Screambook

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🎙️ EPISODE 653: 02.27.23 This is a homemade VHS horror anthology made by children. I'm not 100% sure how it ever got on my radar, but I believe I was alerted to it by the ultra-rare genre blog, Bleeding Skull (which I highly recommend). Screambook, written and directed by Joe Zaso who would go on to become a cult sensation as a low budget "horror himbo" actor, takes its cues directly from 1982's Creepshow, right down to the "comic book come to life" framing device. This is definitely a considered labor of love if not a glorified home movie. If you can get past the medium/quality (and the sometimes impossible to discern audio quality), you'll likely be enthralled if not simply charmed by its DIY aesthetic. Made with family and friends on Long Island with a zero-dollar budget, it certainly charmed the hell out of me (the accents are phenomenal).

It is, of course, beyond terrible for the most part: the acting, the editing, everything. But it remains incredibly lovable by the very fact that it exists. You can't manufacture love and adoration like this even on a billion-dollar budget. And still, as it progresses, the lo-fi nature seems to slip to away and you start to notice some actually good elements: the original soundtrack — produced by someone named Timothy Frey (is this the same guy?) — made on a Korg Mono/Poly synth and piano, is LEGIT great, and there are a few filmmaking tricks — like the crosscut from comic teddybear to real one (see below — from "TOY IN THE WINDOW") — that aren't half bad either. There's five short films here and I've briefly broken down what the plot of each might be below, as well as shared a gif from each so you can get a sense of the visual style. Enjoy...

FAMILY REUNION

A journalist visits a rich family who have inherited their wealth from a deceased relative named Eleanor. Then Eleanor comes back as a zombie and starts killing them at the family reunion.

TOMMY

Tommy is a bad student and maybe his teacher kept him in a box for 15 years? Anyway, a deranged muppet emerges and the teacher kills it with an ax to the head.

THE SECRET OF THE BOTTLE

I'll be honest, didn't have a clue what was happening here. A guy drinks a poison bottle of scotch and turns into a mutant and then is shot by a child? Sure.

TOY IN THE WINDOW


A terrible guy owns a toy store and is mean to all of his employees and then puts a new toy in the window which scares everyone and comes alive and starts killing.

WORMS!!

A mean teacher gets, umm, WORMS!! (AKA a combination of cooked spaghetti and actual real live worms). I don't know. Who cares. It's great!!

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 652B - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 654 ⫸

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Screambook is a 1984 American horror anthology made of video during the teen years of future Horror Himbo, Joe Zaso, in New Hyde Park, NY. It was released on October 31, 1984.