The Curse of the Screaming Dead – Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: USA, 1982 (The Curse of the Screaming Dead), USA, 1981 (Night of Horror)
Director: Tony Malanowski (Both Films)
Cast: Steve Sandkuhler, Christopher Gummer, Rebecca Bach, Judy Dixon, Jim Ball, Bumb Roberts, Mark Redfield, Richard Ruxton, Mimi Ishikawa, Eric Supensky (The Curse of the Screaming Dead), Steve Sandkuhler, Gae Schmitt, Rebecca Bach, Jeff Canfield, Tony Malanowski (Night of Horror)

Release Date: September 26th, 2023
Approximate Running Times: 89 Minutes 17 Seconds (The Curse of the Screaming Dead), 72 Minutes 44 Seconds (Night of Horror)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Films)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English (Both Films)
Subtitles: English SDH (Both Films)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $42.98

"Three young couples head off into the woods for a weekend of camping, beer-guzzling and love-making. Shortly into their trip, however, one of their group, Kiyomi, notices the strange sound of bells ringing in the distance, prompting her would-be boyfriend Mel to investigate. Upon stumbling across a Civil War cemetery, Mel makes the ill-fated decision to pocket an old diary he finds hidden at the site, which details the violent fate of the Confederate soldiers buried there. Little does he realize that this seemingly small act of theft will have grave consequences, as its pilfering triggers a horde of rotting, undead soldiers to awaken from their tortured slumber, ready to feast on Yankee flesh!" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5 (The Curse of the Screaming Dead), 3.5/5 (Night of Horror)

Here’s the information provided about The Curse of the Screaming Dead's transfer, "Newly scanned & restored in 2K from its 16mm camera reversal."

The Curse of the Screaming Dead comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.6 GB

Feature: 24.4 GB (The Curse of the Screaming Dead), 19.9 GB (Night of Horror)

Though the source for The Curse of the Screaming Dead is in great shape, there are still some very minor instances of print debris. That said, colors look correct, image clarity and black levels are strong, compression is solid, and the image looks organic.

Though the source for Night of Horror has been cleaned up, there is still source-related debris and damage that, fortunately, is minimal. Though colors look good, there are a few moments they look off; image clarity and black levels are strong; compression is solid; and the image looks organic.

Audio: 3.75/5 (DTS-HD Mono English - The Curse of the Screaming Dead, DTS-HD Mono English - Night of Horror)

Here’s the information provided about The Curse of the Screaming Dead's audio, "As all original audio elements for The Curse of the Screaming Dead have been lost or destroyed, we were forced to source the sound from the best available material: a video master. Due to this, and despite efforts to improve upon the inherent limitations of the source, the clarity and fidelity of the sound is periodically subpar."

Each film comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Both films come with removable English SDH. Though both audio tracks have their limitations, dialog comes through clearly enough to follow, and everything sounds balanced.

Extras:

Extras for this release are spread over two discs.

Extras on Blu-ray disc one include an audio commentary with producer/director/editor Tony Malanowski and actor Steve Sandkuhler for The Curse of the Screaming Dead and an audio commentary with Tony Malanowski and Steve Sandkuhler for Night of Horror.

Extras on Blu-ray disc two (a single layer Blu-ray) include the original video trailer under the title of Curse of the Cannibal Confederates (3 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English with removable English SDH), outtakes for The Curse of the Screaming Dead (8 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English with removable English SDH), an interview with Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA titled I Put a Spell on You (29 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with Night of Horror fans Rosie Nakamura and Autumn Nakamura Neal titled A Morning After a Night of Horror: The "Unmade" Making of… (20 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), a documentary on the making of Night of Horror, featuring interviews with Tony Malanowski, Steve Sandkuhler and actress Rebecca Bach titled Oh, What a Night... of Horror! (43 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), a featurette with composer Charlie Barnett and recording engineer Jim Crenca titled The Score of the Screaming Dead (15 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with special make-up effects artist Bart Mixon titled Bart Mixon: The Man Behind the Masks (12 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), and a documentary featuring interviews with Tony Malanowski, Steve Sandkuhler, Rebecca Bach and actor Chris Gummer titled Scream On! The Making of The Curse of the Screaming Dead (50 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH).

Other extras include a reversible cover art, and a spot gloss slipcover limited to 6,000 units.

Summary:

The Curse of the Screaming Dead: Friends on a hunting trip awaken Confederate soldiers' corpses when they trespass on an old graveyard.

The Curse of the Screaming Dead has most of the qualities that have become synonymous with Troma films, like cheap-looking gore effects and other elements associated with no-budget cinema. That said, Lloyd Kaufman considered The Curse of the Screaming Dead one of the five worst films ever released by Troma Films. It should be noted that, when released by Troma Films under the alternate title Curse of the Cannibal Confederates, this release by Vinegar Syndrome does not use that title card.

From its opening moments, it becomes clear that this is going to be a long, slow, and tedious film. Not much happens outside a group of friends looking for a campsite until around the 44-minute mark, when the zombie Confederate soldiers first appear. Unfortunately, when the zombie Confederate soldiers attack, the gore is minimal. Also, there is a random moment where the three women put on bikinis in the woods only to put their outdoor clothes back on.

From a production standpoint, The Curse of the Screaming Dead never rises above its very limited budget. The premise is a by-the-numbers zombie film that brings absolutely nothing new to the table, and the narrative feels three times as long as its actual running time. The acting is wooden, and the visuals are equally flat. Ultimately, despite being a bad film, The Curse of the Screaming Dead deserves an A+ for effort.

Night of Horror: A musician and his friends staying at a cabin in the woods encounter the spirits of Confederate soldiers.

If you watch The Curse of the Screaming Dead before Night of Horror and start to feel Deja Vu, the reason is that The Curse of the Screaming Dead is a remake of sorts of Night of Horror. Unfortunately, everything that is wrong with The Curse of the Screaming Dead is magnified in Night of Horror. Its narrative is more tedious; there is absolutely no gore or anything remotely scary, and the acting is equally wooden. And the main attraction of Night of Horror is the demonic-sounding Confederate soldier ghosts that do show up until the 43-minute mark. Ultimately, Night of Horror is a challenge to sit through and watch at your own peril.

The Curse of the Screaming Dead gets an excellent release from Vinegar Syndrome that comes with a strong audio/video presentation, a bonus film, and a ridiculous amount of extras that are more engaging than either of these two films, especially Stephen Thrower’s interview.

Written by Michael Den Boer