2018 is sure flying by! It’s already April and there is no rest for the wicked, I mean The Horror Syndicate. With our March Movie Madness brackets taking our Facebook page by storm, it’s time for me to get back to the basics. Last month, Dread Central Presents unleashed Terrifier through Epic Pictures. You can find my review of it here. Well boils and ghouls, Dread Central and Epic Pictures work pretty fast and are back at it again. So, let’s pop some popcorn, grab an adult beverage and dim the lights. Because IT’S MOVIE TIME!
#Screamers (2016)
Synopsis
An up and coming internet video-sharing website in the vein of Youtube, is making a documentary that is detailing the launch of their new business. Everything seems to be going great for the new company. That is until a strange video is uploaded to their site from an anonymous submitter. The web team then decides to make the video the lead ‘click’ item on their page. The video instantly goes viral and is a smashing success. Soon more of these videos begin to come in, each looking more realistic than the last. The video’s comment boards soon become flooded with connections to a girl that went missing two years previously. Not sure how to proceed, the team decide to investigate and try and find the anonymous source. Are these #screamer videos clever fan submissions? Or are they all too real?!?!
#Screamers was directed by Dean Matthew Ronalds (Netherbeast Incorporated). Working alongside the man behind the camera Mark I. Davis, the duo really captured the faux-documentary style with a relative smoothness that is hard to do in POV. The film starred a group of mostly unknown actors which includes Griffin Matthews, Chris Bannow and producer/co-writer Tom Malloy (The Alphabet Killer). With Malloy’s performance shining the brightest, as the character appropriately named ‘Tom’, an aspiring internet/video-mogul. A man on a mission to uncover the truth of these Screamer videos at any cost.
So, now onto why we’re here. Was #Screamers any good? Well yes…. And no. Other than showing a few screamer videos throughout, there wasn’t a whole lot going on during the first hour. Just inter-personal relationships and the daily strife of running a company. Just a slow drudge along, almost to moments of utter dullness. But as the film’s plot really began to take hold, there were just enough twists and turns to hold my attention. The same may not be said for other less patient horror fans.
Once the third act truly began however, it became a whirlwind of terror. Franticly tense moments, aided by jostling POV camera work. I actually jumped at one point and I am not a jumpy horror fan. There was little to no blood and gore, as all the violence was off camera. Leaving the carnage up to the viewers’ imagination, which was actually pretty effective, all culminating to a creepy finale. As is with most horror films, it left itself open for a potential sequel.
Overall, #Screamers was a well-shot film. I really enjoyed it, but it could’ve and should’ve been so much more.
But like I always say… Don’t take my word for it!!!
IMDb: 7.1/10
ZombiSurvivor: 7.2/10
#Screamers is out on VOD April 17th, 2018!!! Check it out anyway you can!
Thanks for reading and remember…
STAY SCARED!
-ZS
