Death Screams is an often-forgotten 80s slasher. It’s an entertaining ride, but it doesn’t do anything new or exciting with the slasher formula. Fans of the genre, however, will want to check this one out.
Set in a small Southern town, the film takes place near the end of the summer. The protagonists decide to have one last night of fun at the local carnival before heading off to college. You have run-of-the-mill characters, like Lily, a waitress in town, and Bob and Kathy, young college students spending their last night at home before returning to school.
And then the carnage starts.
Death Screams is more concerned with gore and kills than things like…character development. The characters here are one-dimensional, and we as the audience aren’t really given a lot of time to know them before they all get killed off. The effects are shoddy, and the writing suffers as well (once we find out who the killer is, we’re not really sure what their motivations are). The production was clearly hampered by a low budget, but even with a higher one, Death Screams is only a must-see for people trying to watch as many slashers as they can.