Shudder Saturday: When The Screaming Starts (2021)

Sometimes I know so little about a film that I like to look around online to find out the general consensus. When The Screaming Starts has quite a few reviews scattered around that give it credit for being a decent little comedic thriller presented in mockumentary form. I wish I agreed with those people, but I thought this was unexciting, unfunny, and, most of all, unoriginal.

Jared Rogers plays Norman, a documentarian who thinks he has landed a great story when he meets Aidan (Ed Hartland), a wannabe serial killer. Aidan is supported by his enthusiastic and morbid partner, Claire (Kaitlin Reynell), and he ends up ultimately planning to be more of a Charles Manson figure than a Leatherface, assembling a "family" around him that he starts to train and prepare for their murderous activities. Things don't quite go to plan though, especially when Aidan starts to have his position threatened by the more determined Amy (Octavia Gilmore).

The mockumentary has been done well over the years (so well, in fact, that I'm not even going to mention the comedy masterpiece that most of you will be thinking of when I mention that word), and there have been some great uses of the format to explore serial killers. Okay, having our main character wanting to be the head of a "family" rather than kill with his own hands is a slight twist, but not enough to fully separate this from a number of much better movies it could be compared to. I would encourage anyone to watch Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon, Man Bites Dog, Sightseers, Diary Of A Bad Lad, and The Last Horror Movie ahead of this, and those are just five films I thought of while typing out this paragraph. I'm sure there are other options worth your time ahead of this.

It's not surprising to see that this is a first feature from writer-director Conor Boru. It's not surprising to see that he hasn't yet directed anything else after it (although, to be fair, he was probably busy enjoying the positive reception that this received in various festivals and horror communities). It's even less surprising to see that star Hartland is also credited with some writing work. This feels like the work of people who think they have a great idea, but don't actually know how best to translate it from page to screen. I laughed a couple of times at a few obvious gags, but there was a real lack of sharpness to it all, and a depressing predictability once it entered the third act.

The acting throughout is fine, but some do much better work than others. Hartland, Reynell, and Gilmore are highlights, and Vår Haugholt and Ronja Haugholt are wonderful as Viktoria and Veronika, twin sisters looking to get as far away from their dull upbringing as possible. Yasen Zates Atour is a bit too broad in his role, a criminal Jack the lad named Jack (to really nail down his character), Kavé Niku is just used for a running gag as someone who just meant to end up at a yoga retreat, and Rogers becomes more disappointing as his character starts to inevitably get caught up with the events that he's only supposed to be observing.

I didn't hate this while it was on, and Boru at least does enough in most scenes to distract you from the elements that don't really feel as if they are staying in line with the documentary format, but it's not one I can recommend to people. Of course, the general consensus seems to disagree with me  . . . so I'd be interested in hearing from friends who ended up really liking this.

5/10

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