Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

From a Whisper to a Scream Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 29, 2015

It may not have the imprimatur of Amicus, but From a Whisper to a Scream has both the general ambience as well as the portmanteau structure that made so many Amicus outings like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror so memorable (if often cheekily campy) to horror fans. Co-written and directed by Jeff Burr, From a Whisper to a Scream features one of the last film performances by the iconic Vincent Price, here consigned to something of a narrator “Moishe the explainer” role as the historian slash librarian of a despicable little town called Oldfield, Tennessee. The film begins with the execution of a woman named Katherine White (Martine Beswick), whose crimes aren’t especially well detailed, but who may have murdered her new groom, at least as evidenced by a brief hallucinatory sequence that segues into White on a kind of combo execution gurney electric chair. White is surrounded by a gaggle of people (that’s erstwhile Hollywood bad boy Lawrence Tierney as the warden), including reporter Beth Chandler (Susan Tyrrell). Katherine gets a mortal dose of a sickly yellow drug cocktail (with those in attendance literally standing right next to her, just watching her twitch and moan her way to an ugly death), at which point Beth heads off and arrives at a gothic mansion (is there any other kind of mansion in a film like From a Whisper to a Scream?). It’s there that she meets an elderly man named Julian White (Vincent Price), who is in fact the late Katherine’s uncle. Beth is attempting to get more information on whatever led Katherine into her life of crime, but Julian isn’t one for psychobabble, and instead lays the fault of Katherine’s peccadilloes squarely on Oldfield itself. Surrounded by books that evidently spell out Oldfield’s long history with bad business and nefarious murders, Julian simply picks various volumes out and hands them to Beth, as if to provide proof that Oldfield is a toxic waste dump of the worst in humanity. Those books provide the breakaway points for the film’s quartet of The Twilight Zone-esque tales where villainous types typically get a rather gory comeuppance.

Things start out creepily enough with a bizarre tale that in some ways kind of serves as a 1980s precursor to the recent The Voices, with a hapless office schlub lusting after an impossibly gorgeous co-worker. In this case it’s heavily bespectacled Stanley Burnside (Clu Gulager) who desires Grace Scott (Megan McFarland), despite the fact that he’s a lifelong bachelor, and one seemingly tied inextricably to his ailing sister Eileen (Miriam Byrd-Nethery). There’s more than merely a hint of incest between the siblings, especially in a couple of disturbing scenes where Stanley actually bathes Eileen. Things come to a head when Stanley actually manages to finagle a date with Grace, but (much like The Voices, in fact), things don’t exactly go swimmingly, leading to even more carnage and a kind of weird, outré wrap up.

The second story moves to the 1950s, where small time crook Jesse Hardwick (Terry Kiser) finds himself on the wrong side of a grift, being chased by some big time crooks. One of them manages to shoot Jesse, but while badly wounded, he escapes into some swamp land. When he comes to, he finds he’s under the care of a mysterious black man named Fedler Evans (Harry Caesar), a guy who seems to have more than a passing interest in magic potions and voodoo spells. Jesse becomes convinced that Felder holds the key to immortality, and a power struggle of sorts ensues, with Jesse kind of getting what he wanted, but not exactly in the way he expected (in time honored Twilight Zone fashion).

The third outing is in some ways the most literal, but it’s goofily engaging, as a traveling circus (cheekily named Lovecraft’s Traveling Amusements) offers up a glass eater (Ron Brooks) whose romance with a fan angers the circus’ magically inclined Snakewoman (Rosalind Cash). This segment has perhaps unintended references to Tod Browning’s iconic Freaks, with its emphasis on a cloistered society whose members don’t take kindly toward outsiders.

The final offering is set during the Civil War, or at least the aftermath of the Civil War, as a Union Sergeant named Gallen (Cameron Mitchell) isn’t especially prone to cease hostilities despite the fact that an armistice has been signed. When Gallen and his ragtag troops encounter a bunch of seemingly orphaned children, the hunters become the hunted, and as Julian and Beth mention in closing, this particular story serves as something of an origin tale for Oldfield’s long, tortured history. There’s a probably needless “sting” awaiting those who make it this far, with Beth revealing she may have more on her agenda than simply interviewing Julian. Never able to completely overcome its obvious lo-fi roots, From a Whisper to a Scream is probably more unsettling than outright scary, but it probably contains enough blood and guts to satisfy eighties horror fan’s penchant for “slasher” fare while also offering a bit more in terms of character beats. Burr has a good feel for a kind of rural, almost Southern Gothic, sensibility, something that informs each of the stories in particular ways. Performances are generally excellent, if at times perhaps unavoidably hyperbolic.

From a Whisper to a Scream Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

From a Whisper to a Scream is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Scream and Shout! continue to stumble occasionally with compression issues, something that may be more evident on this release than others due to the fact that the presentation is very heavily grainy to begin with. In brightly lit sequences (and for a horror film, there are actually quite a few of them), things look decently organic, with good, well saturated color, and well above average amounts of detail, and with grain looking at least generally normal. Darker sequences though often have grain clumping unnaturally with a slight yellowish tint which verges perilously close to noise quite a bit of the time. Interestingly, grain seems to ebb and flow at times without regard to any lighting issues whatsoever, something that may be due to either inefficient compression or actual "baked in" issues with the original elements utilized for the transfer. There's also some infrequent but noticeable macroblocking, as well as some significant crush in several nighttime sequences. Clarity and sharpness are best in brightly lit sequences, as should be expected, and close-ups offer some nice fine detail in elements like the shopworn uniforms in the Civil War sequence. There's a bit of wobble in the opening credits, but otherwise there are no real problems with image stability. It's at least debatable about whether Shout! really should have ported the two lengthy high definition features over to a second disc to have allowed a bit more breathing room for the actual film.

From a Whisper to a Scream Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The keepcase insert for From a Whisper to a Scream lists a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, but my PS3 identified it as an LPCM 2.0 offering. There are minor prioritization issues along the way, with parts of the mix (notably some of the cues) seeming to be slightly buried, but all in all dialogue comes through cleanly and clearly and there's no damage of any kind to report. This isn't an overly aggressive mix in true horror fashion (there aren't any real jump cuts accompanied by booming low frequency effects), but what's here sounds solid.

From a Whisper to a Scream Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Return to Oldfield: The Making of From a Whisper to a Scream (1080p; 1:56:25) is another fantastic Scream Factory feature (this one actually feature length) done by Ballyhoo Productions, containing a wealth of background information and interviews which fans are sure to enjoy.


• A Decade Under the Innocence (1080p; 1:17:25) is another first rate Ballyhoo offering bearing the subtitle Adventures in Super 8 Filmmaking, and this one may actually be the favorite of some fans, at least those who may have had their own adventures with Super 8 (so to speak) back in the day.


• Commentary with Writer-Director Jeff Burr. Burr, who seems like a naturally ebullient and effusive fellow, has one (often hilarious) anecdote after another on tap in this highly enjoyable listen.


• Commentary with Writer-Producer Darin Scott and Writer C. Courtney Joyner. This is a bit more reserved than the Burr commentary, but is still full of great anecdotes about the shoot (and even issues in post).


• Stills Gallery (1080p; 10:23) also includes a brief introduction by Jeff Burr.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080i; 1:51)


• TV Spots (1080p; 2:13). These may be ostensibly 1080p, but they're obviously sourced from old standard definition elements that are not in very good condition.

From a Whisper to a Scream Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

From a Whisper to a Scream has some pretty tawdry elements, but it manages to craft a creepy Southern Gothic atmosphere while attempting to weave a mythology built around the history of an (extremely) troubled town. The through line with Price and Tyrrell is actually kind of dispensable, and the final "sting" frankly just silly, but there are moments in each of the four stories that are cringe worthy (in a good way). Nicely paced and featuring excellent performances, From a Whisper to a Scream may not be an all out classic, but it's often extremely enjoyable. Even those who don't cotton to this type of film may want to check out this release for its epic supplemental features, all of which are first rate. Recommended.