Director – Sean King (The Ghouligans! Super Show!, Hunter’s Moon)
Starring – Elizabeth Davoli (In America, To Be the Best), Sasha Graham (Trivial, Side Effects May Vary), and Julia DeVita (Distant Things)
Release Date – 2024
Rating – 4/5
Many years ago now I befriended filmmaker Sean King when I came across a post of his for his series The Ghouligans. I spoke with him some and he was kind enough to send over a few discs with several episodes on them. I immediately fell in love with them and I’ve been fortunate to add most of their releases to my collection over the years. Since then I’ve kept an eye on his project on social media so I can stay in the loop.
Sometime back he started posting about his newest horror comedy Screamwalkers. I wanted to contribute to the crowdfunding campaign at the time but money was a little too tight for me to do so. However, I quickly snagged a copy when I saw that it was now available and up to order.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a young girl in a small college town sometime after her boyfriend was brutally murdered. When another murder happens nearby she connects with a young man who lost his pregnant girlfriend during the murders. The two become close but as more murders occur and they both become prime suspects. That is until one of the detectives assigned to the case comes face to face with the killer donning a cat mask. Now they must uncover the secret behind the new string of killings and how they are connected to the one’s from the young woman’s past. **Spoiler Alert**
I knew Screamwalkerss was going to be a parody flick but I didn’t realize how many films it would actually parody. It was a lot of fun and offered up some clever humor without going overboard similar to films like Scary Movie.
The acting in this one was funny when it was meant to be and solid during the more important scenes. The film is obviously not to meant to be taken seriously and the acting is pretty campy throughout most of it. Fans of Chris Seaver and Troma will know exactly what I mean by that. The story for this one pays homage/parodies so many iconic horror franchises. The first is the obvious Scream nod. then we have Monster Squad, Sleepwalkers, and a few more that are alluding me at the moment. It’s obvious King is a genre fan with a wonderful sense of humor and used that to his advantage to make a Scream parody without it feeling like another Scary Movie.
Finally, the film has a surprising amount of gore that looks very well done. I wasn’t expecting that much of a throw back to 80s carnage with this one but the kills are violent and look absolutely great. Overall, Screamwalkers is the 90’s S.O.V. Scream parody that you didn’t know you needed in your life. While it’s not perfect, it more than makes up for it’s shortcomings with humor and gore. I highly recommend it.
