Scream of the Banshee (TV 2011)

An archeology professor unearths a dangerous artifact, unwittingly releasing a creature that is able to kill with the power of its bone-splitting scream.

Director:

Steven C. Miller

Writers:

Anthony C. Ferrante, Anthony C. Ferrante (story),

Stars:

Eric F. Adams, Marcelle Baer, Edrick Browne

Cast

Credited cast:
Eric F. Adams	...	Samuel Page
Marcelle Baer	...	Shayla Whelan
Edrick Browne	...	Officer Sioux
Leanne Cochran	...	Janie
Thomas C. Daniel	...	Young Duncan
Todd Haberkorn	...	Otto
Lance Henriksen	...	Broderick Duncan
Garrett Hines	...	Kurtis
Lauren Holly	...	Professor Isla Whelan
Kayden Kessler	...	Jenko Rodriguez
Don Lincoln	...	Detective
Kim Ormiston	...	The Banshee / Woman in the Red Cape
Misty Ormiston	...	Old Hag - Banshee

Storyline

In 1188 A.D., in Limerick, Ireland, Templar Knights chase a creature through the woods and trap her head in a box. In the present day Professor Isla Whelan and her two assistants are researching and labeling historical artifacts in the basement of the university where she works and they find an Irish glove and map with the name Duncan. Isla's estranged daughter Shayla Whelan finds a hidden space behind a wall with a box with the severed head, but they believe that it belongs to deformed person or an animal. Out of the blue, the head screams and they all bleed through the ears. They learn soon that the head is from a Banshee and in accordance with the mythology they are doomed to die. Their only hope is to find the lunatic and discredited Professor Broderick Duncan, whose expertise is in the feminine spirit in Irish mythology.

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Plot Keywords:

knight | banshee | camera | sex scene | red cape | 

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Taglines:

She hasn't been out for a thousand years.

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody horror violence and brief sexual content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Serbian

Release Date:

26 March 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

I kravgi tou thanatou

Company Credits

Production Co:

After Dark Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Duncan answers the Iphone in the mansion, the voice from the professor sounds as if she is just right next to him.

User Reviews

Scream if you wanna go faster . . . . . . . to your death.

The SyFy channel may be symptomatic of all that is wrong with the movie world, and the world in general. Changing the name from The Sci-Fi Channel was the first big worry. Were people mispronouncing that common abbreviation of science fiction and calling it "The Skiffy Channel"? And then we have their original movies. Most of them are, like this one, complete rubbish and all are edited around ad breaks (or so it would seem). Maybe I'm getting far too worked up about this but a movie like Scream Of The Banshee tends to put you in a bad mood.

Things start with something we can safely assume to be a banshee being caught in a metal box by an olde worlde knight. Moving forward many years to the present day, we catch up with a professor (Lauren Holly) and her team of staff archiving numerous artifacts. And, gee whizz, they find the box. And open it. To find a head. It's not just any head though, oh no. One scream later and those involved have to figure out what's going on. Once you have heard the scream of the banshee you are due to die. But it must make you scream before it can really seal your fate.

I would say "how the mighty have fallen" but, let's face it, Lauren Holly was never at the top of the Hollywood tree. It's still quite sad to see her trying to bravely make her way through low-grade schlock like this though. After all, this woman was in both Dumb & Dumber and the highly enjoyable Turbulence. Lance Henriksen is on screen for about ten minutes and, although he has turned up in many poor movies, his involvement signals quite a drop from the great roles he once played. The rest of the cast are nondescript and of little talent, though Todd Haberkorn is quite good and Marcelle Baer has some appealing quality even if her character is poorly developed and written.

The script was written by Anthony C. Ferrante (developed by a story co-created with Jacob Hair) and it doesn't look as if Mr. Ferrante will be getting any awards for his contribution to the world of screen writing any time in the near future. The only decent idea in the whole thing is taken from Dead Silence, the rest is unenjoyable hokum.

Steven C. Miller directs with a lack of style, tension or interest in keeping things entertaining. The whole thing plods along tediously and without any atmosphere or even logic. I'll grudgingly admit that there are one or two fleeting moments that mix good effects with something that almost provides a fright, but not quite. Frustratingly bad, this showcases the worst of modern horror movies and deserves to be immediately consigned to the bargain bins.