Tags:
Film: Scream of the Blind Dead
Year: 2021
Director: Chris Alexander
Writer: Chris Alexander
Starring: Ali Chappell, Stephanie Delorme and Thea Munster
Review:
This is a short that I got the chance to check out thanks to Laura from Scandal Coactive. The title caught my attention as my father picked up the VHS double feature for Tombs of the Blind Dead and Return of the Blind Dead. My sister and I would watch both regularly. Now I knew this wasn't part of that series before watching this but was inspired by it. That made me curious to see what we'd get here.
Synopsis: Virginia (Stephanie Delorme) wanders a deserted, haunted landscape and wakes up the ghost of an ancient and bloodthirsty blind female knight. As the wraith relentlessly pursues her prey, the truth about Virginia's dark past is revealed.
Now for this short, we start with Betty (Ali Chappell) fleeing from something through a field. We see that it is the blind knight, played by Thea Munster, who looks like a Knights Templar.
That's we get what get from the synopsis. Virginia wakes up on a train. She gets off and goes exploring nearby ruins. There is a church as well as an archive below. During her search, she awakens the blind knight and it gives chase. We see that this could just be a representation of her guilt for what she did with a former lover and something else within the church.
That should be enough fleshing out the synopsis and introducing the characters. This is a short that runs 40 minutes long. I do have an issue here that I'll get back to. What I like though is that even without looking things up, I knew that writer/director Alexander was a fan of Tombs of the Blind Dead. Our two lead characters are named for two of the women characters in the original. There's another aspect here as well because Virginia jumped from the train in the older movie. In a flashback, she kissed Betty and she's upset when her friend doesn't seem to share the same feelings. Things are different here while still using the same theme.
Before I delve more into the theme, the issue I brought up was that this is so close to being a feature. I think this would be helped by going just a bit farther to get there. I was confused so a bit more in the beginning would shore that up. This is an arthouse short. There are things here with surrealism and dreams. We are explaining things without dialogue. That is all good. I just think explaining Betty and why we started there. Then just a bit more set up with Virginia and I think this works better overall.
Then let's get to something that is underneath the surface here. If you've seen the original, then you know Virginia is in love with Betty. This love causes her to jump from the train and check out the ruins. We get a variation on this where a train is stopped, there's no one around so Virginia investigates the ruins. Now this, we see a similar flashbacks to Virginia with a lover. This lover is played by Munster as well. Virginia also does an act in the church that would be considered blasphemous. I get the idea that this is a dream, Virginia feels guilty about her feelings and engaging in lesbianism as well as what she did in the flasback. It is an interesting message to explore.
Sticking with the surreal feel, this is well-made. The cinematography is good to capture the vibe that this could all be a dream. I like the look of the blind knight. I thought it was played by a woman and had to confirm with the cast list. It looks like the original take which is good. There is a bit of blood and effects here. Those are fine. I did think that the soundtrack was creepy to help build a good atmosphere. An issue I'll bring up again is that this should be extended to be feature length in my opinion.
All that is left then is the acting. Chappell is fine in limited role. Delorme was good as well. She is attractive. What she needs to do is investigate. We do see her topless if that is something you're interested in. I'd also credit Munster as both the blind knight and the lover. It is her performance that made pieces fall in line for me which I appreciate.
I’ve also now given this a second watch with the director’s commentary on. He had interesting insight about the locations that were selected. This was all done outside of Toronto where they had these large grass areas. The ruins are also an old mill or something along those lines. It doesn’t necessarily fit with Spain, which inspired this, but it works for me. I also like hearing more into behind the scenes things. I’ve help make shorts in the past and feature films, so that is fun to learn about.
In conclusion, this is a solid short. I love that writer/director Alexander was inspired by movies I loved growing up. Doing an arthouse/surreal take was good. I think this is well-made from the cinematography to the soundtrack. A major gripe is that this is a short and not adding just a bit more to make this a feature since that would supply the missing piece. With how it is, it is a bit pretentious with what they do and the message is conveying. I still enjoyed my time here well enough. I'd recommend this to the horror/arthouse crowd who likes surreal things.
My Rating: 6 out of 10