Screamplay (1985)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Rufus Butler Seder

Writers:

Ed Greenberg (writer)
Rufus Butler Seder (writer)

Release Date:

November 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A detective investigating a series of murders discovers that they are similar to the murders that occur in the new script of a Hollywood screenwriter.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Hollywood | Rock Star | Imagination | Actress

Cast

Rufus Butler Seder	...	Edgar Allan (as Rufus B. Seder)
Eugene Seder	...	Al Weiner
Cheryl Hirshman	...	Harriet Weiner
James McCann	...	Sonny Weiner
Clif Sears	...	Bus Driver
Johanna Wagner	...	Coffee Shop Waitress
Lonny McDougall	...	Transvestite
George Kuchar	...	Martin
Basil J. Bova	...	Tony Cassano
George Cordeiro	...	Sergeant Joe Blatz
Ed Callahan	...	Keven Kleindorf
M. Lynda Robinson	...	Nina Ray
Katy Bolger	...	Holly
Bob White	...	Lot
Jim Connor	...	Nicky Blair

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Movie Connections:

Features Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920)

Tribute to the surreal theater style of early German expressionist films

Sort of a "Sunset Boulevard" plot meets "Cabinet and Dr. Caligari". It works best with the stiff silent-film or expressionist acting, and the reusing of old-time "special effects" (such as scratches on the film to represent rain, or peculiar use of rear-screen projection to suggest depth). Gets a little slow in the middle but it's worth it to the hear the LAST LINE for the worlds worst/best pun, which sort of suggests the whole film was designed just for that. We gave it a standing ovation at the Brattle in Harvard square (the filmmaker lived in Brookline). This film was released on video by TROMA in 1999, but thank god is not like a Troma film.