Now available on DVD
Cast:
Lauren Holly as Isla
Lance Hendricksen as Broderick
Todd Haberkorn as Otto
Marcelle Baer as Shayla
Leanne Cochran as Janie
Directed by Steven C. Miller
Review:
Hey lady, use your inside voice, alright?
One thing that becomes painfully obvious while watching Scream of the Banshee is that those of you with a low threshold for loud, obnoxious sounds need to either watch with closed captioning or turn your sound down wicked low.
Yeah, I’m also speaking to those that live in apartments or dorm rooms where pissing off your neighbors with a loud movie is considered a no-no. Because Scream of the Banshee lives up to its name in spades.
About every goddamn five or ten minutes, we get one über-loud screech after another. Sure, thatâs the whole point to the film but it gets damn annoying after the first or second time. Luckily, as the film drags on (drags being the key word) these shrieks get fewer in number but every time it happens it still is as annoying as the first time.
A very weathered looking Lauren Holly stars as Dr. Isla Whelan, an archeology professor examining old sh** at a nameless university because thatâs what those type do. While going about their daily activities Whelan and her student team uncover a box. But not an ordinary box mind you but a box containing the head of an 800 year old monster. So, what do you do when you find a strange monster head hidden behind a wall in your lab? You f*** with it.
Bad move because as soon as they do it gives off one of those said annoying screeches and then explodes. Now, the interesting thing here is that no one cares that it just made an ear bleeding scream but that it exploded.
Of course, once you hear the bansheeâs scream you are targeted then for torment and death. Why? Hell, why ask why, just assume thatâs the way it is. There doesnât seem to be any method to the madness or the killings so the film just assumes we donât care and moves along.
The other strange thing is there seems to be two banshees: One thatâs a womanly figure that seems to appear at times and the other more of a monster type banshee that resembles the head that was in the box. Why are there two banshees? Hell, why ask why, just assume thatâs the way it is. Again, the film doesnât care to answer such an important question so we, the dumb audience, must not care to ask.
Anyway, after much ear bleeding, some people say the long goodbye, others run around doing nothing and Holly seems to wonder why her career has fallen to such a new low. Oh yeah and Lance Henriksen is in it as some insane archeologist thatâs been trying to uncover the box with the banshee head because heâs batsh** loony tunes.
While Henriksen never seems to shy away from a paycheck, this one really just misuses him at every possible opportunity. Instead of being in the actual movie for a good part of the time, heâs regulated to being on the Internet for 75 minutes until he makes his grand appearance at the end.
Needless to say this isnât a winner by any means. Plus, we also get perhaps the worst representation of an Xbox 360 game in the history of modern cinema (Idaho Commander you damn cheater!), bad slow motion action shots where the stunt person is clearly visible, the cliché conflict between rebelling daughter and disappointed mother, horrible sound editing where a song just cuts off inexplicably only to have the same song start up in the next scene, having sex after having your ears bleed profusely and not showering, a naked banshee, gratuitous and nonsensical gallons of blood covering a hot chick and a loaded shotgun on the fireplace mantel.
The good news? While this was originally shown on the SyFy Channel as part of its horror film originals block, Banshee on DVD is offered with a firm R rating with amped up blood and guts offered up that was more than likely removed from the SyFy cut. The bad news is that it still sucks.
