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The Bloody Disgusting-powered SCREAMBOX is home to a variety of unique horror content, from originals and exclusives to cult classics and documentaries. With such a rapidly-growing library, there are many hidden gems waiting to be discovered.
Here are five recommendations you can stream on SCREAMBOX right now.
Pool Party Massacre
Summer is well underway, and if you’ve already exhausted all the seasonal classics, Pool Party Massacre can fill the void with a comedic send-up to ’80s slashers like Slumber Party Massacre and Sleepaway Camp (both also on SCREAMBOX). Written and directed by Drew Marvick, the 2017 low-budget indie embraces the era with 80 minutes of over-the-top characters, campy performances, and cheesy practical effects.
The titular party isn’t very festive; it’s more like a small gathering of vapid, Real Housewives rejects that barely tolerate one another while lounging by the pool. One by one, a character excuses themselves — including, in one instance, to masturbate — and is attacked by an unseen killer using various tools, from a hammer in the jaw to a power drill through the back. The film is at its funniest and most engaging in the last 10 minutes following the killer reveal, but seeing obnoxious brats meet their doom along the way is enjoyable as well.
Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies
Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies is a much-watch for fans of House of 1000 Corpses, as it feels like Karen Black’s Mama Firefly audition tape. She plays the titular matriarch of a house of horrors, complete with a Southern accent and eccentric mannerisms. Told from the point-of-view of the Satan-worshiping antagonists, the 1992 horror-comedy will also satisfy viewers’ hunger for kooky cannibalism in the vein of Motel Hell, Blood Diner, Sweeney Todd, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Like sirens to sailors, Auntie Lee’s four scantily clad nieces lure horny men to the slaughter for the family business: meat pies. It’s a concept horror fans have seen dozens of variations on, but each time the film seems to be leaning too hard into tropes, it swerves in a wildly unpredictable direction. It’s not as sleazy as you’d expect from adult filmmaker Joseph F. Robertson (Debbie Does Dallas III). That’s not to say it’s chaste, but it’s not a softcore flick masquerading as horror.
Horror icon Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) delivers a great performance as Lee’s feeble-minded brother/manservant, toeing the line between funny and tragic, while The Karate Kid‘s Pat Morita has a ball as the flirtatious police chief with a southern drawl. Lee’s nieces are portrayed by Playboy Playmates Kristine Rose (Demonic Toys), Ava Fabian, Teri Weigel (Predator 2), and Pia Reyes (Return of the Living Dead 3). Broad performances across the board lend themselves to the goofy fun.
Nomads
Without Nomads, we wouldn’t have one of the greatest three-film runs in action cinema history. Although the 1986 horror movie was poorly received critically, Arnold Schwarzenegger was so impressed by the tense atmosphere that first-time writer-director John McTiernan pulled off on a low budget that he handpicked him to helm Predator, which McTiernan would follow up with Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October.
Future James Bond Pierce Brosnan brandishes a questionable French accent as anthropologist Jean-Charles Pommier, whose memories possess Dr. Eileen Flax (Lesley-Anne Down, The Pink Panther Strikes Again) upon his death. Flax relives the mysterious final days of Pommier’s life, in which he becomes obsessed with a nomadic gang of leather-clad biker punks — musician Adam Ant and cult actress Mary Woronov (The House of the Devil) among them — living off the grid and without structure. Learning the truth about them comes at the expense of his sanity.
The poster — promising “a terrifying story of the supernatural” — likely did Nomads a disservice, as it doesn’t set out to be particularly scary and functions at its best when digging into the psychological aspects. The script (McTiernan’s only produced screenplay to date, incidentally) could have used a polish to address the lack of cohesion, although the dreamlike surreality is perhaps the film’s strongest aspect. While it undoubtedly pales in comparison to his subsequent achievements, McTiernan’s scrappy debut makes an impact of its own.
Autopsy
1975 Italian giallo Autopsy (also known as The Victim) opens with a montage of grisly suicides plaguing Rome, purported to be caused by sun spots. A young pathologist (Mimsy Farmer, Four Flies on Grey Velvet), serendipitously writing a thesis on the differences between simulated and authentic suicides, investigates with an epileptic race car driver-turned-priest (Barry Primus, Boxcar Bertha) following the alleged suicide of his sister.
Even by giallo standards, the script — written by director Armando Crispino (The Dead Are Alive) and Lucio Battistrada — is convoluted and shockingly sleazy, from a misogynistic coroner to maddening visions of being molested by cadavers. While its tone and pacing are uneven, the film ends on a high note with a memorable finale. It’s also more unnerving than most gialli, due to the taboo buttons it pushes as well as the hints of surrealism in which Crispino indulges. A score by Ennio Morricone (The Thing, The Good the Bad and the Ugly) certainly doesn’t hurt.
Wish Upon
Many genre fans were quick to dismiss Wish Upon when it was released in 2017 as nothing more than generic PG-13 horror aimed at the teen crowd. That may not be entirely untrue, but if you go into the movie aware of its intentions, there’s plenty to enjoy in the contemporary take on W.W. Jacobs’ “The Monkey’s Paw” from Annabelle director John R. Leonetti.
The Conjuring‘s Joey King stars as a bullied teen who’s gifted a mysterious box by her trash-picking saxophonist father (Ryan Phillippe, I Know What You Did Last Summer). You probably know where this is going: the box grants her juvenile wishes but they come at untenable prices, often backfiring in ironic ways. But what makes Wish Upon stand out are its Final Destination-esque kills that culminate with a bonkers ending.
Leonetti crafts several tense sequences, including Twin Peaks‘ Sherilyn Fenn in a particularly white-knuckle set piece involving a garbage disposal. The supporting cast also includes Ki Hong Lee (The Maze Runner) as the love interest, Shannon Purser essentially playing the same character she did on Stranger Things, and an uncredited cameo by Jerry O’Connell as the box’s previous owner.
Visit the SCREAMBOX Hidden Gems archives for more recommendations.
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