Dead Scared (2004)

A teacher unlocks an ancient evil and uses his newfound powers to kill off his students one by one.

Director:

Rolfe Kanefsky

Writer:

Rolfe Kanefsky

Stars:

Brad Dourif, Brooke Burke, Nectar Rose

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brad Dourif	...	Professor Kapps
Brooke Burke	...	Jill
Nectar Rose	...	Delia
Philip Andrew	...	Doug
Tiffany Shepis	...	Marsha
Jeremy Maxwell	...	Roy
Parry Shen	...	Tim
David Tom	...	Jacob
Charmaine De Grate	...	Justine (as Charmaine DeGrate)
Jeff LeBeau	...	Doctor
Robert Donavan	...	Police Detective
Mary Rings	...	Nurse #1
E.P. McKnight	...	Nurse #2
Tess Hall	...	Mannequin Voice (voice)
Berry Thomas	...	Mr. Hackford

Storyline

The Evil Dead meets Scream as an evil professor, through an ancient staff and a book of incantation, possesses the bodies of a group of fraterity and sorority pledges during a night of "hazing" activities in an abandoned mansion. When the students meet one grisly death after another, the survivors finally realize it's the professor who is possessing their friends and killing them all off. Now none of them trust each other-- is it their friends or puppets of the professor that they're hanging with? Somone better figure it out quick... or none of them will make it through the hellish night of The Hazing!

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | sorority | hazing | book of magic | scavenger hunt | 

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Taglines:

Best friends are hard to keep... Alive.

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence/gore, language and some sexuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 July 2005 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Dead Scared

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Hazing LLC

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the characters first get their fancy dress costumes, there's a song playing in the background called "Little Blue Dogs" which is a spoof of the 1970s song "Little Green Bag" by George Baker Selection.

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Goofs

The cop at the hospital fires seven shots from a six-shooter.

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Quotes

Marsha Glazer: Delia, dead and buried is a condition that doesn't change... kind of like the space between your ears.

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Connections

References Psycho (1960)

User Reviews

Recommended-Gets a Lot Out of a Modest Budget

This surprisingly good low-budget Rolfe Kanefsky horror film is generally predictable but still manages 87 minutes of great fun and entertainment. I don't understand any of the negative comments as "The Hazing" would serve nicely as a "good" example for film students looking to get the maximum effect out of a tiny budget while avoiding the pitfalls of similar examples of the horror genre.

Taking much of its premise from "The Evil Dead" (including some actual references to Bruce Campbell), "The Hazing" slightly amps up "Evil Deads" subtle self-parodying style. Which means a slight increase in fun/humor and a slight decrease in suspense/horror. Not that there is anything wrong with that as Kanefsky manages this trade-off to the advantage of his more relaxed film. It should also appeal to fans of "Night of the Demons" and both versions of "The House on Haunted Hill".

The story involves the standard overage group of fraternity and sorority pledges forced to spend the night in a haunted house. Fortunately the atmospheric low lighting serves to generally hide the physical casting age issue.

A hint to the many clueless directors and cinematographers out there: note how Kanefsky recognized the damage that low lighting can do to his sexploitation elements. He has the female leads dress in a tight silver super-heroine costume and a white Playboy bunny outfit, which are thankfully visible even when the characters are standing in the shadows.

Brad Dourif (Billy from "One Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest") does a convincing job as one of their professors, a nut case who seeks to open the gates of hell. Nector Rose (Delia) gives a nice performance as a not-quite-the airhead-she-seems blonde sorority chick. Tiffany Shepis (Marsha) fills out the super-heroine costume quite nicely and appears to be having a lot of fun as a character who must alternate between being normal and being possessed by the professor. The rest of the cast is serviceable in undemanding roles.

Make-up and effects are not elaborate but are quite effective. Technical elements (production design, cinematography, and editing) are all first rate.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.