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, David Moses

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Stinson	...	Ted Lonergan
Diana Davidson	...	Jennifer Stanton
David Moses	...	Detective Lou Capell (as Jonathan 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	...	Police Lab Man (as John Moskal Jr.)

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:

female frontal nudity | voyeur | candle | slasher | murder | 

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Taglines:

You haven't really been scared until you've been... [Scared to Death]

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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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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Alternate Versions

A TV print that aired on USA Network included a scene not included on Media's VHS: a group of teens searching for their lost friend in a parking garage find her body hanging upside down much like a scene in Halloween (1978).

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Connections

Featured in Working with a Master: William Malone (2006)

User Reviews

Surely they meant "BORED to Death"?

Cheesy & low-budgeted 80's monster movies form a truly peculiar cinema breed. A small selection of them is so bad they become good again (or at least very amusing), but most of them are so bad they're just plain awful, period. "Scared to Death" represents a category on its own, namely the absolute worst of the worst. Besides being badly written, poorly acted, weakly directed and cheesy, this film is also unimaginably boring! Horror fans, myself included - are generally quite tolerant when it comes to 80's junk, but one thing nobody can stand is a mixture of cheese and boredom. The building up towards the killings takes far too long (up to seven minutes even) and when the creature finally strikes, we see absolutely nothing and the action promptly swifts to another scene. What's that all about? The story is also pretty non-existent and incoherent as hell. It's some kind of earthbound "Alien" rip-off, with a murderous monster dwelling around the sewers and occasionally perpetrating a lonely woman's house or car in order to kill her. One incompetent cop and one pathetic ex-cop slowly (better make that VERY slowly) discover the creature is a genetic experiment that went a little awry and got dumped in the sewers by its creators. They call it a Syngenor, which stand for Synthetic Genetic Organism, and apparently it has a large appetite and a preference for young chicks on roller blades. The sub plot about the ex-cop's beautiful romance with a lady whose car he accidentally hit is totally irrelevant and dreadful. There isn't the slightest bit of suspense or any attempt to create an atmosphere; all the potentially interesting sequences are dimly lit and when we finally catch a decent glimpse of the monster it looks like a poor imitation of "Alien". The cast members are a bunch of untalented nobodies and William Malone's direction is weak and uninspired. William Malone? Wasn't he also responsible for the more recent but equally stinking pile of garbage "Feardotcom"? Twenty years later and still a lousy director, practice doesn't always makes perfect. However, his other cheesy & low-budgeted 80's monster movie "Creature" (starring Klaus Kinski!) does qualify as so bad it's good!