Scared to Death (1980)

An ex-cop, now working as a hack novelist, is called out of retirement to help investigate a string of deaths that appear to be the work of a serial killer but soon are revealed to be the ... See full summary »

Director:

William Malone

Writers:

William Malone, Robert Short (story),

Stars:

John Stinson, Diana Davidson, Jonathan David Moses

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Stinson	...	Ted Lonergan
Diana Davidson	...	Jennifer Stanton
Jonathan David Moses	...	Detective Lou Capell (as Jonathan David Moses, David Moses)
Toni Jannotta	...	Sherry Carpenter
Walker Edmiston	...	Police Chief Dennis Warren
Pamela Bowman	...	Janie Richter
Mike Muscat	...	Howard Tindall (as Michael Muscat)
Freddie Dawson	...	Virgil Watson
Tracy Weddle	...	Kathy Sperry
Joleen Porcaro	...	Kelly - Victim #5
David Daniels	...	Michael, roller skater (as Joseph Daniels)
Stephen Fanning	...	Scott, roller skater
Greer Justin	...	Sandy, rollerskater
Johnny Crear	...	Victor Colter
John Moskal Jr.	...	Police Lab Man

Storyline

An ex-cop, now working as a hack novelist, is called out of retirement to help investigate a string of deaths that appear to be the work of a serial killer but soon are revealed to be the work of the Syngenor - the synthesized genetic organism!

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Plot Keywords:

murder | genetic engineering | serial killer | ex cop | sewer system | 

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Taglines:

Victims of the Killer Kiss, they were . . .

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Horror | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

March 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Scared to Death: Syngenor

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$74,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Malone Productions Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lone Star Pictures, a Texas based company, picked up distribution of the film and wanted the premier to be in Texas. Director William Malone agreed and flew to Texas only to be shocked that the premier was actually at a Drive-in theater.

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Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)

User Reviews

Cool humanoid creature and... uhm, that's about it.

William Malone didn't exactly deliver a good movie here. Far from, actually, but heck, it was his first one. Still, you'll have to tolerate some atrocious 'chop-chop' editing, some bad acting and a plot way too basic for its own good. All the events in this film move at the pace of a snail that's stuck in the mud. The whole story is played by the book, and it's one with not many pages in it (just enough to write down the premise: a murderous creature is loose in the city and two people must stop it). Surprisingly, things do remain watchable most of the time, somehow. The creature design is pretty cool, but also nothing more than a man in a rubber suit. A bit of full frontal female nudity during the opening-scene and a lack of gore throughout the entire film is what we get. But my guess is that it's still worth a watch for lovers of obscure creature features (honestly, I myself didn't mind watching it). "Scared To Death" always seemed to me a bit of a stupid, unsuitable title for this kind of film though. Given the place where the creature resides, why not dub it... "The Sewer Dweller"? Malone's first outing even got some sort of a semi-(un)official sequel nine years later, called "Syngenor" (1990). Would have been much easier if they had called that one "Syngenor 2" and this one simply "Syngenor". Aw, what the hell am I talking about.