![]() 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 | 🎙️ 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
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZoYbYzzUPdxnl1vCWdH_1eOV-Mx-z89o1ZEYaodQ48trYmyGNw2Bj_zaoEqCrHm2b9LYGrsMBgBTmFc4w9goZQjCwgNdsHw1amIfA4an_RV7bULLDzE3ORzlMnHhDtxYNxPfsud50buoXNEyzcyJD8e-a22Co5aH-Govj9v_KTbtVZknC2pmyb5aC/s600/1.gif)
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
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihWhz0UaDyh3WdY5JBsf9mHDK10WQgGd24cjbWjCHqSI0dvhlke2wRXyWn9jA6QJQDx6nnLA5FAhuz6SJX46N79UG_kbqjJfibCyAAuxTVqbA3F1_hViWgPDU-KdV5uL-q_ckrsWkp_pYK9JIiurUPGRi48dz9DruifMtgRQ1g4aK3pppkQBA_0CAY/s600/2.gif)
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
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7K9MLbkJSTLUeDvEX2HIFhuHCq4Hq0ZSVpMPzPlR2fT113heWDNQF9sOZMbJaqcxb1ciBUgyworMivBmeGVLIeaInMGH13XNfp2SpkgPZEKJyTkxocmuioTfGSRmGrLTQ0M2T48NSbVH-I_abeDUCqHAJdcp3ZRaiOX7mQVGjxZTm-vxVPB6HlRrd/s600/3.gif)
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
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_0KwFAo-NUt5FcjAcdp2r4AHiJscsDtux5wVTw5yslW99vly1gZc9D2NAGqRq59DeRNIGBDNWpz8xe7aC6AA_hrlMz5284eM-40XxjGYZRwae_R2I3f4fihBizphE2Cji090UMo9-3pihIivc-Ltu_lir6tgI1qS2C8TfVwyhAH47mawF6RMSQ0H/s600/4a.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Hq3J4P_IOBQUnsXjQZeaxLj4DjIAwJVReTjg1DW4YE_bzqgp-Y0YrmptJ9KBXjcopGrbLntLsaiYnhGaPruzwsuKHSkW2siA50V7w5YP-54uO2l8JCubxzatTAHUcSpzggo2tldfkrpmTosB7_op-hrx4gcz2IFJZLcckMKYovJmVFiXJTXz0i1K/s600/4b.gif)
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!!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQj2ax_psFB6l4YPL5oXxw_whmdidq-IYZ2b1fmIfyL22SaRjuTABMr5O0cwe8-w48tOMhNiR-bNxAyouN5WCedZE-BZ22QjRPUc5KlCPz9EW0vvLMDknCR01aLwRHOQ-XkCXaaYk81flQS_duCLIY6lKppbcc_-BeKln-nfRBJgD6RD-pmuMre6D/s320/5.gif)
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!!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdF48VbVoo0dPH3d4nSecjNq0hOO2lxu-CCUDg6OI0DKw21l6rPLaEu3XU6zGF9hj62Ne4SZL8h0VTX0wQ0XtDVTyIX8D8xmq8Zn5xtLq0Pp3RwPVny-sOkTMyrOqoLddr8KU1d1aY6Aag5yvUI3QSCvsH-x0A8FEE_by1mZPPP0OHwPfVeuITTmtY/s1600/end.gif)
CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 652B - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 654 ⫸
⫷ EPISODE 652B - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 654 ⫸
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.
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