Easily the weakest of MVD's recent horror re-releases, 1989's Scream Dream is campy yet never funny, a horror film that's never really scary and, even worse, makes an absolutely dreadful transfer to its new DVD format.

In the film, a heavy metal singer named Michelle Shocked (I'm amazed the real Michelle Shocked never protested) played by Carol Carr is surrounded by rumors that she's a devil worshipping nutzoid with even more rumors of disappearing fans at her shows. When her manager gets tired of dealing with the media's outrage, Shocked is replaced by Jamie Summers (Melissa Moore), a sexy blonde with a strong voice and not nearly as much ego. When the band goes to Shocked's place to let her know they had nothing to do with her firing, they learn that the devilish rumors are actually true and, before long, Shocked ends up in possession of Jamie's body and going whup ass on everyone who has wronged her.

Could this be fun?

Absolutely.

Is it? Not really.

The acting here is, as expected, across the board awful yet what really disappoints is a B-movie that never really commits to being a B-movie. Writer/Director Donald Farmer has done tons of fine B-movie flicks including 2008's Chainsaw Cheerleaders, however, this film features weak and stilted dialogue, unconvincing horror and extremely poor editing. While virtually any true B-movie can survive tech deficiencies, Scream Dream can't fall back on the non-existent thrills and chills.

While I'm thrilled to see MVD giving new life to old horror, Scream Dream is one for only the most hardcore fans of Melissa Moore or Donald Farmer.

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic