Screamwalkers review
Take three parts Scream teen horror and one part Sleepwalkers, process the mixture through a DTV filming and editing process. Then pour in a gallon of cheese, add equal doses of hilarious and creative uses of low-budget SPX, and a cup of cringe. Give it a weird ending, and voilà! You end up with Screamwalkers! The title is a portmanteau of Scream and Sleepwalkers – Scream being the classic teen slasher franchise that is still producing today, and Sleepwalkers referring to the movie of the same name released in 1992 and written by Stephen King.
All this sounded absolutely amazing to a retro-gore-hound like myself. But does it live up to the promised nostalgia and hype? You can see for yourself, because we will give you a no-spoilers review followed by the link to watch the film for FREE!
Plot
Marblehead’s murder rate is growing, and student CJ Wyatt finds herself in the very middle of these strange and gruesome killings. Grieving over the death of her boyfriend, the latest victim of the cruel killer, CJ discovers that each of her friends’ killings brings the monster one step closer to her. She must uncover the horrific truth about the Screamwalkers before she becomes the latest – and most important – victim!
Screamwalkers Review
Screamwalkers kicks off with a goofy chase scene – a feline twist on the iconic Ghostface character is seen pursuing a young woman through the woods, wielding a bizarre sharpened hand cultivator. Then she slips in the mud and meets her demise (oh, the shock!). The very first scene already sets the tone for what’s to come – a cheesy, fun B-movie.
By far, the movie is more a parody of the Scream franchise than of Sleepwalkers. There is a more overt focus on teen life and issues throughout the film, yet you will most likely see references to Sleepwalkers in hindsight – well, at least I did. With regards to the narrative as a whole, it is pretty straightforward – it’s your typical slasher.
Despite the low budget, I really enjoyed the special effects. In particular, the lighting in this movie reminds me of that used to emulate comic-book art in Creepshow (1982). Through both the gory bits and the ‘stunts’, SPX are realised creatively and with hilarity in equal measure.
In contrast, however, a lot of the intentional humor did not land – at least a couple of moments were embarrassing to watch. The acting in Screamwalkers is very typical of a direct-to-video B-movie. Whilst not particularly bad, the acting could have benefited from some improvement to make it more believable.
Screamwalkers is enjoyable overall. It’s a nostalgic and fun creative endeavor that fans of bleedingskull.com or horror from the ’90s in general will enjoy. I look forward to any new projects that Sean Q King and Will Puntarich will be working on in the future!
Where can I watch Screamwalkers (2024) online for free?
The makers of Screamwalkers have released the film online to watch for free on on fawesome.com . You can also find the rest of their social media presence and shops through their linktree. I earn no commission from sharing these links.
