored and couldn't sleep. Definitely helped that little problem