The Screaming (1999)

The Screaming a.k.a. Scream Again (1999) 

Executive produced by David Sterling
Produced by Jeff Leroy, Vinnie Bilancio, & David Sterling
Special effects & miniatures by Jeff Leroy
Written & directed by Jeff Leroy

The Screaming a.k.a. Scream Again is a 1999 shot on video film written & directed by Jeff Leroy ( Hell's Highway, Crack, and Creepies ).

Bob Martin ( Vinnie Bilancio ), a college student rents an apartment from a mysterious woman named Crystal ( Wendi Winburn ), who is a devout member of the religion, Crystalology.  She begins to prosthelytize the virtues of Crystalnetics, the set of  beliefs and ideas set forth by founder R. R. Deepak.  The peculiar woman tries to persuade the erudite man to join their bizarre church.  At first Bob resists, and then, somewhat reluctantly, gives in due to his attraction to Crystal.  Maintaining his skepticism, he is pulled deeper into a world of human sacrifices, an ancient cult, and worship of  a devilish being from outer space.  Who is this prophet R. R. Deepak?  What is the truth about this strange cult?  Why is there a detective from Germany interested in this group? And who is Crystal really?

This film is written and directed by the great Jeff Leroy, who is also responsible for the writing  / directing duties on the amazing Hell's Highway (2002), Psychon Invaders (2006), and Grave Vengeance a.k.a. Hunting Season (2000) ( co-written with the wonderful  Tim Sullivan & Ron Ford).
In addition to this, he has done cinematography on other micro budget classics, such as Dead Time Tales a.k.a. Things 3 (1998), Camp Blood (1999 / 2000), and The Zombie Chronicles (2001).  He also has done editing on several other films such as Hollywood Mortuary (1998), The Coven (2002), and Lord Of The Vampires (2002).  His photography is always artful, filled with interesting shot compositions, and frequently beautiful colored lighting.

The leitmotif of The Screaming is individualism versus collectivism.  It explores the idea of grooming and / or brainwashing someone to think, and behave, as the group does.  This is clearly demonstrated in various scenes throughout the picture.  The scene in which we are introduced to both the character of Bob and Crystal towards the beginning of the film, starts off, as the tenant ( Bob ) and the landlord (Crystal) are discussing the stipulations of renting the apartment, and then, quickly becomes predator observing potential prey. For several moments, in this scene, the graduate student seems to be in an hypnotic trance, as the property owner talks things over with him.  During the course of the conversation, Bob notices a copy of Crystalnetics by R.R. Deepak, perched on his front window sill, in between shutter and window.  He walks over, and picks up the volume, and says, "Hey, what's this?".  Crystal quickly responds, " Compliments of the house".  She then, begins to expound on the benefits of Deepak's method.  Bob politely let's her know he isn't interested, and suggests she give it to someone else.  Crystal's friendly demeanor becomes visibly irritated by the man's resistance to her perceived savior's ideas, and she storms out of the apartment, attempting to make Bob feel 'guilty' for his refusal to accept her cult's ideas.

The next day, a telephone installer shows up at the apartment, a sort of  'wearing down' process on Bob's psyche begins, a systematic process of attempting to groom him to make the group's ideas more palatable.  Making comments such as, "So, you're writing about ancient men, apes, and stuff, eh?", the telephone repairmen plants the first seed, aiming to mock Bob's thesis, in an attempt to make him question his own beliefs / thoughts about how the world operates. A strange device is also placed on the phone jack to further control this ' non believing outsider '.

Eventually, Crystal persuades Bob to join her in exercising, a combination of jogging and calisthenics.  As their work out sessions progress, it becomes clear that exercise is being used to cause both physical and mental fatigue, in order to further push Bob towards a more susceptible state for conversion.

Ultimately, hypnosis is used, tying in the other themes of suggestion, and the unconscious mind in a scene where Bob is conversing with both Crystal, and friend / fellow cult member named Manny.
During the course of the conversation, Manny tells Bob that she can cure his smoking habit.  She states, " The reason you smoke is deep in your aggressive mind.", and that by " probing the aggressive mind", she can, "uncover his angram".  Using a swinging pocket watch, Manny puts Bob into a hypnotic state.  In another sequence later in the film, Bob is, once again, conversing with Crystal and Manny about this concept of the aggressive mind purported by R. R. Deepak.  Bob likens the concept to Sigmund Freud's theory of nuerosis.  Manny says, "You see a cleanser can probe the subconscious mind, and remove the angram. Once the angram is removed, you're cleared".  To which, Bob replies, "It's kind of like poker, the person with no cards, wins", and he further states, "Sounds like psychotherapy to me, only more expensive."

Another scene, earlier in the picture, which exemplifies the themes of suggestion and the unconscious mind is, where Bob is in his dark, isolated apartment talking into a tape recorder, getting his thoughts down in order to write his thesis.  He makes statements such as, "It is my theory that this is just some deep rooted primitive impulse we inherited from animals"., as the scene cuts back and forth from him to Crystal taking a shower, and getting ready, perhaps to go on a date. The way this scene plays out seems to suggest a sort of hypnotic induction that Crystal implemented on Bob, in the aforementioned scene, where they first met.

The Screaming is essentially a commentary on the dangers of fundamentalist thought, specifically in regards to the Church Of Scientology, but one could just as easily substitute L. Ron Hubbard's invention with any number of collectivist institutions i.e. other religions, political affiliations, society, etc.

 

This picture is filled with amazing lighting and shot compositions. The lighting scheme is noirish / expressionistic with deep shadows are etched across walls, while faces are framed in a mixture of light and shadow.  A lot of red lighting is artfully implemented, as well.  Director Jeff Leroy's camera shots are equally inventive, framed with the eye of a true artist.

  

The gore effects, also done by Mr. Leroy, were excellent, as were the miniature / creature effects.  Without giving away to much, there were definitely some aspects that reminded me of the late, great Ray Harryhausen.  The music  by fellow filmmaker Jay Woelfel was very effective, and evoked an eerie, almost otherworldly atmosphere.  I really enjoyed this little microbudget allegory.  That's just my opinion.  Your's may differ.